For the 2015-16 NBA D-League season, Blue Man Hoop is proud to announce that the site will be adding coverage of the Santa Cruz Warriors, the acting D-League affiliate of the Golden State Warriors. Pregame posts and postgame recaps will be added to the weekly agenda, as well as breaking news, editorials, exclusive interviews, and analysis.
The Santa Cruz Warriors, previously known as the Dakota Wizards prior to the team being purchased by Warriors owners Joe Lacob and Peter Guber, has been Golden State’s D-League affiliate since 2011. The team was formerly based out of Bismarck, North Dakota before their relocation Santa Cruz, California in 2012. Since then, their roster has helped develop players such as Kent Bazemore of the Atlanta Hawks, Dewayne Dedmon of the Orlando Magic, and Seth Curry — younger brother of reigning NBA MVP Stephen Curry — of the Sacramento Kings.
Other siblings of NBA stars have also been featured as part of Golden State’s D-League affiliate, most notably Blake Griffin‘s brother, Taylor, and Klay Thompson‘s brother, Mychel. Golden State Warriors center Festus Ezeli also spent limited time with Santa Cruz following knee surgery, and former Golden State center and NBA champion, Ognjen Kuzmic, spent time developing in Santa Cruz as well.
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This past season, the Santa Cruz Warriors, under the coaching of three-year head coach, Casey Hill, were able to achieve a season win-loss record of 35-15 (franchise-best) to win the West Division, tying with the Boston Celtics’ D-League affiliate, the Maine Red Claws, for the best record in the D-League. Santa Cruz would go on to win their first D-League title in the Santa Cruz era, sweeping the Fort Wayne Mad Ants in the NBA D-League Finals.
For the 2015-16 season, offseason news started with the Warriors acquiring a first round pick in the 2016 NBA D-League Draft, a second round draft pick in the 2015 NBA D-League Draft, and the rights to Kevin Jones from Raptors 905 — a team just recently introduced into the D-League this past summer — in exchange for a third round draft pick in the 2016 NBA D-League Draft and the rights to Ronald Roberts Jr.
The team would participate in the NBA D-League Draft on the morning of Oct. 31, acquiring seven players:
| Round | Pick | Name | School | Position | Height | Weight |
| 1 | 18 | Jarred Shaw | Utah State | F/C | 6’10” | 235 |
| 2 | 11 | Ronnie Brewer | Arkansas | F | 6’7” | 235 |
| 2 | 18 | Justin Manns | Kent State | C | 6’11” | 215 |
| 3 | 18 | Verdell Jones III | Indiana University | G | 6’5″ | 195 |
| 4 | 18 | Earnest Ross | Missouri | G | 6’5″ | 223 |
| 5 | 18 | Brandon Wooley | Northwestern Oklahoma State | G | 6’3″ | 180 |
| 6 | 18 | Terrence Drisdom | Cal Poly Pomona | G | 6’5″ | 175 |
In exchange for Manns, the Warriors would acquire former NBA center Daniel Orton from the Idaho Stampede. A former first-round pick, Coach Hill is looking forward to giving Orton another shot at the NBA after brief stints overseas.
"“Daniel is a proven center that can come in and change the way our team plays heading into the season,” said Hill, per the official team press release. “He is skilled on both ends of the floor and we are really looking forward to him as a tremendous addition to our roster.”"
Per a later news release, Santa Cruz confirmed that the players above would be a part of their training camp roster (sans Manns, of course), in addition to Xavier Henry, Chris Udofia, and Juwan Staten, who were all part of Golden State’s training camp roster. They will be joined by Darington Hobson, Milos Milisavljevic, Anthony Vereen, Daniel Nwaelele, and Moe Baker, who are all returning players.
The D-League Warriors will play their one and only preseason game against the Reno Bighorns on Saturday, Nov. 7 at 6:30 PM/PT at Kaiser Permanente Arena in Santa Cruz. All proceeds from that game will go towards refurbishing the Twin Lakes Church basketball court in Aptos, CA.
They’ll open their regular season at home at Kaiser Permanente Arena against the Bakersfield Jam at 7:00 PM/PT on Friday, Nov 13, during which all fans will receive an exclusive Opening Night T-shirt.
For information regarding tickets, be sure to click here.