What a week! It’s been a lot of fun in the Energy offices over the past week. From our great home opener last week to the “Blizzard of the Century” this week, it’s been a wild ride. Just in case you’ve been stuck in a snow-cave, here is the latest news on the Energy front.

Phoenix Sun Taylor Griffin is coming to Des Moines!

As most of you know, the Energy is affiliated with the Phoenix Suns and Chicago Bulls. This allows those NBA teams to assign their young players to the Energy to get them valuable playing time. Suns GM Steve Kerr announced this week that Suns rookie Taylor Griffin has been assigned to the Energy for this weekend’s games against Dakota. Taylor was the Suns 2nd round pick and just happens to be the older brother of the #1 pick in this year’s draft, Blake Griffin. They both starred at Oklahoma, leading them to the Elite 8 of last year’s NCAA tourney. Taylor is a great athlete and will be a fan favorite. Read more about him HERE.

Cartier Martin is Back!

More great news came out earlier this week, when the Energy announced that we are re-signing Cartier Martin. Cartier was our 1st pick in last year’s D-League draft and played in 20 plus games, before being called up by the NBA’s Charlotte Bobcats.

He is an explosive scorer and averaged 20.6 points and 5.4 rebounds during his time in Des Moines. Cartier played his college ball just a short drive away at Kansas State.

Energy Undefeated, atop the Power Rankings!

The Energy are off to a torrid start, beginning the year 4-0 after sweeping series against Springfield and Fort Wayne. The Energy are in sole possession of first place in the D-League’s Eastern Conference standings and are also the only undefeated team in the D-League.

In the most recent power rankings released by the league, it was no surprise to see the Energy at the top. Coach Nurse and the staff have a great group of players and hopefully we remain at the top all year. This year’s squad is a blast to watch, come on out to Wells Fargo Arena to see for yourself. You won’t be disappointed!

We are back from our weekend trip out to Springfield and we are happy to have picked up a couple wins.

It’s hard to gauge really what happened as everyone in the D-League is feeling out the level of competition right now and we are in that boat too.  So as we love the wins, not everyone will be convinced that they were great wins yet. But the thing that I am happy with is this:  we played really hard, we played collective defense, and we shared the ball.  At this point in the season out of training camp, that is what we are after.

Building chemistry and cohesiveness is an elusive thing sometimes in our league.  So am I happy?  At this point, all ten guys are on the same page.   We did face some challenges, going on the road, playing two games in 36 hours, traveling on Thanksgiving etc…and we handled most of that really well.  We had good performances from a lot of different guys.  So, no need to mention anyone specifically this time.

We played really good team defense. We held the Armor to 73 points in the first game which has to be some kind of record for us.  We should look that up.

We are back at it in practice, and getting ready for Fort Wayne, who is very talented. They have a new coach in Joey Meyer, who is one of the best in this League.  He has a lot of talent and they are coming off a very impressive win versus a tough Erie team.

It’s dollar beer night too, and tons of other things going on.   Come on out and see this team, they play hard and play well together.  You will be proud of this team and how they represent Des Moines and the Energy.

See you Thursday.

Nick

Game 2 is Saturday at 11 am. Tune in to NBA Futurecast at www.nbdl.com or listen on 1700 The Champ.

Details: Energy @ Armor-6pm Start-Springfield, Mass.-MassMutual Center

Breaking down Springfield:

The Armor are one of two expansion teams in the D-League this year, joining fellow east coast squad, Maine. Springfield is coached by former NBA veteran, dunk champion and TV personality Dee Brown. Their NBA affiliates are the Nets, Knicks, and 76ers. Defense and versatility appear to be the themes for the Armor. In their lone exhibition game, they defeated Maine 86-78 and held the Red Claws to 41 percent shooting and forced 25 Red Claw turnovers.

The Armor are headlined by a familiar face in former Energy guard JamesOn Curry, who was Springfield’s 1st round pick in this year’s D-League draft. Curry averaged 12.3 points and shot 36 percent from three point range last year with the Energy.

