I was wondering if the new g league system could effect Jabri’s decision of attending school. Being that his dad is the face of the g- league, I wonder if he will encourage him to take that route.
I’d be a little surprised if that was the case, mostly because this program has been in the works for a year according to the ESPN story about it, so I would imagine they’ve already considered it.
4 Likes
If anything it will be the opposite. I’m sure his Dad wants to see him go to school and develop his game to go straight to the NBA.
2 Likes
For the most part, I believe the G League’s (or, if you will, the NBA’s) decision to pursue high school players has been too long in coming. Greed and avarice have colored the decision making of the NCAA. Too many compromises have been made. Colleges are full of players who have no interest in pursuing a college degree. They’re just there to play ball. I don’t think concerns about current recruits are warranted. On the other hand, the fact that college coaches will have to consider the G League when pursuing a recruit won’t hurt Virginia at all. At least, not with the current regime. Schools that pursue student athletes will be fine. Schools that just pursue athletes are going to find themselves in jeopardy. I don’t know if the G League will ever gain much of a fan base. Various media outlets are always in search of content, so there might be a television contract in the near future. I believe the intercollegiate game isn’t what it was in the 80s or 90s. The ‘one & done’ era has changed the quality of the game. I suspect this will continue that trend. I imagine it is going to impact revenues. However, fans of schools will remain fans of schools. I think Virginia will only thrive in this brave new world.
5 Likes
This is an interesting topic, that I’ve had a variety of thoughts on. The short answer is no, I don’t think the G-League rule will have an immediate affect on the Hoos. I agree with @AdventiveQuasar, Jabri would be the one player with the best understanding of how the G-League rule works and if he thought it made sense to explore that route, they would have already done that.
As far as the rule goes, I think it’s a great rule. If a player wants to go pro they should be allowed to do so. The one-and-done rule was a joke and a disrespect to college basketball and educational institutions. Kids were basically dropping out at the beginning of the 2nd semester and playing out the string through the tournament. It makes a mockery of everyone. If they player doesn’t want to be there, they shouldn’t have to be, and they should be able to make money for their skill set like everyone else does.
Generally speaking, I feel safe saying CTB and staff don’t target kids who are eyeing the one-and-done path. So in that sense, I don’t think the recruiting strategy changes in the immediate future. What will be interesting to see is what will the UK’s KU’s and Dukes of the world do when they lose their recruiting pool? I make up they will begin looking at the next tier of player if 1-10 of ESPN’s top 100 are gone they will go after 11-20 and so on. That is where it could affect the Hoos, They may find themselves in more intense recruiting battles for their player pool. It was only 10 years ago that Duke was a 4 year school…
6 Likes
I am still not convinced that Virginia will be affected that much. Even if the Kentuckys, Dukes, etc., refocus their recruiting, the process is still self-filtering for Virginia. If a prospect imagines he can be a ‘one & done’, Virginia’s program will be of little interest. It doesn’t matter if the prospect is rated the #1 recruit in his class or #100. If his intention is to get lots of early playing time to play in an unstructured offense, he will look elsewhere. If he isn’t interested in attending class, UVa won’t appeal to him. Even though the G League may draw off the cream of any given class, there will still be plenty of players who imagine that they are ‘one & done’, even if they don’t get that G League invitation, but they were never likely to consider Virginia anyway.
3 Likes
As far as Jabri goes the fact that him and his Father both wanted him to go to Virginia says a lot. Jabri could have went to a lot of other schools or his Daddy could have encouraged him to go to the g league. Although these new rules have only started I’m sure they were in the works for a long time. His father obviously thought UVA was the best place for Jabri to go and develop his game and his future
2 Likes
The players that are taking these G deals or rumored to be considering it aren’t much of a loss for college basketball. They’re the kids that everybody knew thought of college as a 1-year purgatory stay. Some of them like Isaiah Todd wouldn’t have even been very good during their college year, and they’re all hard to keep motivated.
Those types don’t really go to Duke. Kentucky sometimes. Jalen Green is the perfect example. He said he probably would have gone to Memphis. That’s Penny’s market. Now it could be this first group are just pioneers, and it’ll become more popular for OADs across the board but right now they’re only grabbing the low hanging fruit.
And the way I understand it, these guys aren’t actually joining the G-league. They’re special “Select” contracts. They’ll all be put on one team that’ll spend the year training together and playing in exhibition games, some against G-League teams as well as the NBA Global Academies like Caffaro attended in Australia.
7 Likes
Totally agree @HoozGotNext. I don’t see these players are really affecting the overall landscape of college basketball. Honestly the NCAA has had players like this forever and the league keeps trudging along. UK is really the only major school to make a hit on the national scene with 1 and dones even then, it’s a checkered result.
3 Likes
Exactly…Green may play against a handful of G-League teams, but he’s not actually playing in the G-League. Seems to be the NBA’s way to get these kids to stay home instead of playing in China or Australia…$500k is a WHOLE lot more than $125k, and that doesn’t include endorsements.
5 Likes
Fact the NBA saw too much talent landing in Australia and wanted in
2 Likes
5 Likes
Could you expand on that? Is your view that this new G League program wouldn’t have been attractive to an RJ Barrett, Zion, Bagley, Tatum, Tyrese Maxey, etc.
I could be misunderstanding or taking out of context. Thanks
1 Like
I don’t believe any of those Duke players would have been interested, no. Maxey maybe. Most of these kids want to play college basketball. It’s part of the dream. Plus there’s the branding aspect. College makes them recognizable and marketable. Now if they could go directly into the draft, totally different story. Playing in obscurity for a year isn’t all that appealing.
5 Likes
Thanks, that makes sense and makes me feel better. In my opinion, players like Zion are great for CBB.
If this program had been in place last 5-7 years, who are some obvious choices as to who would have taken it (kids who went to school - RJ Hampton, etc. not included)? Ben Simmons comes to mind for me.
2 Likes
Good question. Can only guess. Not sure about Simmons. He had a lot to gain from CBB. Didn’t make the best college choice, not sure it was his to make. The one Dukie for sure is Trevon Duval. He would have jumped at this. Cam Reddish too maybe. Bol Bol would have gone. Probably Romeo Langford. Looking through 2019 class rankings…James Wiseman maybe. Anthony Edwards too. Jaden McDaniels almost certainly. Trendon Watford would be there. Precious Achuwa, yep.
3 Likes
You bring up the interesting question of is one year in relative obscurity but getting paid better than 1 year in the national spotlight. The reverse of this could also be asked.
Zion for instance got a 1 year audition tape for Nike and sponsors (granted he woulda gone straight to the nba if possible) but did that year at Duke with all ghe cameras actually help his brand and would that have been possible playing for the Sacramento Royals?
3 Likes
Fo years I’ve always thought using the NCAA hockey model would be so much better and look at this article that was just published…
6 Likes
While I do think Duke was the right choice for Zion, I think he is a special case, seeing as he was such an entertainer. I think ESPN would’ve found a way to have him on nightly no matter where he played last year, though Duke likely amplified ESPN’s ability to do so. I think this applies more to the James Weisman’s of the world, who honestly I tend to forget about since I didn’t see him this year. I am curious to see how much, if any, press Todd and Green get this year. This year will be a tone setter, and if guys who are cringing on going G League never see Todd and Green on TV… well maybe they think a year of exposure (in college) will pay bigger dividends long term than 400k for the one year.
3 Likes
That one year at Duke made Zion millions. With the help of ESPN of course, lol
3 Likes