Isaiah Todd decommits from Michigan, will pursue pro opportunities

Also thought I saw Strickland say this program would aim for 5 or 6 kids a year, no?

I thought I read that they intended to offer the top 15 kids. So maybe they figure on getting a third of them?

Does that mean they will have multi-year guys or how will they fill out the roster?

I think the plan would be to have the kids they offer into the progam (5-6 kids) balanced with standard-issue G-Leaguers.

Obviously, these contracts are one year, there definitely the potential for them to BECOME multi-year G-Leaguers if they don’t get drafted and make a roster.

I certainly hope you are not referring to anything I’ve posted.

Yeah, I don’t think they’d plan on getting them all. This interview is what I had seen (its a few months old). They say they anticipate “a handful” a year.

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What kind of players are expected to fill the remaining roster spots? That will be a challenge.

That article is the old rules. No one signed those deals AFAIK. They’ve clearly updated some things.

Ah well…given the nature, I can’t see them anticipating more than a few kids a year.

If these games for G-League Select are exhibitions throughout the season I’d actually expect the other G-League teams to empty their benches to get some other guys some minutes against them.

We’ll see what this means when the roster comes out, but it would appear that the plan is not necessarily to put young G-Leaguers on the roster, but veterans.

The NBA’s plan is to stock this team with veteran pro players who would be willing to balance mentorship of Green and other prospects with the personal opportunities that might emerge because of the intense NBA scouting exposure that will come with these teams.

The first kid who can’t hack it and becomes an undraftable prospect after playing in the G-League will be an interesting case study

I mean, at least he’ll have a few hundred thousand bucks in his pocket. Plenty of kids declare for the draft without degrees and don’t get drafted every year.

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Maybe. I just imagine there will be some subset of low 5 star / high 4-star kid who does this for 125k, and then it becomes apparent they aren’t close to being a pro. And then in subsequent years have no choice but to go play in 4th tier Grecian leagues for 35-40k, when they’d probably prefer to play in college for a couple years to develop their bodies before taking a shot abroad. Thought about it when I saw that Nimari Burnett got an offer.

FWIW, I think the compensation appears to be higher than than, but who knows. Odds are if they don’t get drafted after their year (which is inevitable if this goes long enough (otoh, this is probably short-lived since many expect the one-and-done rule to go away soon)) they’d still have a G-League deal.

Yeah, 125 is the old number. The number that no one took. Also a number that wouldn’t really move the needle for top kids as far as the numbers that are talked about for kids getting paid under the table.

One other thing about all of this and college basketball… I don’t really see the sport being impacted that much. People want to root for Duke, Michigan, Michigan State or whatever.

Say this G League option is successful and 60% of McDonald’s All-Americans do that instead of go to college as a one and done. That’s just going to mean that there are fewer one and dones in college basketball and probably more roster stability.

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Are you saying this is NBA’s way of combatting the seedy side of recruiting? I like it, if so, and hadn’t considered this angle

The NBA could care less about the seedy side of recruiting. The NBA put out an initial plan that wasn’t enough to move the needle while competing against overseas programs like the NBL or, if we’re being honest, college recruiting.

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Yeah, I think college basketball’s popularity is pretty immune to this. If sheer quality of play was your priority, you’d probably be watching something else.

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