2019 NBA Summer season

[dfwabel]

19 minutes ago, Lafarge said:

 

Literally every agent in every sport has to take an exam for certification. The NFL requires a masters or law degree.

 

LeBron isn't being put in charge of the property and affairs of other human beings, especially those who are 19 and may not have the most sound judgment in who to put in charge of their money. 

 

Every profession involving agency requires certification standards, it's necessary to protect clients.

However, the NCAA is only requiring basketball agents to have this certification and the privilege of paying $1500 for it. 

 

This is solely the result of the NCAA's Rice Commission which was a result of the trials of former adidas exec Jim Gatto (who was Fran Fraschilla talked about during TBT this weekend), coach Merl Code, and Christian Dawkins.

 

 

 

[dfwabel]

The agency representing Al Horford and Jrue Holiday among others responds to the new NCAA policy.

 

[dfwabel]

On a lighter note, Pop wears the shoes you'd expect.

 

[FiddySicks]

18 hours ago, dfwabel said:

They really are trying to "take back" the sport not from the NBA, rather from the grassroots/AAU level.  This rule is for the top level, but this summer was the start of fighting grassroots in terms of evaluation and recruiting.  They've reduced the member of weeks in which college coaches and watch games in person and to try to hurt the shoe company showcases like Nike's Peach Jam, the adidas summer championships, and the Under Armour Finals, they started their own summer camps the same weekends. Top recruits didn't attend, as they'd rather play with their friends in the show events and/or in Vegas.  The upside is that 2* and 3* kids may get more offers. 

 

This seems VERY dumb, which would fit neatly into the reputation the NCAA has. 

 

Someone mentioned a few days ago in a thread (I think it was @DG_Now) about Amtrak and federal funding and how all of that works, and weirdly, this sort of reminds me of that in a really loose sort of thought process (Stay with me here, I swear I'm going somewhere with this. It's also a response to another topic from a few days ago). 

 

Back in either the 70s and 80s, Amtrak and big freight lines shared the right of way on tracks all around the country. This was done as a bit of a favor to Amtrak because these lines were controlled by the freight companies. Well, Amtrak didn't like this because it messed with their schedules, so they sued the freight lines for right of way. Problem is, they LOST the suit, and the freight lines responded by taking that shared 50/50 split and basically said, you guys, we'll take right of way 100% of the time now. Now Amtrak ALWAYS waits behind the freightliners no mater the situation, and their idea of "schedules" is basically non existent now because they have no control over the flow of the rail ways and the company is a filthy, rotting husk of what it once was. 

 

This feels similar, because the NBA has the ability to control the flow of players, if they really want to, because they ultimately have all the leverage. The NBA has the one year rule now, which helps direct some of these bigger young stars to college. If they really wanted to, they could just abandon that rule (I think. I don't believe there's any actual law saying they can't do this) and go back to selecting guys straight out of high school. If they really wanted to, they could probably even establish a minor league system that may not destroy college basketball, but it could really cripple it. 

 

This video kind of metaphorically sums up the situation to me. The cameraperson is the NCAA, and the bear is the NBA

 

 

 

The NCAA is poking the bear, and it's going to come back to bite them so damn hard. Sometimes, (With this and the issues in California), it kind of feels like the NCAA is actually trying to destroy itself from the inside. I don't know if it's self sabotage or they're REALLY just that arrogant and this is some flat out Icarus levels of hubris, but either way, it's not going to end well for them.

 

Good. the NCAA. 

[DG_ThenNowForever]

I see a future where the NCAA remains popular in rural areas and southern states and the NBA/NFL in urban areas and costal states. So, not really a future at all because that's kind of where we are. I just expect the difference to be more acute, and the quality of play even more stark.

 

The NCAA is on Rich Paul's case in part because he landed a Syracuse commit a $1 million New Balance internship (btw, amazing), and this was in part a shot across the bow. But as @bucfan56 says, the NCAA needs the NBA far more than the other way around.

 

The NBA one-year rule is disappearing soon, so everything on the basketball side is going to look very different sooner than later. In addition to the NCAA not being pleased with Klutch, the NBA isn't all that thrilled either. A lockout may be sooner than we think.

[dfwabel]

FYI, there were 86 college underclassmen who placed themselves eligible for the 2019 NBA draft. 86 for a 60 player draft. Coaches don't want to lose their "assets" willingly, thus this rule.

Meanwhile, guess who have degrees and still do wrong by the "student-athletes"?

College coaches.

CBS college basketball podcast covered the new policy in a podcast this morning

 

https://podcasts.google.com?feed=aHR0cDovL3BvZGNhc3RzLmNzdHYuY29tL2ZlZWRzL21lbnNiYXNrZXRiYWxsLnhtbA&episode=NjFhMDQ3OTItMTQ2Ni0xMWU5LTkzMDktYmZjMGQyMDY1MDQ2

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Right. There is a lot of active harm being done to student athletes by guys who have degrees and can take a test in Indianapolis. The "player protection" angle is absurd at best, awful paternalism at worst.

[dfwabel]

6 hours ago, DG_Now said:

Right. There is a lot of active harm being done to student athletes by guys who have degrees and can take a test in Indianapolis. The "player protection" angle is absurd at best, awful paternalism at worst.

The Rice Commission formed because of the Adidas Gatto trial in which a mid-20s, non-degreed Christian Dawkins was looking to become an agent but also the second trial in which assistants at  Okie State, Auburn (Chuck Person) and Arizona (Book Richardson) were talking bribes.

 

48 hours after sending the new policy to agents, here's the NCAA's first public statement.

