Good afternoon everyone, hopefully your weekends have been off to a splendid start (especially for you NBA fans who took in some preseason action last night). You may have noticed things have been a bit quiet around these parts for the last 72 hours or so, this was due to a slightly busy stretch at the office and some additional business in my personal life. With all of that said, I wanted to say that starting tomorrow with the latest addition of Best of Wizards Watch, I'll be back to daily postings on the blog. 

I also felt this was a good time to take an early poll on how people are feeling about the new blog at this early juncture of the season. There have obviously been a lot of new features on the site, particularly the addition of video usage which you've all hopefully enjoyed. Additionally, we've had the aforementioned Best of Wizards Watch on Mondays and Tuesday morning is quickly becoming X's and O's day with the Wizards Chalkboard feature. But what I really want to know, is aside from those series, plus game previews and recaps, what do YOU want to see out of this website? What interests you guys? I want to hear any and all ideas, suggestions and critiques. Feel free to email me at jwhelan@kfyrtv.com with your thoughts.

The other bit of info to mention is regarding breaking news. I do my best to get posts up here regarding any major breaking news (such as the recent NBA call-ups that impacted the Wizards), but sometimes when news happens I'm either not near a computer or the news is of such importance that it needs to be released immediately. For that additional information stream please follow me on Twitter at my handle @JoeyWhelan for a steady stream of Wizards, D-League and NBA thoughts. Again, thank you to all who read, please continue to do so and spread the word! Let's make Wizards Watch a thriving basketball community!

Welcome back for a new season of the Wizards Watch Blog everyone! A year ago at this time I approached management at KFYR-TV with the idea of starting a daily blog about the Dakota Wizards as much to bring the best possible coverage of the team to all of you, as to satisfy my thirst for writing about basketball. The experiment was a good one in my mind in that I managed to maintain a daily blog for the season without it falling off and the response was a good one from fans. Well get ready for more.

As you can see, the blog's home base has switched to a new platform this season, one that will allow even greater range of coverage. In addition to the daily musings and advanced analysis that you've come to expect, Wizards Watch will be much more visual and interactive this season including video, highlights, more interviews, telestrator breakdowns and much, much more. The blog now has an archive system, so rather than one long string of posts, things will be much more manageable. Each post will be separate unto itself, with a comments section (something I strongly encourage you all to use) and the ability to be linked to individually. Last, but not least, there is also a contact page which you can see just underneath the site's banner. Have a longer comment on something you've seen on the site? Have a question, comment or something you want to see more of? I want to hear from you, this is an open and ongoing dialogue that will take us through the entire season and maybe even the playoffs. KFYR-TV will also continue it's excellent coverage of the Wizards in our nightly newscasts at 6 and 10 PM Central Time and of course Wizards Watch on Sunday's during the 5 PM newscast. 

Things officially get underway on Thursday night with the 2011 D-League Draft, but we'll have a look at some of the more intriguing names that will be available tomorrow. With that I will leave you with some opening words from last season that I feel are appropriate once again here. Enjoy and get ready for another season of Wizards basketball!

Standing On The Edge (originally printed November 19th, 2010)So here we are, standing on the precipice of another D-League season and as is always the case there are few certainties and a wealth of unknowns. Players will come and go, injuries will arise, the opponents will change, but the uniform remains the same. In the end that's what brings us all back, stitched and sewn fabric worn by players, many of whom will see their legacy in this town written in just a few short weeks, never to be read again. They are the Wizards collectively, but save for a few, are they ever really Wizards? The Renaldo Major's and Mo Baker's of the world are few and far between, outnumbered 10-to-1 by the Cory Underwoods and D'Lancy Carters. Players pass through town and time zone as part of the primordial soup that is the world of minor league basketball. Most will stay here, or hop across the pond where paychecks with more zeros await. Some will climb out onto the land and undergo the metamorphosis that is the hope of all NBA teams that send promising youngsters to far away lands like Bismarck. But that is not why we watch. Not for the ones that leave never to return. Not for the ones who pass beyond the realm of memory. We watch for that uniform, the sense of belonging to something greater than ourselves and for the game we love. It's time for basketball once again.