Maine Awarded D-League Franchise

The NBA Development League expanded to 17 teams with the announcement of the league's newest team in Portland, Maine. Maine will begin play in the 2009-10 NBA D-League season.

Read more about it, including the official press release and photos of the announcement: See: http://nba.com/dleague.

The team, as yet unnamed, is owned in part by Jon Jennings. NBA.com sat down with Jon to get some background on the team, get his take on the NBA D-League, and to learn more about the great, new basketball venture in Maine.

Here's a sampling:

Q: What attracted you to the NBA Development League?

Jennings: I actually got my start in the NBA as an intern with the Indiana Pacers. After my career with the Pacers, I went to work with the Celtics, where I became an assistant coach when I was only 27. When I was coaching and doing scouting for the Celtics, I always believed that the NBA truly needed a minor league system in the way that baseball has one. I remember when the NBA D-League was first created, I was very excited about the prospects. The changes over the course of the last several years, I think, have only made it more exciting. To have a true minor league system is really so important for the future of the NBA.

Q: What qualities of the city will make the NBA D-League successful in Portland?

Jennings: The one thing about Portland is that it embraces minor league sports. It loves the Portland Sea Dogs [baseball], it loves the Portland Pirates [hockey], and it will love our team. The other thing is that the state of Maine has a fanatical love of high school basketball. When I was first getting started in this entire process, I met with the governor of Maine and he gave me a two-hour tutorial on how great high school basketball is in Maine.