Diary of a D-Leaguer: The Story of Darius Legend

[bichettehappens]

After being taken with the 13th pick of the 2nd round by the Los Angeles Lakers, small forward out of Cincinnati Darius Legend thought he had it made. However, after showing up to training camp an overweight 246 pounds, and a poor showing on the summer circuit, Legend found himself destined for the NBA D-League.

Ever since high school, Darius had always been the star of the team and that continued playing alongside Lance Stephenson at Cincinnati last year, where Legend averaged 15.4 points and 4.2 rebounds in his freshman year before declaring for the draft. Cast off from a shot at competing for a NBA title with the Lakers, Darius now found a home with the Erie Bay Hawks of the developmental league. Here, we will chronicle his journey to reach the NBA and become the legend he believes he can be.


Name: Darius Legend
Position: Small Forward
Height: 6'7"
Weight: 246 lbs
Age: 20
College: Cincinnati
Current Team: Erie Bay Hawks

[bichettehappens]

Updated December 5, 2010 (In-Game)

Career Stats
NBA Developmental League

D-League Stats
Year - Team	GP	MIN	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TPG	FG%	3PT%	FT%
2010 - Erie	6	29.8	25.0	4.3	2.7	0.3	0.8	2.7	.461	.063	.760

NBA

NBA Career Stats
Year - Team	GP	MIN	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TPG	FG%	3PT%	FT%
2010-11 - MIL	0	MPG	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TPG	FG	3PT	FT

Achievements
(TBD)

[bichettehappens]

Updated: October 5, 2010, 6:49 PM ET

Legend doesn't live up to name
Lakers let 2nd round pick go after disappointing summer
__________________________________________________

By Dave McMenamin
ESPNLosAngeles.com
Archive

Legend

LOS ANGELES -- The Lakers thought they had scored a gem when they landed Cincinnati forward Darius Legend in the second round of this past June's NBA draft. The small forward had been a stand-out athlete as a freshman, posting 15.4 PPG and 4.2 RPG averages. He had been touted as a physical specimen with one of the highest ceilings in the draft.

The knock on him? Maturity and a questionable work ethic. The Lakers witnessed these faults first hand on the first day of summer workouts, when Legend showed up a husky 246 lbs. In college, his weight had hovered around 230-235, so this was an immediate cause for concern. To add insult to injury, he displayed a habit of showing up late for practices, and in games displayed a nonchalant approach to playing defense and a carelessness with the ball.

In an embarrassing twist of events for the gifted young forward, the Lakers declined to offer him an NBA contract on Monday. Rumor has it that he has found a spot on the Erie Bay Hawks of the NBA D-League, but it will be interesting to see if he can turn his act around.

Dave McMenamin covers the Lakers for ESPNLosAngeles.com. Follow him on Twitter.

[bichettehappens]

Erie Bay Hawks Roster - 2010-11
NO.	NAME	POS	AGE	HT	WT
4	Erik Anderson	PF	24	6-10	248
32	Joel Fisher	PF	24	6-11	253
15	Bernard Gill	SF	23	6-6	192
34	John Hart	C	23	7-1	263
21	Darius Legend	SF	20	6-7	246
3	Bruce May	SG	23	6-6	188
18	Sam Park	PG	23	6-2	177
0	Ricky Reid	C	22	7-0	254
5	Derek Schroeder	PG	21	6-1	179
1	Harvey Thomas	SF	24	6-8	220
2	George Turner	SG	22	6-4	182

[bichettehappens]

The Legend: First Entry

Reported for the first day of practice today. I've got mixed feelings about it, on one hand... I'm embarrassed to be the only player on the team who was drafted by an NBA team, only to blow his chance at a contract. On the other, I'm grateful I have this opportunity to prove myself.

Erie head coach Jay Larranaga

Coach [Jay] Larranaga seems to have a real passion for the game and hopefully he can help keep me on the right track. So far, I like most of my teammates, although I hope to not be playing with them for too long. If everything goes well, I hope to be in the NBA by the end of the season. Our first game is at home on November 19th against the Springfield Armor. From what the coach was telling me, I'll be starting the season out as the 6th man. He said I have to earn a starting spot by working hard, so we'll see how that goes.

I read over some articles talking about my summer performance to see what people were saying about me. There were a lot of critical comments made, spanning from knocks on my on-ball defense, poor rebounding for my size, selfish play, and so on. It helps to know what people around the NBA feel I need to work on. I can't say I blame them. Looks like I'll have an uphill battle on my journey to redeem myself... I'm up for the challenge


Game 1
November 19, 2010

@
Springfield Armor @ Erie BayHawks
Louis J. Tullio Arena, Erie, PA

[bichettehappens]

Still trying to determine how I want to present this... This'll do for now

The Legend: D-League Debut

I'm glad I was finally able to get back on the court tonight. After watching the last few weeks of NBA games, it's just making me want to work that much harder to get there. I got a decent amount of minutes tonight and showed a little bit of what I can do out there. With all due respect for Harvey Thomas, I'm gunning for that starting SF spot. Even though this is the D-League, it still feels good to win and do well...

