Enlightening Article About Josh Christopher's Recruitment via Brandon Quinn
https://twitter.com/BFQuinn/status/1250419713647112198
Brandon Quinn just released an article on The Athletic that details the finer details of Josh Christopher's recruitment. Obviously The Athletic is paywalled, but Quinn posted some screen shots of the article that I think tell plenty of details if you don't have a subscription like me.
Basically, Josh Christopher's father basically said that their main factor in picking a school was developing and increasing Josh's brand. He said "A college shouldn't be above a kid coming in and changing the direction of the school" and basically wanted the red carpet rolled out for him. Every decision that they made in the recruitment was calculated towards Josh's future pro prospects and earning endorsements. Josh is even planning on releasing a clothing line.
In my opinion, this is the exact type of kid we don't want in the future. We want someone who is going to buy into the culture and what Juwan and the university has to offer. It honestly sounds like Christopher was scared his light wouldn't shine quite bright enough if he came to Ann Arbor and personally I'm fine with that
April 15th, 2020 at 10:58 AM ^
Is some ways I totally agree with you, but if the worthless NCAA would somehow say you can pay players $50k per year (just pulling a number out of my a$$) you don't think Kentucky and Kansas would find a way to pay an extra $100k under the table.
Just imagine if NBA teams could sneak players a few million under the table. You think the Knicks wouldn't win the title every single year?
April 15th, 2020 at 11:21 AM ^
I agree, but if they (NCAA) did pay them out of their own budget, they could make stricter guidelines and would probably be more inclined to enforce them. Mind you, they could do more now, but if they were funding the system, as opposed to just profiting on it, their mindset mind change.
April 15th, 2020 at 12:00 PM ^
It would be far simpler and vastly more honest to allow kids like JC to play professionally without having to go through the charade of pretending to be a college student.
As long as the NBA refuses to support a full minor league system like the MLB and NHL do, big-time college basketball will be sleazy and corrupt.
April 15th, 2020 at 12:10 PM ^
One-and-done is awful for NCAA basketball. If all of these guys went straight pro it would not harm the NCAA at all--the games would be just as compelling and the fans would still love it.
What's more ridiculous is how the NFL basically uses the NCAA as a free minor league system. College football develops these guys who the NFL (rightly) deems too young to play in their league. All for free. And it saves them the expense of having develop a costly minor league system that nobody would go see.
And it saves them the expense of having develop a costly minor league system that nobody would go see.
There's always the chance that the minor league affiliate of the Detroit Lions could actually be competitive. People would pay to watch that.
April 15th, 2020 at 12:39 PM ^
The NBA has a minor-league system. It's called the G-League. You can go at 18 years old right out of high school. The problem is the NBA does a terrible job marketing that as an option for guys like Isaiah Todd. They're also competing against overseas leagues where guys can get paid more, scouted just as much, and play against similar or better competition.
My guess as to why the NBA doesn't market the G-League as much? Because the NCAA would make less money without one-and-dones and marketing "brands" like Zion Williamson. Let's not pretend the "one-and-done" rule is an NBA rule -- it is absolutely a ploy by the NBA/NCAA together to make the NCAA as much money as possible. The NBA wins because owners/GMs can get more scouting to make sure these one-and-dones are more of a "sure thing" instead of making huge misses on high schoolers like Eddy Curry, Kwame Brown, Sebastian Telfair, etc. Also, guys like Zion Williamson build their own brand in their 1 year of college and become even more marketable by the NBA because more people know about Zion after playing at Duke instead of coming straight out of high school or playing in the G-League.
April 15th, 2020 at 10:57 AM ^
Well the way he did it was pretty shitty. It’s one thing to use your leverage and find the best spot for you, it’s another to drag it out to the last possible minute and essentially straight up lie to schools in order for the drama and shock to build your brand.
Also his dad says “how can we use your platform to build our brand?” The answer to that from Michigan’s perspective is pretty obvious. ASU? Not sure. You’re playing late games that don’t get a lot of viewers, you play in front of half as many fans as you would in the B1G, for a school and a conference that isn’t good and gets little respect in basketball. I’m not sure what twisted logic they are trying to use to reassure themselves of this decision, but if you want to build a big brand it’s obvious you go to the big brand school.
