Jun

22

NBA Needs A Real Minor League

Posted by Jeff Sack under SDC COMMENTARY, Slam Dunk NBA Draft Central 

Basketball never seems to be too far away in the USA in 2008. The NBA season opens at the beginning of November and the Finals end in the middle of June. And just as teams, media, and fans have a little time to catch their collective breath, the NBA Draft is now just days away. June 26, a young man probably named Derrick Rose will be picked first by the Chicago Bulls, giving him fortune and fame, and if he plays his cards right, will set his family up for generations. It is the “Great American Dream” come true, with talent and hard work, you can become rich and famous. It is hard not to feel a vicarious joy for this young man. This a great opportunity for the point guard out of Memphis, but how good is it for the NBA?

Derrick Rose had a phenomenal freshman year at Memphis taking his team to the NCAA Championship game before losing to Kansas on April 7. Rose has been compared to Jason Kidd and our own Russ Loede made a comparison between Rose and Gary Payton. Rose probably does have the skill set, and talent to make some waves next season in the Association. But just think how much better he would be if he had four years of seasoning under his belt, before he made his debut in the NBA, instead of just one.

Now do I begrudge young Mr. Rose the chance that he has to make the amount of money that he will soon be getting? If I were in his position, and his age it would be tough to turn down the sure thing. But the worst thing about it is it does not have to be an all or nothing situation, there could be an alternative. So it is once again time for me to get on my annual soap box that I have gotten on every year since the fall of 1999.

It was the start of the 1999-2000 NBA season, the Cleveland Cavaliers were just starting their descent into NBA purgatory. The slow down team that had bored the fans but made the playoffs every year, only to be eliminated early in the postseason had come to an end. Mike Fratello who at times seemed to almost want to antagonize the Cleveland fans with the 1954 “Hoosiers” type offense he was running had been fired. In his place they brought in Minnesota Timberwolves assistant Randy Wittman to bring in a “fast break game” which never materialized. My mind jumps back to a conversation I had with Wittman, after the Cavs first home game. I asked the coach whether he was as impressed as I was with the court awareness, and quarterbacking skills of rookie point guard Andre Miller, who was then playing in only his second NBA game. Wittman agreed with my assessment, attributing it to Miller spending four years playing college ball, and playing for a great Utah program run by Rick Majerus.

This is not a column promoting that athletes stay in college for four years. I truly believe that college is not for everybody. If an athlete wants to get an education in exchange for playing for an institution of higher education, more power to him. However, lets be realistic, the so called symbiotic relationship between colleges and athletes is weighted heavily in the schools favor. Yes, the athlete has a chance to get a degree, but the schools are getting a huge revenue source in the bargain. And with the emphasis on athletics at the cost of education, many times if an athlete does get their degree, it?s not worth the paper it?s printed on. Not to say that this happens all the time, but how many times in recent history have we read about shenanigans such as tutors giving students answers to test questions, and other students who barely show up to class.

There are also athletes who are in true financial hardship, whose families live in poverty and are counting on them to help attain a better life. Families that are on the verge of being evicted from their homes, or are living from paycheck to paycheck. These athletes feel obligated to go pro, many times before they or their coaches feel their skills are ready to make an impact in the NBA. And the end result , is the player suffers, the league suffers, and in turn you the fan, suffers. The player suffers by never realizing their potential, the fan suffers with inferior play on the NBA courts, and the league suffers with less attendance in arenas, and less viewers for their televised games.

So what is the solution to this dilemma? It?s actually quite simple, the NBA should emulate Major League Baseball, and implement a minor league but with a twist. Not the current situation that exists with the NBDL, a true NBA farm system. My proposal is that just as in baseball each NBA franchise will have a minor league counterpart but with one major difference. In order for a player to play in the league, his class must have graduated, if not they must spend the time in the minor league.This is a win/win situation for everyone involved. The athlete can earn a salary, my proposal would be to start a player with no college experience at $150,000 for the first season, and for it to go up in one hundred thousand-dollar increments for the remaining three years. The minor league would be a developmental league teaching fundamentals that are sorely lacking right now in the NBA. The accepted philosophy is that the defense in the league has gotten stronger during the last few years, hence the drought in scoring. However if a player misses an uncontested 12-foot jump shot, that?s not good defense, that?s just poor offense. How many players are there in the league who either, can not create their own shot or just can?t shoot the “J”?

Now at this point I’m sure you are saying to yourself, Sackman, you covered LeBron James for his first three years in the NBA, and look at what he has accomplished, taking his team to the NBA finals in what would have been his fourth year in the program you propose. Look at Kobe, and KG, both coming straight out of high school. Look at Carmelo Anthony who has become a dominant player, after only one year at Syracuse. But these players are the exceptions, there are a lot more cases of Desagana Diop and Kwame Brown, guys who had no business going into the NBA after high school. But both these players were drafted in the first round Brown with the first pick overall!

The NBDL is a joke reserved for the rawest of the raw, combining players from two or three franchises. If David Stern did not press the issue, in the last NBAPA bargaining agreement high school grads?would still be going right into the NBA. Instead you have this charade where the Rose’s and the O.J. Mayo’s go to college for one year, just so that they can keep their skills fresh, and have a National platform in which you can showcase your talents.

I am a big fan of college basketball, covering the first round of the NCAA tournament in Cleveland was one of the high points of my career. However, it is not the NBA’s job to protect college basketball. The NBA has to look out for it’s own game, which is not as fundamentally sound as it was a generation ago. Is it any wonder that the USA has ended up falling short in International competition. That the NBA MVP had up until this season been awarded the last three years gone to a foreign born player ? This could all be rectified by the league instituting a four year minor league program. And the best thing about it, is everybody wins, the league, the players, and most of all you the fan.

? Copyright 2008 thesackattack.net



Comments

One Response to “NBA Needs A Real Minor League”

  1. Space on June 23rd, 2008 11:21 am

    I couldn’t agree with you more. That proposalwould be a win/win situation for players, teams, coaches, fans, etc… You do not even touch on the biggest aspect of it all the revenue that the minor leagues would generate for the NBA. There are some draw backs to that proposal as well though, such as, finding venues for the teams to play at and other things that my brain fails to let me think about right now.

    But I that would have more positives than negatives. You are right the NBA has to look out for it’s game versus the NCAA looking out for it’s game. So either the NCAA can step up and pay it’s players or the NBA can step up and propose a minor league system for it’s game. Something has to give though.

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