Alapag joins Stockton Kings

Jimmy Alapag

The Mighty Mouse has landed a new gig.

Jimmy Alapag is set to join the Stockton Kings for the upcoming NBA G League season. Fresh from helping the Sacramento Kings win the 2021 NBA Summer League title in Las Vegas as an assistant coach, he reunites with Kings Summer League head coach Bobby Jackson to do the same duties.

After an iconic playing career that lasted fourteen seasons for both club and country, Alapag moved into coaching, serving as the head coach of Alab Pilipinas in the ASEAN Basketball League. He helped Alab claim the ABL title in 2018, and helped shepherd the side to a then second-best 10-6 record before the coronavirus pandemic forced the postponement and eventual cancellation of the season.

The other Kings hirings are as follows:

Serving as Associate Head Coach is Will Scott, who was the Head Video Coordinator and Player Development Coach in Sacramento the last couple of seasons. Scott was part of Luke Walton's staff with the Los Angeles Lakers as the Head Video Coordinator during Walton's head coaching tenure with the Lakers from 2016-19. Before that, he served in various capacities with the Lakers and their G League counterparts South Bay Lakers since the 2011-12 season.

Alongside Alapag as an Assistant Coach is Akachi Okugo, who spent last season with the Sacramento Kings as its Player Development Manager. Okugo is about to spend his fifth season with the franchise after an outstanding playing career at California State University - San Marcos, where he is second all-time in three-pointers made and was an Honorable Mention All-Conference as a senior.

Sydney Haydel has been tapped as Stockton's Director of Basketball Operations, whilst also serving as Player Development Coordinator for Sacramento. She is coming off a five-year stint with the NBA league office in the Basketball Strategy and Analytics department, playing a key role in the completion of the pandemic-affected 2019-20 season at the NBA campus inside Walt Disney World in Florida. She will assist current Kings Vice President of Player Development and Stockton Kings General Manager Paul Johnson. A University of Hawaii alumna, Sydney has had grassroots coaching experience teaching the sport with the Jr. NBA program in India and China, while also playing a part in the Leading Youth Sports and Development (LYSD) while in West Africa.

Kaiti Jones will serve as Stockton's Performance Coach and Sport Scientist. Jones is coming off a five-year stint at the University of Louisville, spending four of those with the women's basketball program as its strength and conditioning coach. With the Cardinals, Jones led the development, implementation, and analysis of sport-specific preparation, training, assessment, testing, screening and monitoring for its student-athletes. Kaiti will report to Katie Babcock, who is starting her fourth season as the Kings' Head Athletic Trainer.

Ignite confirm participation in upcoming G-League season

With the NBA officially announcing the upcoming 2020-21 NBA G-League season, the G-League Ignite confirm their participation.

Head coach Brian Shaw had this to say, "We’re excited to be a part of the G League schedule at Disney. This is a unique opportunity for our players to showcase their development while gaining a high volume of experience quickly against the caliber of talent they’ll face every day in the NBA."

Mainly comprised by prospects who opted to take advantage of this alternative pathway program to the NBA, the Ignite will also have NBA and G-League veterans sprinkled in to help in their development.

Top NBA prospects Jalen Green, Jonathan Kuminga, Daishen Nix, and Isaiah Todd, as well as Kai Sotto and Princepal Singh have been training with the Ignite at Walnut Creek, California since August, having four scrimmages under their belt. Rounding out the roster are the likesof Amir Johnson, Reggie Hearn, Brandon Ashley, Cody Demps, and Bobby Brown.

Under normal circumstances, the Ignite would not play a full G-League season and thus will be ineligible for the postseason, the current situation and shortened season will allow the squad to earn their way into the playoffs and potentially win a championship.

The NBA will announce the schedule of the Ignite and the seventeen other NBA G-League teams participating this season at a later date. All matches will take place inside the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, where the league held fort as its campus for the remainder of the 2019-20 regular season and the entirety of the postseason.

NBA G-League reveals 2020-21 season plans

Clarity for the NBA G-League, as they will get to play their 2020-21 season after all.

The league announced earlier today that the upcoming season will take place inside the former NBA bubble at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex inside the Walt Disney World Resort next month, with seventeen teams and the G-League Ignite as participants.

NBA G-League President Shareef Abdur-Rahim shares, "We worked closely with our teams, the Basketball Players Union, and public health experts to develop a structure that allows our teams to gather at a single site and safely play." He adds, "We are thrilled to get back to basketball and to fulfill our mission as a critical resource for the NBA in developing players, coaches, referees, athletic trainers and front-office staff."

Disney Sports vice president Faron Kelley says of the NBA's return to the Disney campus, "Our Cast Members are eager to work with the NBA family again and welcome in the next round of talented basketball players to compete at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. Most importantly, Disney and the NBA G League will continue our shared focus on the necessary safety protocols for the well-being of the players, coaches, staff and everyone supporting this event."

NBA teams who do not have an G-League affiliate among the bubble participants are still allowed to assign players from their main roster through the league's flexible assignment rules. The same can be said as well for those under two-way contracts through Two-Way rules.

