SupremeCommander wrote:I agree -- he is an NBA player. As to your question, I have no idea why they don't use the g-league like it's the minors. I think it's insane. I think it's a lot of biased group think and irrational bias.Let's take a team like the Knicks that benefit from having more resources available than other teams. Let's say that the Knicks become forward thinkers and become world-class educators... they get to the point where if you are a d-league player, you WANT to come to Westchester. Guys that go through our Westchester program become better ballers... wouldn't that be such a huge advantage for us? For whatever reason, the league definitely has a stigma attached to it.
So I don't know if it's possible for Frank to go down there, up his conditioning, and return with a legit jumper... but I certainly think it should be possible and I would love to see it
The D/G League exists for many reasons, not all relate to player development.
Sports franchise ownership is a "status" symbol for many very wealthy people. Inside an already exclusive club, you are then placed in yet another tier of exclusivity. It also opens up a massive amount of opportunity for your business/social network as a wealthy person. Many have turned their sports ownership into influence in politics and policy making, which would not normally be accessible to many, not even many of the very wealthy.
The problem, like any closed group, is some people are on the outside. Someone like a Larry Ellison type has gobs of cash. But people don't like him. Other wealthy people don't like him. Or you have situations like Mark Cuban, where he owns one sports franchise, but his antics and reputation close him off from buying another team in another sport. These guys are always a threat to start a rival league and have the bankroll to do it. The mass opportunity would happen during a massive labor war.
Part of expanding things like practice squad slots ( NFL ) or creating more subdivisions of minor league baseball ( MLB) or the G-League is you are choking off the talent pool to a possible rival league WITHOUT increasing your pensions costs/health insurance costs/adding more league votes/adding another element to a players union because these guys are not garnering real "service time"
Other reasons are to create a separate coaching pool that is not linked to the college game. Much of the coaching talent out there will prefer college to the NBA. ( Coach K lives like a God at Duke, if he coached the Lakers like Kobe wanted, what do you think would happen to him?) Also to having a training ground/replacement cycle for new refs. And to test new tweaks to the actual NBA game. It's also a good way to facilitate helping out your cronies. Part of the pro sports business is you have to give out jobs sometimes. Even to people who don't deserve them. Sometimes you can shuffle someone off to the G League in some fashion to help the team. Maybe they are related to an agent. Or an agent you owe has a player who has a family member who needs a job. Operationally, it also becomes another type of tax shelter for the league.
Does it help players actually develop?
The answer is "It depends"
The D League was mostly an open training culture. Think of like the Spartan "Agoge" system. The point was development. In the past, if another coach on another team could help a guy, he would. If a veteran player could help a guy, he would mostly. Many of those veterans know they aren't making the NBA, they want to keep the doors open to possibly coaching at some level. At the NBA level, the idea of mentorship is a bit overblown. No one really wants to help you take their job from them. Of course fringe roster guys like a Sessions or Jack, want to stay on the roster, so the mentoring is a selling point for them. It's not out of the goodwill of their heart.
Much like the Agoge system, the players basically live, eat, train and exist together all the time. You have nothing to do but work on your game. Most people in the league are too broke to go get into trouble. There is also the mental breakdown process. Most guys at this level of basketball and higher are used to being the primary option on their team. Well at this level, sometimes your best chance to make the NBA is to fit a role. Much of the individual coaching at this level is to adjust for role development. Maybe your best chance is to be a defense/energy guy off the bench. So it's up to the coaches, if you have any decent ones, to help you game up your strengths to suit that, and limit your weaknesses. It's like writing a different version of your resume to get a specific kind of job.
Where this is complicated is the "synergy" between the G League and parent franchise. It helps if they run the same kind of system/offense/roles so players can train in the type of environment they will actually be asked to operate in at a game level. This is NOT true for all G League franchises.
Big men typically don't get much development at the G League level. Guards and wings tend to do better, because they are naturally ball dominant and game style lends towards ball dominant play. It's a step up in competition from college, a step down slightly in competition from the Euro Leagues, but not a full leap into the NBA grade style of competition.
