FANTASTIC Article/Idea on CBB by Dan Wetzel

Whatever ends up happening, if things don't change much with the stupid ncaa, it will be interesting to see what recruits will do when the nba gets over-saturated with guys trying to make it in the nba or g league i guess and the realization that maybe going to college for a couple of years might not be a bad idea after all.

https://sports.yahoo.com/how-college-basketball-can-save-face-and-fix-its-talent-problem-with-one-rule-change-183806821.html

I don't think this article is accurate.  The current NBA draft rules actually go all the way back to Larry Bird, who was drafted 6th in the 1978 draft before returning to Indiana State for his senior year.  He was seen as a signing risk, or he may well have gone higher.  Then, after his 1979 season, he had all the leverage; the Celtics had to pay him a lot of extra money because they'd lose his draft rights at the start of the next draft.

So, they changed the rule the next year, so that you can't draft somebody who has college eligibility remaining.  That was an expansion of an earlier rule, where college players had to show economic hardship to be allowed to enter the draft before graduating.  (Bird took a redshirt year when he dropped out of Indiana to go to ISU, so he was four years out of high school and thus draft-eligible as a fourth-year junior).  But, basically, that was the idea behind declaring for the draft.

So, I think even if the NCAA adopted this plan tomorrow, it wouldn't do any good, because the NBA didn't want to allow players to have leverage and reworked the rule in their favor, and I think they'd still have to agree to allow draft-and-stash or draft-and-follow or whatever rule you care to put in place.

Can’t say that I see a downside or disagree with anything in the article. Makes perfect sense. So I guess....never gonna happen?

#NCAAisDumb

I always laugh when I see someone say that "the NCAA" can make changes.  The NCAA cannot make changes.  The NCAA has no authority.  Only the member schools can make changes.  

I think a NBA draft that was more like the NHL draft (or MLB draft) would be an improvement but there still needs to be a place to go for the talent that wants a contract and has no interest in an education. Hockey and baseball have minor leagues. The G league changes are a step in the right direction. The ones and dones and the bagmen make college basketball worse not better.  

"Note: Before you throw out the "I like the baseball model" take for the 1,000,000th time, understand that model takes change by the NBA. Not going to happen. "

Please note this idea also requires change by the NBA. And a lot of cooperation from them. 

One of the best times of your life is your college years. If these kids want to jump into the business world early for the god of money, go for it. 

I haven't heard anyone begging for the MLB system, but I've been one begging for the NHL system.  I don't think the NCAA could do it without cooperation from the NBA, but I like just about everything about the concept.  I'd make a couple of tweaks though:

• All drafted players are allowed to attend one NBA team mini-camp in the off-season.
• Ideally the NBA creates a slotted "draft bonus" system where player get a bonus from the team that drafts them (modest amounts of money) that they are allowed to get a % of even if they stay in school.  
• Players may consult with an agent, but that agent has to be certified by both the NBA and NCAA.  
• The NCAA creates a forward-thinking model for NIL where the players at least get some money for their image.

The NBA should then immediately drop the 1-and-done rule and expand their draft.  Frankly, I don't care if the NBA would want the NHL draft rights policy (4-years before they can be redrafted) or something more like baseball (2 or 3 years before a redraft).  

You may still lose the Zions and Jalen Greens just like hockey doesn't get the best players all of the time.  But now if you're those guys you at least have a decision to make.  If your NBA team is prepared to give you minutes right away - maybe you go.  If you're a little more raw or drafted by an NBA team with a deep bench, go stay in school - make some NIL money, develop, and keep talking to your team.

The net benefit to the NCAA (keeping players, getting some NBA fans to watch their draft picks) and the NBA (minimizing risk on unproven players, not having to significantly invest in minor leagues, getting NCAA fans to watch the NBA team that drafted their guys) seems too good to be true.  

Just pay the players already.

I’ll say a half of the kids that come to play college basketball they dream of playing in the NBA, the other half or the end of the bench dream of getting a degree! So recruiting should be adjusted accordingly (which Juwan has done IMHO) and the reason John left didn’t agree with it, and football is also going in that direction so you either adjust that it is a mini minor leagues or you fall by the way side.

A thought.....

1) Does it really matter. Lets cut the crap here. No matter who gets fielded by your college, you root for the college because its yours and you enjoy when your team whoops up on other teams. Particularly the teams of your rivals, your friends teams, your enemies teams etc so you can give them the proverbial "HA-HA" and stick your chest in the air emblazoned with your teams name.I think its been said here in various forms about 1000 times, we would root for a soccer/e-sports/women's rowing/tiddly-winks/underwater chess/Quidditch (did I spell that right) team if they're representing Michigan. Do I really give a crap if we win the B1G title, go to a Final Four etc if we're doing it without or not against players who were Top 10/20/30 ranked in high school. For that matter, will I really not follow Michigan if those kids mostly if not totally don't play or get drafted into the NBA?  When it comes to college sports I'll root for whomever Michigan puts in the maize and blue uniforms and I think that's true of a vast majority of most fan bases.

2) The G-League won't be able to come up with enough money to lure more than maybe 10-20 high school kids a year. They have neither the gate revenue, TV contracts (and why would they, people would just watch the NBA) or promotional endorsements and they never will because, WHY?? If you want to watch pros, you'll watch the NBA.

College basketball lost three elite high school players to the pros last year who decided to play in Australia instead of the Gatorade League. How come this didn't seem to bother anyone outside the NBA a year ago?

The reason those players who were expected to play on the West Coast in the PAC 12 but didn't  was because the NBA didn't offer enough money to keep them at home.

So, was this recent adjustment in pay for two guys who might now get up to $500k plus other benefits instead of $125k, which is still more than three times what other average G League players are paid based on their most recent raise, going to create a stampede of young talent to the NBA, a trend leading to a major college game bypass and complete drain in recruitment talent? No. Not even close.

 Because the NBA still doesn't pay enough to sustain that kind of activity. Nor does it want to. The players who the league is trying to get are the elite of the prep players who are one-and-done at the college level, anyway. And we've seen most of the players who play in the G League because they've exhausted their college eligibility and left early to play pro without making the NBA.

ESPN is more than willing to create stars out of the elite because it has the same financial incentive in doing so as the NBA does. They broadcast both pro and college games.

That goes with any network promoting its TV package of college games, which, surely brings in more revenue than showing a limited number of G League games, teams in affiliate markets that only pull in more viewers if you have an interest in their franchise home and its roster. Are you gonna watch a G League game ahead of Michigan-MSU, North Carolina-Duke on any given night? You might watch out of curiosity but not our of regularity unless you have emotional tie to the team  and franchise.

The NBA has been no smarter over time than the NCAA in its dealings with young talent because money and legalities over professional and amateurism rules, personal growth, rights and individualism vs team and league interests have always gotten in the way of that resolution.

Wetzel made some solid points but I don't like him trying to make this a racial issue.