Recent examples of people forging their own paths by building brands at bad basketball schools hasn’t gone well. Zion at Duke is the perfect example of how to do it right. He’s a household name to non sports fans.
April 15th, 2020 at 11:20 AM ^
Agreed. Also, shitting on one of the most well respected guys in the Association isn't a good way to build your brand.
April 15th, 2020 at 11:27 AM ^
That was my thinking. This could backfire (in a small way) on JC. Juwan is loved and respected across the NBA, and I don't think teams will look at his character positively after stuff like this. Of course he still has some time to change perceptions, but not a great start.
April 15th, 2020 at 12:13 PM ^
Agree. Whatever he did to “leverage his brand” by flirting with Michigan won’t mean much in a year. It’s not as if the nation’s attention was focused on this decision. If he soars in Arizona, he’ll get plenty of attention: if he doesn’t, he won’t. And ASU just won’t get that much attention unless he turns into a mega-star immediately. And they won’t go far as a team regardless. It’s an ass move to lead a coach on - a coach whose roster is contingent on you - just for a blip of publicity, and it suggests he’s self-involved.
April 15th, 2020 at 12:29 PM ^
It's just an example of the need to erase the one and done rule. The bigger point his father made was the "we want the school to change for us" more or less, putting this kid above the school or the school's legacy etc...
Quick..name me one NBA player who went to a major college program and WHILE in college were a bigger name/brand than the school? That's not how it works. Because in college you're (a) not allowed to have an actual brand and (b) you're considered 'another great in a long line of great' who made up Duke basketball or UNC basketball or Kentucky basketball.
I don't fault the kid or his parents. I'm not in their shoes and I don't have the first goddamn clue what they're going through and deciding on here. And given the one and done rule, maybe they did make the best decision for him. But if this where their heads were at, he would have been better off being allowed to jump straight to the NBA and sinking or swimming there with his 'brand."
Its a stupid system. I dont know what a better one is but college basketball is hurting from the current one
April 15th, 2020 at 12:49 PM ^
Don't know how we would measure this but I would guess that the majority of non sports fans have no idea who Zion is. Otherwise I agree with your points.
April 15th, 2020 at 10:36 AM ^
Sounds like sour grapes..he would've thrived here, especially his brand. And if he would've committed here, there would posts on how big his brand would be with the largest living alumni base yada yada yada. But whatever helps you feel better about all of it I guess.
April 15th, 2020 at 10:42 AM ^
I think it’s OK to want the one-and-done talent, but they come in different shades.
There’s the Lonzo Ball, who didn’t bother to even wait to get out of the locker room after UCLA lost in the tournament before publicly declaring for the draft.
Then there’s the Zion Williamson, who got injured mid-season and could easily have shut it down for the season knowing full well he’d still be the top pick, but instead came back and risked further injury to help his team succeed.
I’d rather have a Zion, but Christopher comes across as a Ball.
April 15th, 2020 at 10:58 AM ^
The prob is most of the players are built in the Lonzo mold, than the Zion mold these days.
April 15th, 2020 at 12:22 PM ^
More likely we just have nostalgia and remember the good parts of the past more than the bad parts. Lots of kids these days are amazing, produce, and have the attitude you'd hope for.
April 15th, 2020 at 12:37 PM ^
Yeah and look at their numbers and career trajectories right now.
If you're truly great, you'll be truly great in high school, college and the NBA. If you're not, you'll be truly great in high school and maybe damn good in college, and another role player in the NBA at best.
Just be undeniably great at something and your "brand" will be undeniable as well. The more people spout off about getting paid and building their brand, the less likely I think it will be that they'll be transcendent talents. By all means go get paid while you can, maybe it's all the more important if your window will be short.
That said I hope for JC's sake he is a great talent and has a long career as an NBA All-Star, not wishing anyone ill.
April 15th, 2020 at 10:38 AM ^
Can’t wait for the one and done rule to be gone so we don’t have to waste our time on flakes like this.
Neg away.
