Iowa Energy

The Iowa Energy find themselves within one game of the NBA D-League finals tonight, and I thought it would be fun to speculate as to the "major announcements" the league will be making prior to the game. Chris Makris, Iowa Energy GM, says there are two announcements the league will make tonight, and that top league officials are on hand.

For the first announcement, the smart money is on Curtis Stinson winning the MVP award.  He's the best player in the league, and has been for a couple of years.  A repeat first team selection, Stinson is averaging nearly 10 assists per game, and ranks in the top ten in the league in scoring.  I'd be shocked if it was anything else.

It's too bad Stinson may never get a shot in the NBA.  The newspaper had a nice article on this over the weekend- although Stinson didn't sound horribly hungry to make the jump to the show.  The three biggest things he has going against him:

1.) Age
2.) Size
3.) He shoots the three like a high school girl

Selfishly, I'm sure the Energy would like to see Stinson playing in Iowa forever- he's a fan favorite, and still puts butts in seats.  Still, he deserves a shot at the next level - he's earned that chance.

The other announcement is a little less cut and dry, but I'd have to imagine Nick Nurse will win the coach of the year award tonight.  The Energy's roster has been a revolving door this season, and yet the team continues to win.  Gotta give coach some props.  A couple of playoff wins, a few regular season titles, and the league championship within reach make him one of the best in the league.

Here's my question for Nurse: how long (and how meaningful) is it to be the best coach in the NBA D-Leauge?  Sure, it's a nice honor and good place to coach, but is this really where Nick Nurse wants to retire?

Here's an idea: get back into the college game!  Nurse was an assistant coach at Iowa State for like 2 hours under Greg McDermott before he bolted for Creighton, and was a head coach at Grandview and in Europe prior to that.  I'd bet there will be a MVC school looking for a new coach in the next couple seasons (for one reason or another), and it would be ridiculous if Nurse wasn't a candidate.

$1 beer night tonight (on a Monday!) at the game.  I'm counting out my nickels and dimes as we speak.