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BlueDevil

College Bball Thread

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If you’re paying attention to the DOJ college basketball case, you’ll note that the $125K is in line with the numbers being tossed around as having been paid to players via shoe companies. In some cases more, in some cases less than what players allegedly received but in the ballpark.

I think this won’t be the easy decision some are already claiming it is, though. Yes, you get paid without any hassle and you get access to “NBA infrastructure, as well as a bevy of off-court development programs geared towards facilitating and accelerating their transition to the pro game.” However, there are some questions…

1. Brand. The reality is that no serious number of people are going to watch the GLeague, with or without elite HS players coming straight into it. That’s just reality. Might it shift over time? Sure, but that will take a LONNNNNNGGGG time. The calculation for many will be that the year of playing at a high profile school for a year will more than offset $125K. For everybody? Nope, but I believe absolutely so for some. So if you want name recognition, I’m not sure the GLeague is the best way to go about it.

2. More importantly, there’s the issue of the draft. Keep in mind, when someone takes this offer, they’re not signing a two way or playing in the NBA at all that year. The entry rule for the Draft remains unchanged. So they’re going to be earning their draft position by playing against men 5-6 years older than they are (in most instances) who are desperately trying to earn a look from the NBA, same as they are…except they’ll be more physically and mentally mature in most cases. Again, in the long run, are you better off going this route and possibly being exposed or just simply shown to be not ready for grown man levels of play, or are you helped more by playing in college for a year? I think that’s going to be a calculation with multiple answers, depending upon the situation.

To me, it boils down to this…does the $125K “move the needle,” given the downsides (worse conditions for training/playing in most instances which negatively impacts draft status, etc.)? I’m not sure it does but we’ll begin to find out soon enough.

Edited by VeevlandBrowns
Grammar

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10 hours ago, VeevlandBrowns said:

If you’re paying attention to the DOJ college basketball case, you’ll note that the $125K is in line with the numbers being tossed around as having been paid to players via shoe companies. In some cases more, in some cases less than what players allegedly received but in the ballpark.

I think this won’t be the easy decision some are already claiming it is, though. Yes, you get paid without any hassle and you get access to “NBA infrastructure, as well as a bevy of off-court development programs geared towards facilitating and accelerating their transition to the pro game.” However, there are some questions…

1. Brand. The reality is that no serious number of people are going to watch the GLeague, with or without elite HS players coming straight into it. That’s just reality. Might it shift over time? Sure, but that will take a LONNNNNNGGGG time. The calculation for many will be that the year of playing at a high profile school for a year will more than offset $125K. For everybody? Nope, but I believe absolutely so for some. So if you want name recognition, I’m not sure the GLeague is the best way to go about it.

2. More importantly, there’s the issue of the draft. Keep in mind, when someone takes this offer, they’re not signing a two way or playing in the NBA at all that year. The entry rule for the Draft remains unchanged. So they’re going to be earning their draft position by playing against men 5-6 years older than they are (in most instances) who are desperately trying to earn a look from the NBA, same as they are…except they’ll be more physically and mentally mature in most cases. Again, in the long run, are you better off going this route and possibly being exposed or just simply shown to be not ready for grown man levels of play, or are you helped more by playing in college for a year? I think that’s going to be a calculation with multiple answers, depending upon the situation.

To me, it boils down to this…does the $125K “move the needle,” given the downsides (worse conditions for training/playing in most instances which negatively impacts draft status, etc.)? I’m not sure it does but we’ll begin to find out soon enough.

Well put.  I just can't envision a scenario where people are tuning into a G League game (are they even on anything other than NBA TV?) even if they had Zion Williamson type of players.  The games mean nothing, are played in front of a few thousand fans in cities like Fort Wayne, Canton, Westchester, and Sioux Falls to name a few, and don't even get any run time on ESPN.

Plus, a $125,000/yr contract paid out over 8 months to a year is a lot less sexy than a $125,000 cash bribe to a lot of these kids' handlers, especially because the former is taxed, while the latter is almost certainly not.

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Depending on the level of prospect, the $125k for the G League year will be trivial because they'll be good enough to earn a big endorsement from one or more companies in that year to lock them up long term.

If you recall, LeBron James signed a $100M Nike deal before he played a single NBA game. Under this structure, a player that good could sign one or more endorsement deals in the tens of millions of dollars before they're eligible for the NBA Draft. For any player talented enough to get that kind of consideration, I don't think the year of marketing would be a big deal.