Springfield Probable Starters:

Guard: JamesOn Curry-6′3 195 lbs. (Oklahoma State)

Guard: Adam Harrington- 6′5 200 lbs. (Auburn)

Forward: Perrin Johnson- 6′6 215 lbs. (Louisville)

Forward: Kentrell Gransberry- 6′9 270 lbs. (South Florida)

Center: James Cripe- 7′0 255 lbs. (Northern Kentucky)

Breaking down the Energy:

The Energy appear to be a team that can beat you a number of different ways. As they illustrated in their 99-89 victory over Tulsa in the only pre-season game- when eight players scored more than eight points. The Energy have a solid inside presence with Earl Barron, who has spent three plus years in the NBA with the Miami Heat. And they have weapons from the outside with newcomers Rashad Anderson and Pat Carroll, who can both fill it up from long range. Combine that with steady point guard Curtis Stinson and versatile players coming off the bench and Iowa is set up to have a very balanced club.

The Energy will be without big man Darryl Watkins, who did not make the trip due to a foot injury. Watkins is expected to be back for the home opener on December 3rd.

Energy Probable Starters:

Guard: Curtis Stinson-6′3 215 lbs. (Iowa State)

Guard: Pat Carroll-6′5 200 lbs. (St. Joseph’s)

Forward: Rashad Anderson-6′5 225 lbs. (UCONN)

Forward: Marvin Phillips-6′7 230 lbs. (Claflin)

Center: Earl Barron- 6′11 230 lbs. (Memphis)

Three things to Watch For:

1. Armor’s Debut- It’s the first game for the expansion Armor and expect the MassMutual Center in Springfield to be packed and rocking. The Energy will have to handle the atmosphere and the tough Armor defense and avoid turnovers, which can be problematic early on in the season.

2. Husky Hello- It will be a reunion of sorts for Iowa’s Rashad Anderson and Springfield guard Craig Austrie, who both played for Jim Calhoun and the UCONN Huskies. The two played on the same team in the 05-06 season when Anderson was a senior and Austrie was a freshman. That loaded UCONN team went 30-4 before being upset in the Elite 8 by upstart George Mason. Along with Anderson and Austrie, UCONN featured NBA players Rudy Gay, Hilton Armstrong, Josh Boone and Marcus Williams.

3. Long Range Connection

The three point ball will be a big key to the Energy all season long. Iowa hit 10 of 18 threes in their exhibition win and eight different Energy players knocked down a three. The Armor struggled mightily from deep, hitting only 3 of 18 shots in their exhibition win. But, JamesOn Curry is a streaky shooter and could be a thorn in the side of the Energy if he gets it going.

You can follow the action all year long in a number of different ways:

Radio – All 50 Energy games (home and road) will be on the radio.  Most of the games will be on 1700 AM “The Champ” while select games will be on 98.3 FM in Des Moines.

Web Streaming – Follow all 50 Energy games via FREE, live web streaming at www.d-league.com.  Audio and video of each game will air on your computer.

Here is a quick re-cap.

First of all as a team, we played pretty hard and executed some of the things we spent our entire training camp on.  Things like transition defense, rebounding, and defense in general.  We had a decent effort from everyone 1-12.  We were able to play everyone quite a few minutes and probably gave some more minutes to players who are on the cut bubble and further down the roster than we normally would have done in a regular season game, but we used the game as a real evaluation tool. (We have to cut two more players by Wednesday.)

Curtis Stinson – played a very good game, he is a better player this year than last.  His shooting is ever improving, he runs the team and he had just a real solid game scoring 15 points, hitting one three ball, and dishing out 8 assists.

Pat Carroll- is a good all around player, he shot it well, did have a few more turnovers that normal, but got put in some funny situations.  He plays at both ends, and has a high IQ to go along with his good outside shooting touch.  He made some big shots when the game was in the balance.

Jeff Trepagneir – Jeff is down 20 lbs from a year ago and is in great shape.  He is viewed mostly as a 3 point gunner, but his overall team play was solid yesterday.  He knows how to play defense and is giving great effort on that end so far.

Earl Barron – played hard, not great, is a good outside shooter, but has tools to play well with his back to the basket has well.  Played really hard on Saturday, had some foul trouble, but love his attitude and work ethic.

Darryl Watkins – did a nice job, played with energy and size, had a couple big time power dunks and was into it on D.   A lot of talent.

Mark Tyndale – Mary was very good on Saturday.  He made a lot of things happen.  Defending hard, and also took it to the basket. He is always mixing it up in a good way.

Marvin Philips – Marvin did his thing, grabbed 6 rebounds in only 16 minutes.   He is a really hard working defender and rebounder.

