NBA AM: Three Stories From The G-League

Three Stories From The G-League

Over the last couple of days, we have focused the AM feature on the G-League’s Northern Arizona Suns (the NAZ), as you can imagine, when you spend a full day around so many people, many stories of interest emerge. Rather than lump them all into a massive 7,000-word piece, we decided to break them up a little.

On Tuesday, we walked through a day in the life of a G-League coaching staff, yesterday we dove into Anthony Bennett’s quest to get back into the NBA and today we’ll look at three players trying to make their way, in very different situations.

The Veteran

NAZ guard Xavier Silas has been around the proverbial block. He’s had stints in the G-League league, he’s played internationally, had stints in the NBA on 10-day contracts and even in Ice Cube’s Big3 league.

For Silas, the dream of being an NBA player is real, mainly because he’s been so close so many times.

“I have been so close so many times that I feel like just can’t give it up,” Silas told Basketball Insiders. “I mean last year for the Phoenix call up, I was one of two names they had on the board, and they went with the other guy, you know what I mean.

“Then that happened a little earlier in the season and that happened before, the year before when I was in Bakersfield, so I feel like the odds have to fall in my favor one of these times. I feel like it won’t happen if I give up on it go somewhere else where I can’t get out of a contract or something like that. Playing in the Big3 helped give me some freedom to stay here and do this.”

Silas was one of the inaugural players in the Big3, and earned the kind of payday that made sticking around in the G-league viable.

“My wife is always about going after it and staying with it and not giving up on it,” Silas said of his dream. “I think that if maybe there was some pressure coming from that way, it would be [harder to turn away bigger money]. But right now, I’m not even thinking about it.”

Silas has played in a number of different leagues, but continues to explore the G-League, in part because of how the teams play.

“With me just I like the style of it,” Silas said. “I like the style, the NBA style of it. European basketball is completely different, and you have to be in the right system for it to fit and it’s just a lot of different factors that go into it. Here, it’s like how we grew up playing basketball, you know what I mean. It’s a natural way of playing for us and that’s what I enjoy.”

Silas is having a pretty solid season for the NAZ, his hope is that it translates into a real NBA opportunity this time around.

The Brother

At first glance its hard to not notice the last name Hollis-Jefferson on a G-League roster. However, the Hollis-Jefferson playing for the NAZ isn’t Rondae, the 22-year old phenom with the Brooklyn Nets, but his older brother, Rahlir. The 26-year-old brother of the Nets emerging star is trying to make his own way as a professional.

“I enjoy watching him play at a higher level,” Hollis-Jefferson said of his brother in the NBA. “I just continue to watch and work. I try to work hard so I can get there with him.

“We trained together over the summer. We don’t really talk about it much during season. We just focus on what we need to do. I’m proud of everything he does, all of his achievements. This year he’s playing really great and I’m definitely proud of him for being focused and going out there and doing what he needs to do.”

Much like his younger brother, the elder Hollis-Jefferson has a unique skillset that has put him on the NBA radar, in part because of the success his brother is having in Brooklyn.

“It’s very possible that people may be coming to that analysis,” Hollis-Jefferson said with a smile.

“We’re kind of similar in terms of play. We both are slashers, I just think I’m a better shooter… watching him play, I’ve got to learn a bit.”

At 26, the elder Hollis-Jefferson has a tougher hill to climb, but the season he’s having with the NAZ, combined with his brother’s emerging success in Brooklyn make Hollis-Jefferson believe in his ability to get a chance in the NBA—something that seem unlikely when he was coming out of Temple.

The Guy On Loan

Not every NBA team has their own G-League affiliate, so from time-to-time, franchises without their own team assign their player to other team’s minor league team. In the case of Mike Young, he is a two-way player for the Washington Wizards who has seen time in Delaware and most recently with the NAZ Suns.

On the surface, you would think being associated with another NBA franchise would be awkward, but the NAZ coaches embraced Young’s skillset and he’s a big reason for some of their success.

“The most strange part is the move,” Young explained. “We had a game Friday with Delaware, we get back to Delaware Saturday, Sunday morning I wake up, they’re like ‘Hey, you’re leaving to Phoenix tomorrow,’ so I think that’s the strangest part.

“Coming to this team, you know, it’s like going to any new situation, I got to learn these guys, they got to learn me, off the court, then on the court we got to figure out each other’s games. It took me three or four games, but we’ve been rolling the last couple of games, and everything’s been good. I’ve been playing better. Everybody’s been playing better, so it’s been good.”

Young tried his best to keep up with the Wizards from afar, knowing that he could be headed back at any point.

“Pretty much everybody calls and checks in, from the Assistant GM, to the player development, to the players on the team,” Young said. “I was with them all preseason, summer league and training camp, so, I’ve built a relationship with pretty much everybody, so everybody texts me. Whenever I play well, I get texts. Whenever I don’t play well I still get texts, you know it’s part of the game.”

Young does his best to focus his attention to his NAZ team and the situation in front of him, something the NAZ coaches appreciate, because it would be easy for a player on loan to not buy into to the plan.

Over the years, the NBA’s commitment to its minor league system has grown from what was an afterthought to most NBA teams five years ago to a mechanism teams are investing considerable time and resources into.

As a result, more and more players are looking at the G-League as a real opportunity to make their way into the NBA, that is something that is evident in talking with G-League players. They understand it’s up to them and that the G-League is simply the stage for them to make their mark.

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