This will be the first official competition for the G-League Ignite, the team representing elite prospects who chose NBA's pathway program instead of taking the collegiate or overseas route. Among the members of the Ignite is top NBA Draft prospect Jalen Green and former Ateneo de Manila High School standout Kai Sotto.

Under traditional rules, the Ignite are not eligible to advance to the postseason, but with the current circumstances as a result of the pandemic, the Brian Shaw-coached squad will have the opportunity in the bubble to make the playoffs.

As it was during the NBA version of the bubble, players, coaches, team, and league staff inside the campus will be subject to the comprehensive league-wide health and safety protocols, which remains centered on the core principles of social distancing, mask wearing, hand hygiene, and COVID-19 testing.

Aside from the Ignite, the seventeen other participating teams are as follows:

• Agua Caliente Clippers (Los Angeles Clippers)
• Austin Spurs (San Antonio Spurs)
• Delaware Blue Coats (Philadelphia 76ers)
• Erie BayHawks (New Orleans Pelicans)
• Fort Wayne Mad Ants (Indiana Pacers)
• Greensboro Swarm (Charlotte Hornets)
• Iowa Wolves (Minnesota Timberwolves)
• Lakeland Magic (Orlando Magic)
• Long Island Nets (Brooklyn Nets)
• Memphis Hustle (Memphis Grizzlies)
• Oklahoma City Blue (Oklahoma City Thunder)
• Raptors 905 (Toronto Raptors)
• Rio Grande Valley Vipers (Houston Rockets)
• Salt Lake City Stars (Utah Jazz)
• Santa Cruz Warriors (Golden State Warriors)
• Westchester Knicks (New York Knicks)

The NBA will announce the schedule for the G-League bubble at a later date.

G League Select picks Ignite as its name

The G League is set to Ignite

Earlier this month, the NBA G League unveiled the name for the team of their elite prospects.

Called the NBA G League Ignite, the unaffiliated team will be based in Walnut Creek, California, and are under the tutelage of former NBA head coach Brian Shaw. Prospects participating with this program are being prepared for the NBA Draft, as well as with the other life skills necessary once he enters the professional ranks.

League president Shareef Abdur-Rahim shares, "We are thrilled to officially announce NBA G League Ignite as the name of our new team for elite prospects and we think it’s a fitting moniker for a group comprised of young players taking the first step of their promising professional careers. These players have a passion for the game and a desire to develop their skills for the next level and it brings us a lot of pride for them to blaze trails as inaugural members of NBA G League Ignite."

The Ignite already have six players on their initial roster: top high school prospects Jalen Green, Jonathan Kuminga, Daishen Nix, Kai Sotto, and Isaiah Todd, and NBA Global Academy graduate Princepal Singh. They are already conducting their on-court preparations, as well as receiving the off-court mentoring and life skills training. Helping them on-court in Walnut Creek are assistant coach Rasheed Abdul-Rahman, video coordinator Jerry Woods, and athletic trainer Pete Youngman.

In releasing the name, the G League also revealed the wordmark of the Ignite, which highlights the bold and capitalized font of the monicker. According to the league, it heralds the team's energetic commitment to basketball development and serves as an anchor for the team's full identity and uniform designs, which are still to be determined.

Brian Shaw named as G-League Select team head coach

The build-up of the new NBA G-League Select team took a new step further.

League president Shareef Abdur-Rahim announced today that Brian Shaw will be the Select team's head coach when it debuts in the 2020-21 season.

The Select squad is the team that the NBA G-League will incubate elite youth prospects in, featuring its first-ever batch of signees in Jalen Green, Isaiah Todd, Daishen Nix, and Kai Sotto. These prospects will be receiving mentorship and life skills training, while also allowing their basketball skills to develop as they start their professional careers. The Select team will be unaffiliated with any current G-League or NBA franchise.

Abdur-Rahim shares, "Brian’s extensive experience and success as an NBA player and coach make him a natural choice to lead the new NBA G League team. We look forward to watching these terrific young players develop their skills and grow as professionals under Brian's leadership."

Shaw says, "I’m excited to serve as head coach of the new NBA G League team. This is a new and different challenge in my career, and I’m ready to get to work mentoring, coaching and developing the next generation of NBA stars."

Shaw played fourteen seasons in the NBA, with stops in Los Angeles, Boston, Miami, Orlando, Golden State, Philadelphia, and Portland, winning three titles with the Lakers from 2000-02. The 6'6" guard also has some international experience, helping the United States win gold in the FIBA Basketball World Championship (currently called the FIBA World Cup) in 1986, as well as playing in Italy during the 1989-90 season.

Shaw would then tack on a couple more titles with the Lakers during his first stint with the team as an assistant coach from 2004-11. Named as an associate head coach with the Indiana Pacers, he would help them reach the Eastern Conference Finals in 2013, before making his league debut as a head coach with the Denver Nuggets, lasting a couple of seasons.

Shaw then returned to the Los Angeles Lakers for a second stint as an assistant coach from 2016-19.