Adam Emmenecker – Adam did a credible job, although he did get a number of his passes tipped that he need to adjust to, he played a lot and brought the game home.  He was on the floor running the point for the last 15 minutes of the game as Stinson rested.

Shy Ely — played a good second half.  He is a young man with a huge upside, EXCELLENT defender, who is long and explosive.  Hit a three and scored 9 points in only 19 minutes.

Sean Barnette – Sean had an ok game, makes a lot of plays that go unnoticed in the stat sheet.  Rebounds and blocks shots over and above his size with a quick first step. He will need to get used to the added size he is playing against at this level up from D2 college ball.  A talent.

Russell Hicks- Big strong man.  Had a tough time with the under sized and super quick team we played.  Although, he still played well.  Plays hard and is absolutely huge out there.

Rashad Anderson – Rashad did what we thought he could do, scores and shoots it. He really stretches defenses and is cold blooded when it comes to scoring.

That’s an individual breakdown but our coaching staff is just pleased with the work ethic and togetherness this team has displayed so far from the start of training camp.  It is always the biggest challenge in the D-League.  All the teams have a ton of talent, but meshing that talent and doing that over 50 games is our challenge.

-Nick Nurse, Iowa Energy Head Coach

With the game tied at 9, Stinson keyed a big Energy run, by hitting two free throws and moments later drilling a three-pointer. That was part of a 14-3 run that gave the Energy separation they needed.

Earl Barron controlled things in the interior, contributing 15 points and 9 rebounds. The former Miami Heat center was impressive in his Energy debut.

The Energy also had it stuck on automatic from long distance, drilling 10 of 18 three point attempts. First round pick Rashad Anderson and veteran guard Jeff Trepagnier each hit shots from beyond the arc.

The game was far enough in hand that the Energy reserves played the entire fourth quarter.

The first regular season game is on Friday, November 27th in Springfield, Massachusetts. This is just the start of what is going to be a fantastic season for the Energy.

Click HERE for the box score against Tulsa.

First Game Action…Today (if you count the preseason!):

Energy fans, today is the first time your Iowa Energy will hit the court wearing the purple and orange against another squad.  At 3pm, the Energy will take on Tulsa in a preseason matchup in Oklahoma.  The “game” isn’t open to the public, but we should get a good idea of what our team will look like this year.

There is no doubt we have the deepest team ever.  Whether that translates to our best team ever is yet to be seen.  I know Coach Nurse plans on playing a lot of people today so that our staff can get a good idea of which 10 players will make up the 2009-2010 roster.

Tulsa has a nice lineup.  Steven Hill, a big 7-footer played in the NBA last year.  They also have Mustafa Shakur at guard who has NBA experience.  Throw in a couple of returning guys and they should provide a good matchup for the Energy.

No Futurecast of this game, but live stats are supposed to be going starting at 3pm.  To follow (if you are a real Energy junkie!), go to www.d-league.com.  Click on “Scores”.  Then, you have to move the calendar to today’s date and you should be able to watch…actually READ….what is going on.

In case you missed it, Dakota knocked off Sioux Falls last night and Erie beat Ft. Wayne.  I think Energy fans are familiar with those 4 teams!  Preseason doesn’t mean a whole lot, but a lot of people think Dakota and Erie will be very good.  Of course, we play them about a bajillion times this year!  Guess our guys better be ready.

Less than a week until the opener in Springfield…and less than two weeks until the home opener on December 3^rd.  Get your tickets today at www.dahlstickets.com.

Name Pos Ht From Status

Curtis Stinson                   G        6-3       Iowa State                   Returning

Jeff Trepagnier                G         6-5      USC                                Returning

Rashad Anderson         G/F      6-5      UConn                           Draft Pick

Pat Carroll                          G         6-4      St. Joseph’s                Draft Pick

Mark Tyndale                 G/F      6-5       Temple                         Returning

Adam Emmenecker      G        6-2       Drake                             Local Tryout

Shyron Ely                         G        6-4       Evansville                      Local Tryout

Marvin Phillips                 F        6-7       Claflin                              Returning

Sean Barnette                 F        6-5       Wingate                         Draft Pick

Earl Barron                        C        7-0       Memphis                       Trade

Darryl Watkins                 C       6-11      Syracuse                       Returning

Russell Hicks                     C        7-0       Florida Intl.                   Draft Pick