Portland Trail Blazers, Idaho Stampede To Hold D-League Open Tryouts

Know someone that wants to be the next Nolan Smith? Is that someone you?

If so, the Idaho Stampede, the Portland Trail Blazers' D-League affiliate, are holding a pair of open tryouts to assess talent. The first tryout will take place in Boise on September 21. The second tryout will take place in Portland on September 28.

Here are the full details.

The Idaho Stampede will hold exclusive player tryouts in advance of the team's 2013-14 season, the 16th season in the team's history.

The organization, under direction from the Portland Trail Blazers, the team's single NBA affiliate, will host the tryouts in Boise on Sept. 21, 2013 at the Ada County Boys and Girls Club and in Portland on Sept. 28, 2013 at the Trail Blazers Practice Facility. Both tryouts will start with registration at 9 a.m. and end no later than 12 p.m.

These exclusive tryouts will offer players the opportunity to show their abilities in front of Stampede coaching and scouting staff, along with Trail Blazers personnel, with the chance of an invite to Stampede training camp.

Space will be limited for each tryout, and potential participants are encouraged to take advantage of early discounted registration. Early registration costs $125 and will be available until Sept. 14 for the Boise tryout and Sept. 21 for the Portland tryout. The fee will increase to $150 the week of the tryout. Walk-ups will be accepted the day of the tryout, if space is available. Players can find registration forms at the Idaho Stampede front office, idahostampede.com and trailblazers.com.

Players can register here and pay at the door, or submit registration along with payment information (credit/debit card or cash) to: Matt McKay, Portland Trail Blazers, 7325 SW Childs Rd., Portland, OR 97224, faxed (credit/debit only) to 503-797-9996, or sent to McKay's email address.

The Stampede finished the 2012-13 season with a record of 19-31 in their first year under former high school coach Michael Peck.

The Blazers set up a single-affiliation relationship with the Stampede last year but used the club sparingly.

Stampede Managing Investor Bill Ilett took some shots at the Blazers back in January after his team got off to a slow start. Ilett hoped that the Blazers would assign players for longer stretches to help build a relationship with the D-League team's fans. Shortly after making those comments, Ilett backtracked and said he needed to "take a pill."

The Blazers assigned Will Barton, Victor Claver, Joel Freeland and Smith to the Stampede at various points during the 2012-13 season but did not assign any players to the Stampede following Ilett's statements.

-- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter