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]

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

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]

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



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]

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

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]

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

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]

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

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]

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

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]

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

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 :]

[bichettehappens]

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

Game 3 - @ Fort Wayne Mad Ants


Scout's Report
Excerpt from an unidentified NBA Scout's game notes
"Points scored may be skewed by a heavy reliance on fast breaks for a lot of his scoring opportunities. Demonstrated more effort than he was during the summer, although still played lax defense. When he gave the effort though he accrued 2 steals, one of which was taken for a score. Too early to tell if he's NBA-ready, but it looks as if the drive might finally be there for the kid."

Legend gets flashy on a dunk attempt. Luckily, the slam was successful.

Driving to the hoop, Legend does a nice job of drawing a foul.

NBADL Scoreboard – Erie BayHawks (2-1) at Fort Wayne Mad Ants (3-0)

November 26, 2010 1 2 3 4 F Erie BayHawks 19 26 19 20 84 Fort Wayne Mad Ants 18 21 23 26 88 Top Performers Erie BayHawks - Stats D. Legend – 26 pts, 6 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl J. Fisher – 11 pts, 17 reb, 2 ast Fort Wayne Mad Ants - Stats J. Ross – 31 pts, 13 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk K. Bailey – 17 pts, 5 reb, 6 ast, 1 stl

Darius Legend – Goals & Thoughts OBJECTIVE # +/- Score at least 14 Points 26 Limit matchup to 30% from 3PT 0.0% Post-Game Comments ”This D-League thing is starting to get easy already. I shouldn’t be 6th man, or in this league, for much longer. Truth be told, that Ross dude on the Fort Wayne squad is pretty nice too, wouldn't be surprised to see him in the NBA as well.”

Erie BayHawks STARTERS MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A REB AST STL BLK TO PTS G. Turner 37 8-19 2-3 4-4 7 1 1 0 3 22 H. Thomas 31 2-9 0-1 1-2 3 1 3 0 1 5 J. Fisher 35 5-9 0-0 1-2 17 2 0 0 0 11 D. Schroeder 36 1-13 0-1 0-0 5 7 1 0 1 2 J. Hart 30 1-4 0-0 1-1 9 2 0 0 1 3 RESERVES MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A REB AST STL BLK TO PTS D. Legend 29 12-21 0-1 2-3 6 2 2 0 3 26 B. Gill 10 2-4 1-2 0-0 0 0 0 0 1 5 E. Anderson 16 1-6 0-1 2-2 5 0 0 1 0 4 S. Park 15 3-11 0-1 0-0 2 0 0 0 0 6 R. Reid 6 0-1 0-0 0-0 2 0 0 0 0 0 B. May DNP - Injury TEAM TOTALS 35-97 3-10 11-14 56 15 7 1 10 84 Fort Wayne Mad Ants STARTERS MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A REB AST STL BLK TO PTS J. Ross 40 12-36 0-2 7-8 13 2 1 1 4 31 K. Bailey 36 7-14 2-6 1-1 5 6 1 0 1 17 S. Woods 36 5-11 0-1 2-2 5 4 1 1 0 12 T. Williams 39 5-9 0-0 0-0 14 2 0 1 1 10 A. Smith 41 4-11 1-2 1-2 6 5 2 0 1 10 RESERVES MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A REB AST STL BLK TO PTS N. Duncan 16 2-4 0-0 0-0 3 2 0 0 1 4 J. Long 7 1-1 0-0 0-0 1 1 0 0 0 2 J. Perkinson 11 1-1 0-0 0-0 6 0 0 1 1 2 P. Jones 7 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 1 0 0 0 0 D. Moon 10 0-5 0-1 0-0 0 2 0 0 1 0 TEAM TOTALS 37-93 3-12 11-13 54 25 5 4 10 88

OperationSports.com

[12]

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

Keep this going, I'm following. Loving it so far.

[Undead]

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

First loss for the Erie Bay-Hawks? Dissapointed, by the way, what position did Ross play? Surprised you're not in the starting line up already, shouldn't be too long, although, I'd prefer to finish the season with the Bay-Hawks because if you join the NBA during the season, you'll be at a disadvantage in the Rookie of the Year running along with the stats. Still this is good, keep it up!

[bichettehappens]

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

First loss for the Erie Bay-Hawks? Dissapointed, by the way, what position did Ross play? Surprised you're not in the starting line up already, shouldn't be too long, although, I'd prefer to finish the season with the Bay-Hawks because if you join the NBA during the season, you'll be at a disadvantage in the Rookie of the Year running along with the stats. Still this is good, keep it up!

I believe Ross was a power forward, can't remember off the top of my head though. Thanks! Glad you like it so far

[bichettehappens]

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

The Legend: Shape Up

One of the things I was criticized for leading up to my release from the Lakers, was showing up to camp "overweight." Coach tells me if I'm going to make it back to the NBA I'm going to have to get into NBA shape, so I've been running extra in practice. I think it's working well so far, as I've gotten myself down to 240. I'm shooting for closer to 230, so I've still got a ways to go, but I've noticed a difference in my ability to move on the court.