April 15th, 2020 at 11:04 AM ^
I absolutely agree. I would love to have them completely out of college ball. I want to watch players that want to play in college. However, I think (hope) that everyone realizes that the "1 and done" rule is an NBA rule not an NCAA rule. They want to keep the rule as long as possible because it gives them a chance to see how good a player is in a highly competitive playing field before they pay millions of dollars for them.
The advent of the G league helps, but a 1st rd draft pick will still be millions of dollars and there will still be 1st rd failures. If they are trying to judge based on HS competition there will be alot more failures.
April 15th, 2020 at 11:52 AM ^
My understanding is the the decision on "One and Done" is currently with the NBPA who was originally against the age limit. I would think that they would vote to get rid of the rule as long as the financials make sense for their membership. I think it probably comes down to how much additional revenue "Prep to Pro" players can bring into the league, and how that revenue is going to be shared between the teams and the players (rookies vs vets).
April 15th, 2020 at 11:20 AM ^
Guessing if he chose Michigan and this exact same article came out with "Michigan" in place of "Arizona State" you wouldn't be calling him a flake. This just sounds butthurt.
Let him maximize his earning potential however he sees fit. Not his fault he has to do a one-year charade of going to school.
April 15th, 2020 at 11:37 AM ^
I would absolutely say he’s a flake after reading that article. How can you not?
April 15th, 2020 at 11:47 AM ^
Why do you have to wait till one-and-done rule is done? All you have to do is to not target these guys like Beilein did. It is not like most NCAA champions over the last decade were primarily driven by one-and-dones. You can win championships with well developed older players. No one has to play this game if they do not want to.
April 15th, 2020 at 12:42 PM ^
Can't wait for this fan base to stop being so fucking soft. When you recruit these kinds of players you are going to take L's. You'll also get some W's too. Take the good with the bad, but stop trashing a kid because he didn't pick your favorite team.
April 15th, 2020 at 10:39 AM ^
He wants to grow his brand so he goes to play for an irrelevant basketball program that next to no one, even in Arizona, cares about. Makes sense.
April 15th, 2020 at 10:40 AM ^
That’s the point. He wants it to be all about him. He still has no mention of ASU in his twitter bio or anything.
It’s not ASU. It’s Josh Christopher and ASU.
April 15th, 2020 at 10:42 AM ^
Can it even be all about him if no one is watching?
April 15th, 2020 at 11:27 AM ^
If he wants more exposure, going to a non-basketball power that plays in the middle of the night on the East Coast is not a great idea.
April 15th, 2020 at 10:43 AM ^
Yet JH still pursued him....
April 15th, 2020 at 10:53 AM ^
Because of when Juwan was hired, he had limited 5-star options to pursue. Christopher and Todd were two he had a legit shot at, so it made sense to take a swing. He's not going to be playing from so far behind in the recruitment of kids going forward, so things will likely go a bit smoother.
April 15th, 2020 at 12:19 PM ^
Isnt the 5 star kid who plays at Washington related too J Howard (or a close connection) hes a stud too
April 15th, 2020 at 10:56 AM ^
It’s a 5 star guard that seemed interested so yeah, I would too.
No hard feelings. This interview just reinforces that he made the right choice. So did Isaiah Todd.
We don’t worship individuals here. It’s all about the team.
April 15th, 2020 at 10:43 AM ^
A poster on UMHoops stated that he lost over 10,000 followers on Instagram once he chose ASU. Pretty solid growth right there. Pretty, pretty solid.
April 15th, 2020 at 12:27 PM ^
I did just pull up his account and he still has over 700k followers. Why in the world are so many people following a high school recruit?
April 15th, 2020 at 10:45 AM ^
on the other hand, if much of his goal is self-promotion there is a lot to be said for being a "big fish in a small pond"------or maybe even "the only game in town"
April 15th, 2020 at 10:51 AM ^
It actually might make sense for him to play at ASU given the strengths of his game. If he is a player who is great on the dribble-drive to the hoop and average to below average at shooting, playing in a league where you can actually get a foul call when you go to the basket is probably preferable. Not that he necessarily considered that, but it might play out better for him given the referee performances in the B1G.
April 15th, 2020 at 10:41 AM ^
Choosing a PAC-12 school when attempting to expand your brand seems...shortsighted. No one watches that garbage league.