At the NBA level, the focus is on winning games. There is not as much focus on player development. If you are lucky, like Jeremy Lin was, you have a guy like Kenny Atkinson, who had a dual role, to help your development. And he was even luckier, he had Eric Musselman, a former NBA coach, helping him at the D League level, who had a relationship with his first franchise ( Warriors) There are also fewer games, so you don't have the kind of leap in physical attrition going from the college game to the pros.
The benefit of the NBA level is you are learning from film and scouting reports of actual NBA players. Part of success is working with a knowledge base to understand players tendencies and strengths. This is no different from Nick Mangold going over with Mark Sanchez on the strengths and exploits of that weeks defensive linemen.
The G League is a filter point. Dudes who couldn't get into college, guys washing out of the NBA, injured guys, guys with character concerns. As the league shifts to a 1 to 1 ration with parent NBA franchises, things might change. Players are better off though, for the most part, in college or the Euro leagues.
IF Frank N needed to learn how to play a much different role than his pre draft game, then maybe the G League would help for individualized coaching with less pressure. If he was injured and needed rehab. If he was battered from physical attrition and needed a break.
His "role" however doesn't need a ton of adjustment. He's already a NBA caliber defender at three positions. If he can hit the open three pointer at a league average rate ( and this is a skill set you CAN DEVELOP WITH WORK) , then he has a perfectly functional NBA floor skill set. OK, he can't create his own shot. Well, so what. He's a cost controlled guy who might end up a useful 3 And D wing. That's not so horrible.
The reality is Frank N might be a limbo Quad A type player now. Too advanced for the G League but not quite ready for the full time NBA grind. Players make their major leaps in development between Years 1 and 2, then again in 2 and 3. Let's see where he is midway through Year 3 on the roster.
The gaps in talent for pro basketball is HUGE. The top 3-5 guys, the talent gap is HUGE compared to the next 10-12 guys. And again, it's HUGE when compared to the next 20 guys after that. The drop off from the bottom of the NBA roster to the G League is pretty large.
My take? He's a NBA caliber defender at 19. He's better off learning to scout and process game film on guys he has to actually play against. He came from a pro environment, so his need to build in "culture" and "preparation" is probably moot. To be functionally useful, he needs to learn to hit a league average 3 point shot, which the G League won't help him with, hard work and time can do that hopefully.
If the G League was functionally great at player development, you'd see way more players transition from there to the NBA. But the issue often times is just raw talent and athleticism. You can't take a NFL or MLB concept and apply it to the NBA, there are too many differences.
Recipes for G League success ( maybe...)
- Player is in his first three years in the league or less ( in his prime developmental window) and under the age of 24
- Synergy between the G League and NBA franchise ( system, offensive style)
- Individualized coaching to a ROLE outside of the players normal fit on all previous team ( i.e. you are not the Alpha Dog anymore...)
- Calibration of physical attrition/injury prevention based on the player recent injury history/usage/level of experience/stage of physical development
- Having someone will real NBA coaching experience to help develop the players ( There are a lot of lousy coaches in the G League, which is why many are not in the NBA, Euro Leagues, college game)
Jeremy Lin had the raw athletic skill set. He had a good work ethic. He had good coaches at both levels. He had opportunity. He was in his prime developmental window. Sitting in the NBA allowed him to train outside the NBA to help his skill set while filling out physically. Eric Musselman was a Godsend for him, as was Kenny Atkinson. It wasn't one thing, it was many things. But things that tend to fall into a pattern.
Going to the G League won't help Frank N develop an elite three point shot. If he had one, and was using it, there would be way less criticism of him right now. He'd be a 3 And D wing who could defend well and it would be sort of a shrugged shoulders situation that he can't create his own shot.
Pro Tip - If you want to gauge league consensus on a young players potential, don't read fluff articles, LOOK AT HIS AGENT.
Powerful agents became powerful by making good bets and good risks on which players to represent. Leon Rose of CAA is Frank N's agent. Rose could rep nearly anyone. Many players and their families would give their right nut ( Tupac'ed per se) to have Rose rep them.
I see a high floor player who has a very useful skill set. Maybe he won't be a super star. OK, so what. You need stars to win, but you do need all types to win besides stars as well.
2/11/2018 3:10 PM