Finestrg wrote:Man, I would've preferred Dwight Powell or Greg Smith...

Should we take a shot on Ledo? We lost 2 of our big SGs and THJ sucks -- I dunno anymore -- beggars can't be choosers? What'd ya think? This dude was very highly thought of at one point...Wasn't exactly setting the DL ablaze but he's got good size for a 2, he's young and skilled. Timmy can't create dick for himself -- at least this guy can create his own shot.

Chris Reichert ‏@Chris_Reichert · 3h3 hours ago
If Ricky Ledo clears waivers and opts to sign with D-League he will be available on waivers. Texas Legends do not hold his NBADL rights.

Here's an interesting article from last year.

January 28, 2014
IN DEVELOPMENT

NEW YORK -- Last Friday before a shootaround at the Barclays Center, I sat down with Ricky Ledo, occasional reserve for the Dallas Mavericks and primary two-guard for the D-League's Texas Legends, to talk about his unconventional past two years.

Ledo is 21 years old. And in a way you don't often see from basketball players, even at this young age, Ledo is an unfinished product. It was clear in how he even conducted himself during our interview. Ledo was never rude, but you could see his mind start to wander a couple of minutes in. At one point, he picked up his phone to text as he answered a question, struggling to make eye contact.

To a question about whether he felt the team gave him a vote of confidence by signing him to a four-year contract after drafting him in the second round this summer, Ledo responded simply, "I don't know. I don't know." It seemed like I'd lost him.

But don't mistake this lack of polish for something sinister. Ledo is being asked to join the NBA without having played a single college game. But unlike many of the preps-to-pros players of the generation that preceded the league's current rule that prohibits making the jump directly from high school to the NBA, Ledo was forced to spend a year in suspended animation.

He signed with Providence College, but the NCAA made him a partial qualifier, a particularly NCAA kind of designation. That meant he could practice with the Friars, but not travel with the team or play in any games. That denied him of the practice most college basketball players get interacting with the media as well.

So when the Mavericks acquired him in a draft day trade with the Bucks after Milwaukee took him 43rd, then signed him for $3.2 million over four years, they were banking on Ledo's ability to simultaneously do the work usually completed in college basketball and learn the NBA game at the same time.

What will be fascinating to see with Ledo, a lanky 6-foot-7 guard with preternatural scoring ability and a rapidly developing game-management arsenal, is just how effective the D-League can be, not just as a college basketball supplement, but as a wholesale replacement for it.

The Mavericks have set themselves up for the best possible chance of success -- they made sure that the system being implemented by Texas Legends head coach Eduardo Najera and is identical to the one used by Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle.

"The ability to send guys to the D-League to get actual playing experience is huge," Carlisle told me. "We're fortunate that our team is only 25 minutes up the road, so a guy can go play, and get back if we want him to get back. We've had Ricky down in the D-League for significant stretches, and he's done a great job of embracing that opportunity to play, so that he can get his game better."

Ledo actually sounded more excited about his time with the Legends, where he's averaging 13.9 points per game in roughly 29 minutes per contest, than his NBA time with the Mavericks, where he's played 33 minutes, total, over 11 games. And the physical proximity of the two teams means Ledo can live in the same place, regardless of which team he's playing for. That convenience has helped Ledo adjust after roughly 18 months of rust during his post-high school limbo.

"I've gotten back in a groove. A couple games, I've scored like 20-something, but I haven't really gotten into my groove, how I normally score. And it's coming along, each game. So I'm just waiting for that."

For his coaches in Frisco, such as assistant for player development Travis Blakeley, it's been notable how quickly Ledo's picked up the game, particularly given his time off.

"What I think [the layoff] did was fuel the competitive fire in Ricky, because he realized how much basketball he'd missed, basketball that mattered," Blakely told me in a phone interview Monday. "Had he played at Providence, I'm not sure he'd have brought the same chip on his shoulder that he brings each day."

Blakeley would seem to have a point. When I asked Ledo what was going through his mind last November, the night he debuted in Houston against the Rockets, Ledo almost immediately responded by citing his detractors.

But all the attitude in the world can only get a player so far. Ledo, shuttling back and forth, is running the same things in practice, in Dallas or Frisco. And yet, this is only one part of how the Legends are developing Ledo. Blakeley pointed out something interesting: a player learning in the D-League doesn't face any of the ambiguities brought about by the loaded phrase "student-athlete."

"We can eliminate any of the superfluous distraction," Blakeley said. "Right now, Ricky only has to be concerned about himself, and his basketball game. He doesn't have to be concerned about class, he doesn't have to be concerned about co-eds, or any of that. It's merely basketball now. And so I think that creates a bit of a vacuum for Ricky or anybody else. So if they can come in, and have a singular focus, they can really develop much faster."

Scoring rhythm is only one aspect of Ledo's work this season. There's the time he's spending at the point position, with results like the January 4th game against Austin, where Ledo scored 16 points, pulled down 13 rebounds, and significantly, dished out eight assists against a single turnover. The Mavericks have assigned player development coach Mike Procopio as Ledo's "accountability buddy," as Blakely described him.

"He's here to work with Ricky on a day-to-day basis," Blakeley said of Procopio. "Ricky's putting in the standard practice time. Then he's getting in his player development time, which includes things like ball-handling, shooting, some more advanced personal skills. And then he's spending time in the weight room, working on his body. And all of that is in conjunction with a game plan directly from the Mavericks."

Blakeley hesitated at first when I asked him what he thinks Ledo can be, ultimately. But when I mentioned Shaun Livingston, a player of similar build, he didn't hesitate.

"I didn't want to bring that name up, but yes," Blakeley said, laughing. "Somewhere between Shaun Livingston and Penny Hardaway lives Ricky Ledo."

Livingston jumped right from high school to the pros. Hardaway spend two seasons with Memphis in college, developing his overall game. It makes you wonder: whatever becomes of Ledo himself, is the system he's in a better fit than either of those plans?

"If ultimately that's the goal [to play basketball], then absolutely," Blakeley said. "Now, I'm absolutely a proponent of education. I think that, if given the opportunity, players should try to get their college degrees." Blakeley cited P.J. Hairston, suspended by North Carolina for rules violations, now a teammate of Ledo's, as someone still enrolled in Chapel Hill to complete his college degree. "And I don't want to jump on the anti-NCAA bandwagon... but ultimately, if it's about development, I don't think there's any better way than the NBA Developmental League. You have NBA-style play, NBA-style coaching, NBA rules. And you have to deal with almost as equally rigorous a travel schedule. We only play 50 games, but we don't have private planes."

Ledo is getting some private plane time, too. And the periodic calls to return to Dallas, as Carlisle explained, are more than just about filling that fifteenth roster spot.

"A lot of it depends on the attitude, and the tack a player takes to it," Carlisle said of D-League assignments. "And he's approached it really well. There have been ups and downs, but he's learned from them. And when he came back to us after a month, there was a big difference. There was a difference in his work habits, there was a difference in the way he carried himself. And everybody was very impressed. That's why we bring him back, here and there, whenever we can, because we want to reward him."

That night in Brooklyn, Ledo didn't get into the game. The following day, he was on his way back to Frisco. That was just fine with him.

"You get good reps there," Ledo said. "Up here, you get opportunities, but your opportunities could be limited. [My game gets] further along in the D-League."

http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/67197458/dallas-mavericks-ricky-ledo-makes-most-of-the-d-league/