Jazz, 3 other teams affiliated with NBDL Albuquerque club

If the Utah Jazz decide to make use of the "D-League" option now available to them, their players would toil for the new Albuquerque Thunderbirds under 12-year NBA veteran player Michael Cooper, named T-bird coach last month.

The NBA announced its assignments for the eight NBA Development League teams on Monday, with most of them kept in the general geographic area. The Jazz were grouped with Phoenix, Sacramento and Seattle in Albuquerque.

Jazz senior vice president of basketball operations Kevin O'Connor said he was pleased with the announcement because of Cooper's experience and because of the group that owns Albuquerque and three other D-League franchises.

Southwest Basketball LLC is headed by former Indiana Pacers executive David Kahn, a long-time friend of O'Connor's. They spoke by phone Monday morning, and O'Connor likes having someone of Kahn's experience in ownership of the team. Kahn, who was on Donnie Walsh's staff at Indiana, includes tennis player Andre Agassi in his group of investors. Southwest will also operate teams in Tulsa, Austin and Fort Worth.

Of getting an affiliated team with Cooper as coach, O'Connor said he is "thrilled about that. He has a lot of experience." The former Los Angeles Laker known for his defense, Cooper has been a head coach in the WNBA and was most recently an assistant coach for the NBA Denver Nuggets. He played collegiately in Albuquerque for New Mexico.

Just how much the Jazz will use the D-League isn't even good speculation at the moment. "It depends on circumstances," said O'Connor, with a roster that now includes four players who would be eligible for the league, which will allow NBA teams to send players in their first or second professional years of experience.

NBA teams can put up to two players on a D-League affiliate. Those players would earn their regular NBA salaries, per diems and the like. No one player may be sent down more than three times in a season, and that player would be placed on his NBA team's inactive list.

Eligible for Jazz D-League reassignment would be second-year Jazzman Kris Humphries and rookies Deron Williams, C.J. Miles and Robert Whaley. O'Connor talked more in terms of using the D-League for return from possible injury for a young player than using it for their pure learning purposes, but those are decisions that will be made much later.

Albuquerque opens its first season Nov. 18 hosting Tulsa, coached by former DePaul figure Joey Meyer, a veteran NBDL head man.