Nov 19, 2010 - SPR at ERI
TEAM	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
Springfield Armors (0-1)	23	26	16	14	79
Erie BayHawks (1-0)	26	32	26	16	100

Springfield Armors
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
N. Gregory	41	1-3	0-0	2-2	1	4	2	0	4	4
A. Rice	39	11-30	0-1	7-9	12	1	1	0	0	29
B. Mason	40	6-16	2-7	1-2	4	3	1	0	2	15
M. Owens	41	6-17	1-8	0-0	9	1	1	1	0	13
L. George	39	1-16	0-9	2-2	19	1	0	1	1	4
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
C. Tucker	6	2-5	0-0	0-0	2	1	0	0	0	4
J. Larson	10	0-3	0-0	3-5	1	0	0	0	0	3
J. Saunders	14	0-6	0-4	3-3	0	1	0	0	0	3
R. Howard	3	1-1	0-0	0-0	2	0	0	0	0	2
A. Dixon	7	1-3	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	2
TEAM TOTALS		29-100	3-29	18-23	50	12	5	2	7	79

Erie BayHawks
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
D. Schroeder	33	5-12	1-4	6-6	2	7	1	0	2	17
J. Fisher	36	7-13	0-0	0-0	19	3	0	1	0	14
H. Thomas	34	5-11	0-2	2-4	4	0	1	1	2	12
J. Hart	35	1-4	0-0	2-2	17	2	0	3	2	4
B. May	18	3-4	1-2	0-0	5	4	0	0	1	7
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
D. Legend	28	9-20	0-4	1-1	1	1	0	2	1	19
S. Park	17	5-9	1-2	1-2	2	3	2	0	1	12
E. Anderson	9	3-6	0-0	3-3	6	0	0	0	0	9
B. Gill	9	2-5	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	4
R. Reid	8	1-4	0-0	0-0	5	0	0	0	1	2
G. Turner	13	0-3	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	1	0
TEAM TOTALS		41-91	3-14	15-18	61	20	4	7	11	100

[bichettehappens]

Game 2 - vs Springfield Armor

Coach's Call
Thoughts of head coach Jay Larranaga
"[Darius] played a solid game out there. He's still got to work on his defensive lapses, but I like that he hustled on the court and grabbed some boards. He also did a good job of getting his teammates involved and had four assists to show for it. Good job of getting to the basket as well but we already knew that was a strength of his. If he keeps performing like that, he'll earn more minutes in no time."

Legend had a good day from the charity stripe, hitting 5 of 6 attempts

His best rebounding performance so far landed him with 5 boards

This image epitomizes a large portion of Legend's defensive shortcomings.

NBADL Scoreboard - Springfield Armor (0-2) at Erie BayHawks (2-0)

November 20, 2010 1 2 3 4 F Springfield Armor 19 16 17 17 69 Erie BayHawks 21 31 19 21 92 Top Performers Springfield Armor - Stats B. Mason – 18 pts, 7 rec, 2 ast A. Rice – 16 pts, 16 reb, 1 ast Erie BayHawks - Stats D. Legend – 21 pts, 5 reb, 4 ast H. Thomas – 16 pts, 8 reb, 1 ast, 3 stl

Darius Legend – Goals & Thoughts OBJECTIVE # +/- Get at least 4 Assists 4 Limit matchup to 4 baskets in the Paint 3 Post-Game Comments ”I feel like I got a real chance to showcase my abilities in this game with a balanced attack and good shooting. I’m glad I accomplished my goals and think I’ve got a chance to earn a starting role in the near future if I keep this up.”

Springfield Armor STARTERS MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A REB AST STL BLK TO PTS B. Mason 40 7-15 4-8 0-0 7 2 0 1 1 18 A. Rice 40 8-21 0-1 0-2 16 1 0 0 2 16 M. Owens 23 3-13 0-3 3-3 1 0 1 0 2 9 J. Saunders 24 2-3 2-3 0-0 4 2 1 0 1 6 N. Gregory 41 1-5 0-0 0-0 1 9 2 0 6 2 RESERVES MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A REB AST STL BLK TO PTS C. Tucker 13 1-5 0-2 4-4 3 0 0 0 1 6 R. Howard 14 2-5 0-1 0-0 8 1 0 0 2 4 A. Dixon 9 2-4 0-1 0-0 1 0 0 0 0 4 J. Larson 15 1-4 0-0 2-4 1 1 0 1 2 4 TEAM TOTALS 27-78 6-21 9-13 46 16 4 2 17 69 Erie BayHawks STARTERS MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A REB AST STL BLK TO PTS G. Turner 29 6-13 0-1 6-6 4 3 0 0 1 18 H. Thomas 36 7-17 1-3 1-1 8 1 3 0 1 16 J. Fisher 31 3-8 0-0 3-6 11 0 3 1 2 9 D. Schroeder 36 4-13 0-2 1-1 2 2 0 0 0 9 J. Hart 31 2-6 0-0 0-0 16 4 0 1 1 4 RESERVES MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A REB AST STL BLK TO PTS D. Legend 27 8-16 0-3 5-6 5 4 0 0 2 21 B. Gill 13 2-3 0-0 2-3 3 0 0 0 1 6 E. Anderson 16 2-8 0-0 1-2 4 1 0 0 0 5 S. Park 17 1-5 0-2 2-2 1 1 0 0 2 4 R. Reid 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 1 0 0 0 0 B. May DNP - Injury TEAM TOTALS 35-89 1-11 21-27 55 17 6 2 10 92

OperationSports.com

[Undead]

Loving the diary, nice layout and interesting storyline. Hopefully you keep this going past the D-League, I think it'd suck to be drafted by the lakers at Small Forward since you'd be battling with Odom and Artest for the spot :/ Still good diary, keep it up :]