(06-07-2017 10:24 AM)Tigx Wrote:  

(06-06-2017 08:53 PM)Trapper John Wrote:  Sorry, the round 3 or 4 was a reference to my earlier post. I agree that they don't want to waste early picks by gambling on 18 year olds, but if each team could have a minor league team to stock with potential players and had the opportunity to use that team to stash teenagers that chose not to go to college, then I think they would jump at the chance.

Ideally what would develop is a system where it would be quicker for a player to go to the G-League for a year and then be eligible for the NBA, with the other choice being a player committing to college for 2 years and developing there. Hopefully it would clean up the college game and give the best players another option.

Yep. Current system is not working. Quality of play in NCAA is general is so poor. Also true that 18 and 19 year olds would develop quicker in the D-League, where NBA teams can work with them all day if the want to. Tubby is limited to what, 2 hours per week, during the summer months?

I see us slowly moving to more of a European model, like the do with soccer and hockey and even basketball. That system helped Marc Gasol develop at a club team in Spain, and he totally bypassed college. So 18 years skipping college, going right to an expanded D-League, and develop there for a year or two.

The MLS has youth academies, but players still get the chance to go to college. The team just keeps their rights.

Jordan Morris is a good example. He went to Stanford but Seattle still owns his rights and were able to sign him when he was ready to go pro.

I could see a similar system working with the G-League, NCAA, and NBA all working together. I think eventually the NCAA will play players in revenue sports with a hard cap at a percentage of the minimum pro league salary. If a player wants more, he can go pro if a team will sign him. But there are issues with that.