AUBURN HILLS – The league no longer carries its mission statement in the title, but development remains the priority for Rob Werdann.
The NBA Development League – the D-League, as everyone knew it – is now the G League, the result of Gatorade’s corporate sponsorship of the feeder system that’s becoming more important every season for the parent NBA team. When Stan Van Gundy plucked Rex Walters from the Grand Rapids Drive to help the Pistons do a better job of developing their own young players, he turned to Werdann to take Walters’ place in Grand Rapids.
“I think we hit a home run there,” Van Gundy said of Werdann, who for the past three years has served as a Pistons pro personnel scout.