And maybe some marginal players could earn say a $1M shoe deal for five years if they're good enough to get one of these deals, which is a hedge that ends up being a big win for the shoe company if the player ends up being a Donovan Mitchell or a Devin Booker by the end of that term. I think that's the big part of this that people aren't fully considering, but we'll see what develops. There isn't a next LeBron on the horizon, even Bagley wouldn't have earned a $1M endorsement in such a G League structure I don't think but this could get the attention of marketers looking for deals.

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4 hours ago, Uspshoosier said:

https://www.kansascity.com/sports/college/sec/university-of-missouri/article220418975.html
Brutal for Jontay Porter for Missouri. Tore Acl/Mcl in closed scrimmage


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That’s ugly. Highly skilled, but wasn’t an explosive athlete before the injury. Also didn’t always play hard. He’s really young, i don’t think he’s 19 yet, so hopefully he can mature through his rehab and get all the way back. Be interested to see if he goes back into the draft next year.

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Illinois has exactly one player who is A) 6'6" or taller, B) Has also played D1 ball before, and C) Is a top 300 recruit. His name is Kipper Nichols, and he will start at the four spot.

So, the 'Fighting' Illini have their publicly attended intersquad scrimmage game yesterday. Here's the recap from the local paper (summary of article? As Hovadipo would say...'Woof'):

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ilini get heated in open practice. With about three weeks left until the return of college basketball, the Illinois men’s basketball team held another practice open to the fans and media at 11 a.m. in the Ubben practice facility Saturday. While the players and Underwood weren’t available for interviews, here’s what went down.

Friendly fire: After the warmup drills were completed, the Illini went full-court live 5-on-5 in multiple drills. A rebounding drill started off the live ball sections, and Underwood made himself heard, showing frustration with the team for its lack of communication and spotty effort. Junior Kipper Nichols gave up an offensive rebound to freshman Tevian Jones and was laid into by Underwood, who told him that he had two rebounds all of last practice and had zero so far on Saturday. Nichols and Jones got tangled up on the next rep, both playing physically and eventually slamming into the ground. Nichols, who landed on top of Jones, used him to get up, pushing off his body and saying something on the way up. Nichols’ scrimmage team got the ball and pushed ahead for a tough layup from Andres Feliz, who has continued his strong play, but on the way back down around midcourt, Jones and Nichols came together and began a verbal exchange. One thing led to another, and punches were thrown and missed before players and coaches could separate them. Senior graduate transfer Adonis De La Rosa was first on the scene, showing off his ahead-of-schedule mobility by getting between the two wings and restraining Nichols while a group of players and coaches secured Jones. Underwood chided the two for being childish before starting the same drill over again.

After that incident, there were no more physical altercations, but the physicality of practice picked up, with freshman bigs Samba Kane and Giorgi Bezhanishvili getting into it at one point.

Big guest

Four-star big man Drew Timme watched the Illini practice on Saturday with his family before working out in front of the remaining fans after practice was over. Timme, a 6-foot-10 senior from Richardson, Texas, is the 41st ranked recruit on 247Sports and listed the Illini in his top five alongside Alabama, Gonzaga, Texas A&M and Arizona. After the team’s practice was over and the players were shooting free throws, Bezhanishvili showed off his ability to shoot free throws with either hand before rebounding for Timme to warm him up for his workout.

Feeling things out

Just like the last open practice, the Illini brought in referees to officiate the live ball sections. While it seemed like the Illini got along with the referees for the most part, there were occasions when players — usually the younger guys — didn’t see things the same way as the refs. Freshman guard Ayo Dosunmu was called for a number of turnovers because of offensive fouls, carries and travels, causing him to have to run nine sprints after practice, one for each turnover. Bezhanishvili also had a consistent dialogue with the refs. He was unhappy with a number of calls and no-calls he got over the course of practice, most notably a blocking foul he was called for while trying to cut off Dosunmu hedging a pick-and-roll.

Quiet Illini

Underwood spent a large portion of the practice working on the Illini’s transition defense, with both the orange and blue teams pushing the tempo off misses and makes. After a couple of trips where the defense surrendered an open three-pointer, Underwood got on his team for their lack of communication, saying their transition defense was horrible because no one on either team was talking. Underwood also talked about how it may be hard to play so fast and defend a pace like that, but that’s why the Illini are doing it. At times, Underwood got on various perimeter players for not defending the ball hard enough and other players for making bad reads offensively. Trent Frazier received a bewildered look from Underwood after he took a contested three-pointer when the Illini were practicing sets. The team now has less than 20 days until exhibition games start at the State Farm Center.

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30 minutes ago, Class of '66 Old Fart said:

Anybody not getting an NCAA waiver?  Seems like on both the men's and women's side all the requests are being approved.

I think I read somewhere that somebody was prepared to challenge a denial in court. If so NCAA is probably terrified of a court ruling in favor of the players 

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