 

 

[MJWalker45]

https://news.nike.com/content/nike-and-jordan-brand-basketball-federation-uniforms-2019-2

2019 World Cup uniforms. Not impressed.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

12 minutes ago, MJWalker45 said:

https://news.nike.com/content/nike-and-jordan-brand-basketball-federation-uniforms-2019-2

2019 World Cup uniforms. Not impressed.

 

Those look like Summer League uniforms.

[dfwabel]

NBA to enact new mental health policies for the upcoming season.

 

Quote

The league office reportedly issued a memo to all 30 teams, announcing the following measures required by each team for the upcoming season.

• All teams must have at least one mental health professional on retainer. Each professional must have "experience in assessing and treating clinical mental health issues."
• Each organization must "identify a licensed psychiatrist" available to help manage any mental health concerns.
• All teams must, "enact a written action plan for mental health emergencies."
• All 30 teams need to attend a "health and wellness meeting" in Chicago in September

 

 

[MJWalker45]

44 minutes ago, DG_Now said:

 

Those look like Summer League uniforms.

I know the Olympics are next year, but at least put some effort into your work! I'm sure they'll roll out a new design next year as well and it better have some differentiation beyond the color of the yokes and collars. 

[DG_ThenNowForever]

From NBA Reddit, LeBron James is pretty amazing:

 

 

[BBTV]

The point stands, but "before the age of" stats can be misleading, since many players didn't have the opportunity to play in the NBA before their 21st or 22nd birthday.  Patrick Ewing, who was so desired that the league rigged the lottery to get him to NY, was 23.

[tBBP]

4 hours ago, BringBackTheVet said:

The point stands, but "before the age of" stats can be misleading, since many players didn't have the opportunity to play in the NBA before their 21st or 22nd birthday.  Patrick Ewing, who was so desired that the league rigged the lottery to get him to NY, was 23.

 

It's a little bit deeper than that...the league pretty much created the lottery to get the top pick (Ewing) to New York--no lottery existed prior to 1985, the year he was drafted--and then rigged it to ensure Ewing would get there.

 

But your point still stands.

[dfwabel]

 

Quote

As Paul wrote in an op-ed for The Athletic on Monday morning, the rule would've had no impact on him or the business of his agency -- Klutch Sports Group -- because he and his agency don't really work with test-the-water type athletes. They are, at this point, well beyond that. Regardless, thanks to The King's tweet, Paul became the face of the rule that immediately created a public-relations nightmare for the NCAA because it was the latest example of the governing body trying to control something it shouldn't be controlling, and, in some people's eyes, the rule also had racial overtones. So it was broadly criticized, by me and many others, when it was first reported -- then again when the NCAA issued an explanation, and then again when the NCAA had to update its initial explanation because it was factually inaccurate.

Such a mess.

 

But give the NCAA credit. 

 

On Monday afternoon, less than a week after LeBron James interrupted #TacoTuesday to bring attention to the subject, and just six hours after Rich Paul's op-ed published, the NCAA announced that it is amending the agent-certification process to allow agents without bachelor's degrees to represent players testing the waters provided they are certified by, and in good standing with, the NBPA. In other words, NCAA officials publicly admitted a mistake and fixed it. Swiftly. And, for that, I applaud them. Sincerely.

Now let's see if the NCAA can learn from its mistake.

 

More from Gary Parrish

[DG_ThenNowForever]

The NCAA doesn't deserve credit for the doing the right thing. Ever.

 

Well, short of dissolving itself.

[dfwabel]

https://pr.nba.com/nba-unveils-2019-20-game-and-national-television-schedules/

 

There is a link to the full schedule in the press release above, but take note of the following (bolded by me):

Quote

In an effort to present national television games to the largest possible audience, the NBA worked closely with its teams and domestic broadcast partners to schedule earlier start times for doubleheaders. This season, 12 of TNT’s 31 doubleheaders and 22 of ESPN’s 36 doubleheaders will tip off at 7:30/10 p.m. ET or 7/9:30 p.m. ET instead of 8/10:30 p.m. ET.  The number of doubleheaders at 8 p.m./10:30 p.m. ET on the two networks has been reduced by a combined 42 percent from last season (57 in 2018-19 compared with 33 in 2019-20).

 

TNT: The 8 p.m./10:30 p.m. ET starts for TNT’s Tuesday doubleheaders have been reduced from nine last season to two this season. Of the network’s 12 Tuesday doubleheaders this season, nine will begin at 7:30 p.m./10 p.m. ET and one will tip off at 7 p.m./9:30 p.m. ET.

 

ESPN: There will be no 8 p.m./10:30 p.m. ET Wednesday doubleheaders on ESPN this season, down from 18 last season. Of the network’s 21 Wednesday doubleheaders this season, 15 are scheduled for 7:30 p.m./10 p.m. ET and six are set for 7 p.m./9:30 p.m. ET.

 

Instances of teams playing games on back-to-back days will be an all-time low for the fifth straight season. Teams will play an average of4 back-to-backs in the 2019-20 season, down 36 percent since the 2014-15 season (19.3 per team) and a 7 percent reduction from last season (13.3 per team).

 

 

For that matter...

 

[BBTV]

 

[Waffles]

The New York Post is reporting that Alibaba co-founder Joseph Tsai will buy out Mikhail Prokhorov's remaining 51% of the Brooklyn Nets, making his total investment in the team a US record-breaking $2.35 billion.

 

The Prokhorov era was pretty memorable. He pretty much saved the Brooklyn move by taking over from the flailing Bruce Ratner, but his desire to make an early splash in the city resulted in the infamous Celtics trade. To his credit, he learned from it and installed a highly competent management team that clawed back from rock bottom with smart acquisitions and good player development, leading up to this summer's big Durant and Irving signings. Hopefully Tsai will keep things running the way they have been over the last few years.