Basketball
Box And One With David Bailey
By Wesley Chism Jr., BASN Staff Reporter
Jan 16, 2010

SEATTLE (BASN) -- The Sioux Falls Skyforce of the NBA's D-League are 10-10 and there isn’t on that roster that’s settling for mediocrity.  “We can be so much better than what our record indicates,” stated David Bailey. 

“I’ve got to get better at distributing the ball and become a better leader on the floor,” he added. This season, the 5-foot-8 guard is averaging 13 ppg, 2.6 rpg and 5.9 apg.  

He could be averaging 18 points and eight assists if the team could finish the easy buckets.   “My numbers aren’t important, I want to advance to the playoffs this season and focusing on winning a championship for this organization,” Bailey said.

Head Coach Tony Fritz is a Bobby Knight type of coach and is always teaching the players. “We absolutely love playing for him, he knows the game inside and out and I’ve benefited so much from it,” said Bailey.

The Skyforce average 110 points a game and when they win, they win big. There’s a lot of energy on the court accompanied with smiles all around.   “That’s so true, when we play together we are unstoppable,” commented Bailey.

“To accomplish this task we’ve got to buckle down on defense. We’ve got lots of guys on the team that can score but everyone knows that defense wins championships", said Bailey.

"We either help too much or not at all and rely on our big Man, Greg Stiemsma to bail us out and that has to change right away.”

VERSUS will air its first NBA Development League game on Saturday night 11 p.m. ET, with Sioux Falls hosting the Fort Wayne Mad Ants.   Throughout 2010, VERSUS will air 10 regular season and six playoff games from the NBA’s official minor league.   

Eric Musselman will be the analyst and Peter Young will be doing play-by-play for VERSUS' telecasts. The Mad Ants (8-12) and Skyforce (10-10) will face off for the third time this season.

T\he game that features two of the league's top scorers in Sioux Falls' Reggie Williams (25.4 ppg, third overall) and Fort Wayne's Ron Howard (22.4 ppg, sixth overall) battling for Eastern Conference positioning.  

The teams split their first two meetings this season.

“Oh it’s going to be a big game because I’ve got some guys over there that are from my neighborhood in Chicago and this will be for bragging rights not to mention that all of our family and friends will be tuned in as well, said Bailey.