Interesting read
That’s discouraging. I don’t see Belein being effective in an environment of self serving shoe companies, agents and coaches. Hopefully JB can find some themes consistent with the exclusive nature of the Jumpman relationship and what it is said to represent.
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I don’t know that he has to be. He’s embedded in it whether he likes it or not. The only way to get rid of this corruption is to make a free market for youth players like in Europe.
“Meantime, it’s rarely a coincidence when a prospect who spends his summers playing for a Nike-funded team ends up on visits to Nike-sponsored schools. Same goes for kids with Under Armour connections. Same goes for kids tied to Adidas.”
Has anyone statistically shown how often Nike/UA/Adidas recruits pick Nike/UA/Adidas schools? It’s obviously logical, but it would be good to know the extent to which this is true.
The high profile kids have the tendency to go to the same sneaker school as their AAU team. One of the exceptions to that was the Harrison twins. Their HS and AAU programs were funded by UA and they went to Kentucky. Neither wear UA now. The biggest example of this was Antonio Blakeney, who ended up at LSU after making a verbal commitment to Louisville. Read this article, if you aren’t familiar with his story http://www.courier-journal.com/story/adam-himmelsbach/2014/09/16/himmelsbach-do-not-blame-antonio-blakeney/15741653/
A kid like Trevon Duval has Maryland and UCLA (just signed a mega deal with UA) high on his list and will probably head to a “UA” high school for his third HS in three years.
That environment has lasted for the last 20 years.