Hopefully Jay [Larranaga] takes notice of the effort I've been putting in and gives me a chance to start a game soon. I mean, I'm practically getting starters minutes already, but it would be nice to have the actual title. I get the feeling NBA scouts would be more interested in someone who's able to actually start on a D-League team, instead of one coming off the bench.

[bichettehappens]

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

Game 4 - @ Fort Wayne Mad Ants





PUBLISHED: NOVEMBER 28. 2010 10:47PM
Newcomer, Legend, impressive in first 4 D-League games for Erie

Darius Legend hits a contested jumper in Sunday's game.

By THOMAS FRANKLIN
[email protected]

One man's trash is another man's treasure. At least, that's how the Erie BayHawks staff and their fans can view first-year player Darius Legend. After being cut by the Los Angeles Lakers immediately following the summer circuit, Legend landed in Erie in an attempt to work his way back to the NBA. He's off to a fantastic start.

Sunday's game against the Fort Wayne Mad Ants marked his fourth game of the 2010-11 campaign, and it was his second consecutive 26 point performance, bringing his season average to 23.0. He also contributed 7 rebounds on Sunday as well. Defense and work ethic appear to be the main reasons for Los Angeles passing on their second round pick, but Darius has been looking to turn over a new leaf so far this season. So far, he's been practicing hard and has managed to drop 6 pounds already. Defensively, although the coaching staff feels he still needs some work, he's been giving considerably more effort than he had been during the summer.

Hopefully he keeps this streak of hot play alive and is able to give this oft-forgotten Pennsylvania city a basketball team to take pride in. That is, if the NBA doesn't come calling for him first.

NBADL Scoreboard – Erie BayHawks (2-2) at Fort Wayne Mad Ants (4-0)

November 28, 2010 1 2 3 4 F Erie BayHawks 11 14 17 18 60 Fort Wayne Mad Ants 31 15 20 29 95 Top Performers Erie BayHawks - Stats D. Legend – 26 pts, 7 reb, 1 ast J. Fisher – 6 pts, 10 reb, 6 ast Fort Wayne Mad Ants - Stats J. Ross – 32 pts, 13 reb, 2 ast, 3 stl, 3 blk T. Williams – 8 pts, 15 reb, 3 ast, 1 blk

Darius Legend – Goals & Thoughts OBJECTIVE # +/- Shoot at least 47% 44.4% x Limit matchup to 3 3PT shots 1 Post-Game Comments Another solid game. Man if they don’t give me a chance to start soon that will be ridiculous. I’m outperforming everyone on the team every game! But wow, that Ross guy can really play.

Erie BayHawks STARTERS MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A REB AST STL BLK TO PTS D. Schroeder 35 3-11 0-0 3-4 3 5 0 0 3 9 J. Fisher 32 3-5 0-0 0-0 10 6 0 0 0 6 H. Thomas 34 2-9 0-0 2-2 6 0 3 1 1 6 B. May 29 2-15 0-4 0-0 2 0 1 2 0 4 J. Hart 27 0-5 0-0 0-0 5 0 0 2 0 0 RESERVES MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A REB AST STL BLK TO PTS D. Legend 29 12-27 0-0 2-4 7 1 0 0 2 26 G. Turner 26 3-12 1-2 2-2 6 2 0 0 0 9 R. Reid 5 0-1 0-1 0-0 1 0 0 0 0 0 B. Gill 5 0-0 0-0 0-0 2 0 0 0 0 0 E. Anderson 9 0-2 0-0 0-0 3 0 0 0 1 0 S. Park 9 0-5 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 0 0 0 TEAM TOTALS 25-92 1-7 9-12 46 14 4 5 7 60 Fort Wayne Mad Ants STARTERS MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A REB AST STL BLK TO PTS J. Ross 35 10-26 3-5 9-12 13 2 3 3 2 32 A. Smith 37 5-11 2-5 3-4 1 1 0 0 3 15 T. Williams 35 4-7 0-0 0-0 15 3 0 1 0 8 S. Woods 38 3-8 0-0 2-2 4 10 0 0 0 8 K. Bailey 29 3-8 0-3 0-0 7 1 0 2 4 6 RESERVES MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A REB AST STL BLK TO PTS N. Duncan 22 5-8 0-2 0-0 6 0 1 0 1 10 J. Long 13 2-3 1-1 1-2 2 1 0 0 0 6 J. Perkinson 11 3-3 0-0 0-0 2 0 0 1 1 6 P. Jones 9 0-2 0-0 0-0 3 1 0 1 1 0 D. Moon 11 2-4 0-0 0-0 2 2 0 0 0 4 TEAM TOTALS 37-80 6-16 15-20 55 21 4 8 12 95

OperationSports.com

[hockeyplaya2724]

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

I love the layout, and I love this Diary so far! Keep it up man, they gotta make you the starter sooner or later.