National Basketball Association

Charlotte Hornets: The D-League Comes To North Carolina

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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The Charlotte Hornets’ new D-League team, the Greensboro Swarm, will start play during the 2016-17 season. This is a positive step for the franchise and the NBA in general.

If there is one area where Major League Baseball has an advantage over the NBA, it’s their player development system. Baseball teams possess several “farm teams” throughout their organization to serve as a learning ground for young players. This gives players a chance to hone their skills at lower levels of baseball while still receiving coaching from the organization that employs them.

Rather than going to Europe or going to college before being eligible for the draft, players can jump straight from high school to the pro level. This process is beneficial for both the players and the organizations. The organizations get to control how their asset is trained, coached and utilized, while the player gets top-notch instruction and, perhaps most importantly, gets paid for their services.

For several reasons, the NBA is never going to completely replicate the MLB model of player development (smaller rosters and less attrition being the top two), but that doesn’t mean they can’t get closer. It looks like they are moving in that direction as the NBA Development League (NBDL) expands.

The Charlotte Hornets have now joined the Philadelphia 76ers, Brooklyn Nets, New York Knicks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Indiana Pacers, Toronto Raptors, Chicago Bulls, San Antonio Spurs, Oklahoma City Thunder, Los Angeles Lakers, Phoenix Suns, Utah Jazz and Golden State Warriors as NBA teams that will be the parent club of a D-League affiliate.

During the 2016-17 season, the Greensboro Swarm will make their entrance into the NBDL. Starting this season, 22 teams will now play in the league and all of them will be either owned by their parent club or will have a single team affiliate. The Atlanta Hawks, Denver Nuggets, Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Clippers, Minnesota Timberwolves, New Orleans Pelicans, Portland Trail Blazers and Washington Wizards will be the only teams without an affiliate.

The Swarm begins play on Nov. 12 in the Greensboro Coliseum Pavilion against the Fort Wayne Mad Ants. The Swarm will be coached by Noel Gillespie, who is a basketball lifer with 14 years of NBA experience under his belt.

He had spent the last three seasons as an assistant coach with the Denver Nuggets. In the official press release Hornets general manager Rich Cho seemed very excited about the experience Gillespie brings to the job.

“We are very excited to have Noel Gillespie as the head coach of our new D-League team,” said Cho. “His impressive background in player development and his significant experience make him an ideal fit for this role. We are confident that he will be a great leader for the Swarm and will work well with Coach Clifford and the Hornets coaching staff in recognizing and growing potential talent within our system.”

Gillespie expressed excitement and was thankful for the opportunity.

“I’m honored and excited to become a part of this organization and coach in Greensboro, a city that shares my passion for the sport of basketball,” said Gillespie. “To coach players and create an environment that allows them to reach their full potential is a great opportunity that I am very enthusiastic about.”

Their roster will likely be headlined by former Kentucky Wildcat Aaron Harrison, who is the biggest winner of this whole situation. Anyone that lives in North Carolina knows that Greensboro is just a hop, skip, and a jump away from Charlotte.

For those of you that aren’t Carolina natives, Google Maps says that the Greensboro Coliseum is only 91.9 miles and 1 hour and 29 minutes away from Time Warner Cable Arena (the soon-to-be-named Spectrum Center).

That means instead of wasting away on Charlotte’s bench or jetting off to Oklahoma City or Erie to play for a random D-League team, Harrison can conceivably practice with Charlotte in the morning and get to Greensboro to get some game action in the evening. Distance-wise, it’s a very convenient setup for the Hornets.

The rest of the roster will come together as they get closer to the season. The expansion draft was held in August with the Swarm selecting the 12 players listed below. They will hold open tryouts on Oct. 2 and the D-League draft will also occur sometime before the season.

Here are the 12 players we obtained the rights to in today's @nbadleague Expansion Draft! pic.twitter.com/gp0fBIyia0

— Greensboro Swarm (@greensboroswarm) August 24, 2016

The Swarm coming to Greensboro is great news for the Hornets and North Carolina in general. Minor league baseball is extremely successful in North Carolina with teams all over the state. The Charlotte Checkers have had success as a popular minor league hockey team in the Queen City. Now it’s time to see what minor league basketball can do.

It gives fans and families an affordable way to watch professional basketball and it will hopefully grow the Hornets popularity in the Greensboro to Raleigh area. That “tobacco road” area is ACC basketball country, so college basketball is king. I doubt that will ever change, but anything the Hornets can do to expose more fans to their product should be beneficial.

Things seem to be going well for the Swarm so far. They have a strong Twitter presence and have already sold out of season tickets in some of their premium seating areas.

I imagine that a day exists when all 30 NBA teams will have NBDL teams they own or are at least affiliated with. I’m just not sure when. The folks over at Upside and Motor would know better than me. They have a fantastic frequently asked questions page that is helpful for people like me that are just learning about the D-League.

All I know is that this feels like a step in the right direction for the Charlotte Hornets and the NBA in general.