PORTLAND — The Maine Red Claws have already exposed their fans to the off-court realities of being an NBA Development League franchise. Friday night, they will get their first chance to see what the NBADL is all about on the court.

The Red Claws make their home debut  (8 p.m.) at a sold-out Portland Expo against the NBADL’s other New England expansion franchise, the Springfield Armor. Maine returns from its inaugural road trip with a 1-1 record, dropping the season-opener in Sioux Falls, S.D., before collecting the franchise’s first win over the Dakota Wizards, 107-97, last Saturday.

One week into the season, the Red Claws’ roster looks very different from the training camp squad that scrimmaged in Auburn, Augusta and Portland. The team has already added four players who were not on the preseason roster, including its first two assigned from its NBA parent clubs, the Boston Celtics and Charlotte Bobcats. Bill Walker, a 6-foot-6 forward who started the season in Boston, is the Claws’ leading scorer and rebounder (22 ppg, 9.5 rpg) through the first two games. Alexis Ajinca, a 7-foot center, appeared in six games for the Bobcats this season before being assigned to Maine on Monday.

The other two new players are 6-foot-9 forward Trey Glider, who signed with the Claws as a free agent on Monday, and Mario West, a 6-foot-5 guard formerly with the Atlanta Hawks who Maine signed off of waivers on Tuesday.

 The presence of NBA talent on the Expo’s new parquet floor should make for an even more boisterous atmosphere in the refurbished 3,100-seat building. The Expo is much smaller than most NBADL venues, but Red Claws head coach Austin Ainge is hoping 

“Anytime you get a lot of loud fans in this place, hopefully it will be a big motivator to our team and hopefully we can establish a home court dominance here,” Ainge said. “It will be a very fun atmosphere for the fans.” 

Now in its ninth year, NBADL basketball has developed the reputation as a more wide-open league than the NBA. Thirteen of the league’s 16 franchises (81 percent) averaged over 100 points per game last season, compared to less than half (13 of 30) NBA teams. 

Billy Thomas, the Red Claws’ first expansion pick and a four-year NBADL veteran, said the league gives players a chance to prove themselves, and that gives fans a chance to see NBA-caliber talent playing every game as if their careers depend upon it. 

“There are going to be a lot of guys working diligently to show that they’re worthy of trying to make an NBA team,” said Thomas, who is second on the team in scoring (18 ppg). “You’ll see guys with some amazing athleticism throughout the league. You’ll see a lot of scoring from the better offensive teams and you’ll see some teams that are pretty good defensively. You’re going to see a wide range of skill sets, just as you’ll see in the NBA.”

Getting players ready for the NBA when they’re needed is Ainge’s primary job as an NBADL coach. All of the Claws’ players are available to any NBA that wants to sign them, except for those that are assigned by the Celtics and Bobcats. Ainge, whose father, Danny, is the Celtics’ general manager, thinks the Red Claws’ relationship with the parent clubs will be beneficial for all.  

 “We hope to establish a place where the Celtics and Bobcats organizations can feel confident that their players will get better and develop good habits when they come to us,” he said.

But, Ainge added, player development doesn’t come at the expense of putting a winning product on the floor.

“Those things coincide 90 percent of the time. It’s not an either/or situation,” he said. “Most of the time, when the guys are getting better, our team is getting better. A lot of these guys, especially some of the older guys, have peaked physically and their skills kind of are what they are. A lot of it’s the mental side. We’re teaching them how to win, which is as important as the other skills.”