Mo McHone will return to coach the Skyforce in 2011-12.

"Looking for mo (Skyforce) wins this season," said team president Mike Heineman. He confirmed that an announcement will be made on Thursday.

McHone took over the club during the 2010-11 season when Tony Fritz was fired.

Sioux Falls is coming off its worst season since joining the NBA D-League at 10-40.

USA Basketball and the NBA Development League announced plans that call for the USA Men’s Pan American Games Team roster to be comprised of coaches and players from the NBA Development League. USA Basketball also announced that Tulsa 66ers head coach Nate Tibbetts has been selected to serve as the USA’s head coach and that 66ers assistant coach Dale Osbourne will fill one of the team’s two assistant coach positions.

One additional assistant coach and the players who will contend for roster positions will be announced at a later date.

The Pan American Games Committee, chaired by USA Basketball Men’s National Team Director Sean Ford, is charged with the coach and player selections for the 2011 USA Pan American Games squad.

“USA Basketball is excited to join forces with the NBA Development League to field the 2011 USA Pan American Games Men’s basketball team,” stated Ford. “Nate is one of the best coaches in the NBA D-League, he will bring great leadership and experience to the team. The fact that Nate and Dale already have a successful working relationship is a real benefit.”

“We’re excited about the opportunity for players and coaches from the NBA Development League to represent their country on an international stage,” said NBA D-League President Dan Reed. “This is another testament to the world-class basketball talent we're attracting and promoting to the NBA, and we're very pleased to partner with USA Basketball to go for the gold!”

The Maine Red Claws today introduced Dave Leitao as the team’s head coach.

“Dave Leitao has a tremendous resume of developing young talent and of getting the best out of his players,” said Red Claws President and General Manager Jon Jennings. “Our players will benefit greatly from his experience and emphasis on defense and winning. “Dave as the head coach of the Maine Red Claws is a great addition for the franchise. This organization has enjoyed a great number of successes, on and off the court, and this day marks the beginning step to the next level for this franchise.”

The Massachusetts native is the former head coach of the University of Virginia where he was named the 2006-07 Atlantic Coast Conference Coach of the Year by the Associated Press as well as the 2007 National Association of Basketball Coaches District 5 Coach of the Year. Previously, he was head coach at Northeastern University and DePaul University and served lengthy stints as an assistant coach at Northeastern and the University of Connecticut. As the assistant coach at UConn, Leitao served under Hall-of-Fame head coach Jim Calhoun for whom he had also played at Northeastern University.

Nancy Lieberman has accepted a new position as the Legends’ Assistant General Manager.

Lieberman led the Legends to a playoff berth in their inaugural season last year – becoming only the third coach in the NBA or NBA D-League to lead an expansion team to the play-offs. Now, she will have an opportunity to contribute to even more success from the front office.

“Nancy took on a tremendous challenge in becoming our head coach,” Legends owner Donnie Nelson commented. “And she embraced that challenge like she has throughout her life. She was everything I could have hoped for as a head coach.”

The Rio Grande Valley Vipers announced on Friday that head coach Chris Finch has earned a promotion to become an assistant coach with their parent club, the Houston Rockets.

“I want to thank everybody within the Vipers organization for all their support and professionalism over the last two years. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there and working with everybody. I found the experience both rewarding and very helpful in preparing me for my next opportunity,” Finch said.

Finch becomes the second Vipers coach to earn a promotion to an NBA coaching staff, with Robert Pack, an assistant coach during the 2008-09 season, becoming an assistant coach with the New Orleans Hornets, who were one of the Vipers’ parents clubs that year. Pack is now on the Los Angeles Clippers’ coaching staff.

Finch is the second coach to earn a promotion to the NBA this off-season, following in the footsteps of Maine Red Claws head coach Austin Ainge, who recently joined the Boston Celtics as Director of Player Personnel.

Finch will serve under head coach Kevin McHale.

Cleveland Cavaliers Director of Player Personnel Wes Wilcox has been named general manager of the Cleveland Cavaliers new NBA Development League franchise in Canton, Cavaliers General Manager Chris Grant announced today.

"Having Wes in this role is another reflection of the synergy and connectivity that owning and operating our own D-League team in Canton provides. As Wes has been an integral member of our staff for the past eight years, it enhances the opportunity for us to extend our team and organizational culture further into the player development process. Wes has been intricately involved in the D League evolution over the last several years and the Canton franchise has already and will continue to, greatly benefit from his knowledge and experience."

Wilcox will oversee all of the Canton team’s basketball operations elements, as well as all team personnel and activities. He will also continue in his role as the director of player personnel for the Cavaliers.

The Fort Wayne Mad Ants have extended assistant coach Steve Gansey’s contract for the 2011-12 season. This will be Gansey’s third season with the team.

“We are very excited to have Steve returning to the Mad Ants,” said Mad Ants President Jeff Potter. “He has demonstrated in his short time in the D-League that he has a very bright future, and we are happy to have him start his career here in Fort Wayne.”

