Not sure I’m following. If baseball does it right and the G league works the same way. . . isn’t that a good thing in your eyes? There are contradictions that the NCAA and NBA can’t fix in how the economic system works that place pressure on these kids to maximize earnings. I say that even if it takes 20-30 kids a year out of the college mix it still helps make college hoop more stable, and removes some of the temptations of agents, all the garbage that has grown like topsy around the game.
Some of the wider effects are going undiscussed, but I imagine that if the NBA can cultivate fresh talent for peanuts this places downward pressure on NBA salaries as a whole. . . not easy to corroborate, perhaps, but works with immigrant labor. And if the NCAA is less the farm league for the NBA. . .
Yes the G league is good in my eyes but the NCAA and NBA need to take the next step. Take out the G league draft and go straight to the NBA draft. Have the kid be drafted by an NBA team knowing he’s going to possibly spend a couple years in the g league. If he doesn’t like where he’s drafted then he can choose to go to college but would have to stay for a certain number of years. Keeps the NCAA stable and gives the kids the options without hurting them.
Obviously I’m over simplifying things but the model works for baseball. Not sure why it couldn’t work for the NBA.
Personally I’d prefer draft and follow like the NHL. But with a better G league. Teams can tell a player to stay in school or go to their minor league squad. Every front office would have a different philosophy. And players could leave school at any time.
I don’t want the option of getting drafted and then deciding not to if they don’t like their situation. Then it’ll screw over college programs like it does for the OHL draft. Players will say they’re going to school so teams will choose not to take the risk Incase he is not bluffing. But then they fall to a better team and end up signing. Meanwhile, the schools were just used as leverage.
It’s not perfect. There are some front offices that really push their draftees one way or the other. Some are good with players chilling in college til they’re ready. Others prefer to have more control over how their prospects develop and want them in the minors. But if you’re a college coach, you’ll at least know whether your players are likely to stay only one year, if that, or have the chance to develop while in school.
I’d merely add that the NBA, right or wrong, doesn’t broadly think that highly of NCAA coaching, nor do I think they’d agree with the statement that G League coaching is “inferior”.
Is this a sign that the bag man market is a bit dry right now? Although when I see a school like Vanderbilt all the sudden become a basketball destination on par with schools like Duke UNC and Kentucky I can’t help but shake my head and think there’s plenty of money still flowing through the system.