April 15th, 2020 at 12:43 PM ^
To take that even further, when I think of college basketball in Arizona, ASU is not the school I think of. Not only does no one like that garbage league, Arizona is the team that gets the coverage, not ASU. Hey, at least a bunch of people will watch 2 of his games when they play an actual team people watch
April 15th, 2020 at 10:42 AM ^
Did not read.
April 15th, 2020 at 10:46 AM ^
I'm sure glad that Jonas Salk didn't have that kind of attitude when
he got a fellowship to U-M. Hell, he didn't even patent his brand.
April 15th, 2020 at 10:47 AM ^
Sounds like someone I will have zero problem rooting against. Now let's see if he ever sets foot inside a classroom.
April 15th, 2020 at 10:48 AM ^
FYI - I have heard on multiple Athletic-affiliated podcasts that they are offering a 90-day free trial at present.
They do not seem to be promoting it much otherwise and it wasn’t anything I could see on their front page...
April 15th, 2020 at 10:49 AM ^
Going to tough to build a brand when you shoot 20 percent from 3. Maybe he should be worrying about player development.
April 15th, 2020 at 11:19 AM ^
Problem with high 5 star guys, they always seem to struggle to shoot from the outside. Duke had Barrett, Zion, Jones, and Reddish on that monster team last year and none of them could shoot which is why they lost.
5 star guys are usually otherworldly on the athletic scale. In high school they just run past and jump over everyone. Guys like Stauskas couldn't do that until his sophomore year (to a degree) so he had to sit there and shoot to score. Caris was similar. Toothpick that couldn't just out-athlete everyone so he had to learn to shoot first.
April 15th, 2020 at 10:50 AM ^
Totally agree. I'm not sure how not winning is going to improve "his brand". You would think being a part of a really good team would be better for his brand than being the only player on a mediocre team.
Kentucky and Duke players certainly don't have any problems with "their brand" - whatever the heck that means.
How much benefit did Anthony Edwards get going to a mediocre UGA team? How much benefit did Mo Bamba gain going to a bad Texas team?
April 15th, 2020 at 11:11 AM ^
Playing devil's advocate a bit here but I actually think those are examples of players who did benefit. Fair or not, putting up gaudy counting stats on a lousy team has at worst at least gotten a player notoreity. They also have more free reign to experiment with things outside the structure of a a disciplined offense and can show their skills without the pressure of sharing the ball with other high-level players.
I'm not saying that's what Christopher did or that Arizona State will necessarily be bad next year, but players like Ben Simmons, Markelle Fultz still went number 1, Bamba went 6th, and Anthony Edwards will go top 3 at worst. And if we are talking about brand, Bamba had a viral rap song written about him called "Mo Bamba".
On the flip side, I'd argue that there are players whose brand has been hurt by going to Duke or Kentucky. You're sharing the spotlight with other big-time players so your mistakes are magnified and your opportunities may be more limited. Of course if you're Zion Williamson it doesn't matter but think about how many players from Kentucky in particular were nondescript college players who vastly outperformed their draft slots? Shai Gilgeous Alexander, Bam Adebayo, Devin Booker...none of them were household names in college. Look at a guy like Cassius Stanley at Duke, who is hyper athletic and was a top recruit but was a third option on a team with Tre Jones and Vernon Carey. Perhaps they would have been better suited going to a place that really let them dictate everything.
Or maybe not. Everyone's different. I just think if you are at the level of a top 10 pick, your brand isn't hurt by going to a bad team; arguably, it can help.
April 15th, 2020 at 11:30 AM ^
Mo Bamba's rap song had nothing to do with his college choice. It had everything to do with being in the NYC area for high school, which remains a huge center of the rap culture. The song came out while he was still in high school.
April 15th, 2020 at 12:37 PM ^
Sure. At a minimum, playing on a poor team didn't hurt his brand.
April 15th, 2020 at 10:50 AM ^
How is Arizona State gonna elevate his brand more than Michigan?
April 15th, 2020 at 11:46 AM ^
It's not. This is just a bunch of BS from a Lavar Ball wannabe.