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No, not the buzz cut. No, not necessarily the buzz about the Milwaukee Bucks, who brought their show to La Crosse for a one-night engagement with the Dallas Mavericks at the La Crosse Center on Friday night.
The buzz about the NBA’s Developmental League, better known as the D-League, was in full force before the Bucks’ preseason game. It was the Bucks presence which ignited the D-League buzz, and Milwaukee general manager John Hammond only fueled the fire — perhaps unknowingly — when he milled around the La Crosse Center, talking to the Who’s Who of La Crosse basketball.
“More and more NBA teams are taking ownership of D-League teams. This year, there are four or five. Next year there could be five to six, and six to seven the next year,” Hammond said. “Pretty soon, one-third of the D-League teams are owned by NBA teams. That is the direction things are going. If the Milwaukee Bucks chose that direction, a likely city for us would be La Crosse. With its basketball history, the arena, the fans here, it would be a perfect fit.”
The D-League flirted with La Crosse — actually a team owner by the name of Larry Crain and his Arkansas Rim Rockers did the courting — with the city, and the 6,100-seat La Crosse Center’s board. A number of issues led to the deal falling through, but the city’s appetite for basketball seems to be as strong as ever.
The pieces of the puzzle necessary for a D-League team — proximity to a NBA team, as in the Bucks, an arena that happens to have a brand new $85,000 floor, and a fan base (including corporate sponsorship) that desires basketball — seem to be in place. As Hammond looked around the La Crosse Center, he couldn’t help but smile.
“La Crosse is a staple for us in the preseason,” Hammond said. “It’s a great city, a city that has a strong basketball tradition.”
Whether that tradition soon includes minor league basketball once again, only time will tell. Competition within the NBA, it seems, could be working in La Crosse’s favor. The city has supported successful professional teams before in the La Crosse Catbirds and La Crosse Bobcats of the Continental Basketball Association. Those teams were loosely affiliated with the NBA, but do not have the direct ties to the NBA that D-League teams now enjoy.
“As more and more NBA teams take over D-League teams, you have to do whatever it takes to be competitive,” Hammond said.