Gansey began his career with the Ants as a volunteer assistant coach during the 2009-10 season under head coach Joey Meyer. Meyer and Potter were so pleased with his work that they hired him as assistant coach position for the 2010-11 season at the young age of 24.

The National Basketball Association and the NBA Development League announced the affiliation system for the 2011-12 season. An all-time high nine NBA teams will have single NBA D-League affiliates - more than double last season's total of four - including first-year partnerships between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Canton, the Golden State Warriors and Dakota Wizards, the New Jersey Nets and Springfield Armor and the New York Knicks and Erie BayHawks, along with the return of the Los Angeles D-Fenders, the Los Angeles Lakers' single affiliate.

For the seventh consecutive year, each NBA team has one NBA D-League team to which it may assign players. During the 2010-11 season, the NBA D-League saw all-time highs in NBA player assignments (56), individual players assigned (39) and NBA teams assigning a player (25), while last season marked the first time every NBA D-League team was assigned an NBA player.

"We're very excited that an all-time-high nine NBA teams will have exclusive, 'one-to-one' relationships with their NBA D-League affiliates this coming season," said NBA D-League President Dan Reed. "This clear trend of NBA teams buying into the NBA D-League is not only a testament to our past success, but also the sign of a very promising future."

The NBA D-League will again have 16 teams playing in 2011-12, including Canton, which will play its first year in Canton, Ohio, under the ownership of the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Los Angeles D-Fenders, who resume operation under the ownership of the Los Angeles Lakers after taking a one-year hiatus.

Along with Canton and the D-Fenders, the Austin Toros (San Antonio Spurs), Dakota Wizards (Golden State Warriors) and Tulsa 66ers (Oklahoma City Thunder) are fully owned and operated by their NBA affiliates. The Rio Grande Valley Vipers (Houston Rockets), Springfield Armor (New Jersey Nets) and Erie BayHawks (New York Knicks) all have 'hybrid' single-affiliation partnerships, where the NBA teams control their NBA D-League affiliates' basketball operations. Meanwhile, the NBA Champion Dallas Mavericks remain solely affiliated with the Texas Legends.

The complete affiliation system for 2011-12 is listed below:

AUSTIN TOROS (TX)
San Antonio Spurs

BAKERSFIELD JAM (CA)
Los Angeles Clippers
Phoenix Suns
Toronto Raptors

CANTON (OH)
Cleveland Cavaliers

DAKOTA WIZARDS (Bismarck, ND)
Golden State Warriors

ERIE BAYHAWKS (PA)
New York Knicks

FORT WAYNE MAD ANTS (IN)
Detroit Pistons
Indiana Pacers
Milwaukee Bucks

IDAHO STAMPEDE (Boise, ID)
Denver Nuggets
Portland Trail Blazers
Utah Jazz

IOWA ENERGY (Des Moines, IA)
Chicago Bulls
New Orleans Hornets
Washington Wizards

LOS ANGELES D-FENDERS (CA)
Los Angeles Lakers

MAINE RED CLAWS (Portland, ME)
Boston Celtics
Charlotte Bobcats
Philadelphia 76ers

RENO BIGHORNS (NV)
Atlanta Hawks
Memphis Grizzlies
Sacramento Kings

RIO GRANDE VALLEY VIPERS (TX)
Houston Rockets

SIOUX FALLS SKYFORCE (SD)
Miami Heat
Minnesota Timberwolves
Orlando Magic

SPRINGFIELD ARMOR (MA)
New Jersey Nets

TEXAS LEGENDS (Frisco, TX)
Dallas Mavericks

TULSA 66ERS (OK)
Oklahoma City Thunder

Canton will be the site of the Cavaliers new NBA Development League team. The Cavaliers have called a noon news conference in Canton to formally announce the move.

While the selection of Canton is a bit of a surprise -- Youngstown had been the rumored site -- it was clear the Cavaliers were going to try their hand at running their own team in the D-League after the Erie BayHawks, the Cavs' D-League affiliate since 2008, recently signed an exclusive agreement with the New York Knicks.

Such exclusive agreements have become popular recently, with a number of teams preferring a one-on-one partnership. The Cavs shared the BayHawks affiliation with the Toronto Raptors.

The Fort Wayne Mad Ants have extended head coach Joey Meyer’s contract for the 2011-12 season. Meyer was named to the position in June of 2009.

“We are very happy to have Coach back for another season with the Mad Ants,” said Mad Ants President Jeff Potter. “We have seen unquestioned improvements every year with Joey and we look forward to that trend continuing in the upcoming season.”

In his first two seasons as head coach of the Ants, Meyer has led the team to a 46-54 record. The 2010-11 team recorded the most wins, for the franchise in a season and was half a game shy of making the playoffs with a 24-26 record. Under Meyer’s two year reign, the Mad Ants have had 3 players earn Call-Ups to the NBA.