For those of us advocating a real minor league system, there is some good stuff here.

My own opinion is that they should expand the draft (Add 3 extra rounds which cannot be traded) and the roster (3 "taxi squad players)and let a team have rights over 3 players in the DL so they can develop them.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/10/sports/basketball/nba-d-league-money-tv-deal.html

nytimes.com
Deep-Pocketed N.B.A. Has Short Arms When Offering a Hand Up
Harvey Araton

“If the amateur landscape is being reshaped, then why wait to follow the N.C.A.A.’s lead?” he wrote, referring to litigation in recent years challenging the governing structure of big-time college sports. “The N.B.A. should act preemptively in what, down the line, will be in its own best interests.”

The sports executive Arn Tellem has advocated for better play to build the league’s reputation.
Tellem, the vice chairman of Palace Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Detroit Pistons, proceeded to offer a widely read player development manifesto.

All teams in the N.B.A. Development League operated this season with payroll budgets of about $170,000. Players were paid within a tiered system that topped out in the $25,000 range for a 50-game schedule (plus playoffs). Those paltry numbers are projected to rise insignificantly next season, with the league growing to 22 teams from 19.

As Tellem wrote, “Barely a livable wage — which partly explains why no prospect would ever voluntarily choose the D-League over college.”

The issue of minor league pay has become contentious in at least one other sport. Major League Baseball is facing a class-action lawsuit filed in 2014 by 34 plaintiffs — since expanded drastically — in San Francisco, asserting that minor leaguers make less than required by state and federal laws governing minimum wage and overtime. A trial is scheduled for 2017.

According to N.B.A. people familiar with negotiations designed to avert a rancorous opt-out of the current deal next summer by owners or players, management and labor have mutual interest in raising D-League standards — but, not surprisingly, with different goals in mind.

Commissioner Adam Silver is known to want the N.B.A. age limit extended to two years after high school, perhaps in exchange for increased D-League pay. Michele Roberts, the National Basketball Players Association’s executive director — while observing a moratorium on public comment during negotiations — has previously described herself as a firm opponent of any age restrictions.

N.B.A. players have never galvanized to challenge the current one-year age restriction. A good number no doubt support it, sharing the league’s conviction that preps-to-pros jumpers diminish the quality of play and push veterans out of the league prematurely.

Tellem wasn’t the first to argue that the solution is to make the D-League a more attractive option than college, with each of the 30 N.B.A. teams operating a franchise. He just presented the pertinent details that would, among other things, protect N.B.A. teams that draft high school talent by not counting their D-League salaries against the cap; provide more options and maneuverability for high school players; and compensate the college game by committing high schoolers who do not enter the N.B.A. draft to remain in college for at least two years.

After making its debut as more of a career lifeline for players on the way out, the D-League has become a viable N.B.A. feeder. Its teams are allowed to sign high school graduates, but, as Tellem wrote, who would choose such woeful compensation over a packed campus arena at Kentucky or Duke?

The age limit imposed in 2006 gave birth to the college game’s one-and-done era, in which the teenage elite commit for one season, becoming pretend students whose only financially prudent alternative is playing abroad.

Silver’s predecessor, David Stern, often acknowledged that the culture of the college game was objectionable at best. To their credit, Stern and Silver have never stooped to a once common and paternalistic contention that a year or two at Slam Dunk State was a preferred social or academic pathway to young adulthood — a rationale seldom mouthed in sports more populated by whites.

The status quo of having players pitched to the public during March Madness and having a bridge year or two in college for maturity and evaluation has been better for N.B.A. business, they believed.

But in an interview last season, Malcolm Turner, the D-League’s president, said: “From a development standpoint, the feedback I hear from N.B.A. coaches and general managers is that the college game is very different from the N.B.A. game. So you can argue that the D-League is even more important today to prepare young players because it is N.B.A.-style coaching, N.B.A.-type training.”

If the D-League offered salaries even somewhat representative of the N.B.A.’s growing prosperity, how many 18-year-olds would suddenly lose the phone number of Kentucky Coach John Calipari?

In an interview last year, Silver said he could envision increased D-League pay, although the figure he hypothetically suggested, $50,000, was only the minimum proposed by Tellem, who also imagined $2 million team budgets, excluding first-round picks who might apprentice in what would become a true minor league.

The owners could demand to have the D-League salary budget come out of the players’ cut. The players could bargain for a stake in potential profits generated from enhanced interest and revenues.

The college game would lose star power, but that’s the problem of Calipari and company. The players would deservedly be positioned to finally circumvent N.C.A.A. chicanery, and those not destined to make it to the big stage would at least get paid decent money until their dreams were competitively snuffed out.

“The time is right to develop a legitimate minor league that protects younger players, nurtures and cultivates future stars, and works in the N.B.A.’s best interests,” Tellem wrote.

After the recent orgy of free-agent spending, who would argue that the league can’t afford it?

WaltLongmire wrote:Excellent and clear article looking at the issues surrounding the D-League by CrushAlot's favorite columnist...

For those of us advocating a real minor league system, there is some good stuff here.

My own opinion is that they should expand the draft (Add 3 extra rounds which cannot be traded) and the roster (3 "taxi squad players)and let a team have rights over 3 players in the DL so they can develop them.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/10/sports/basketball/nba-d-league-money-tv-deal.html

nytimes.com
Deep-Pocketed N.B.A. Has Short Arms When Offering a Hand Up
Harvey Araton

“If the amateur landscape is being reshaped, then why wait to follow the N.C.A.A.’s lead?” he wrote, referring to litigation in recent years challenging the governing structure of big-time college sports. “The N.B.A. should act preemptively in what, down the line, will be in its own best interests.”

The sports executive Arn Tellem has advocated for better play to build the league’s reputation.
Tellem, the vice chairman of Palace Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Detroit Pistons, proceeded to offer a widely read player development manifesto.

All teams in the N.B.A. Development League operated this season with payroll budgets of about $170,000. Players were paid within a tiered system that topped out in the $25,000 range for a 50-game schedule (plus playoffs). Those paltry numbers are projected to rise insignificantly next season, with the league growing to 22 teams from 19.

As Tellem wrote, “Barely a livable wage — which partly explains why no prospect would ever voluntarily choose the D-League over college.”

The issue of minor league pay has become contentious in at least one other sport. Major League Baseball is facing a class-action lawsuit filed in 2014 by 34 plaintiffs — since expanded drastically — in San Francisco, asserting that minor leaguers make less than required by state and federal laws governing minimum wage and overtime. A trial is scheduled for 2017.

According to N.B.A. people familiar with negotiations designed to avert a rancorous opt-out of the current deal next summer by owners or players, management and labor have mutual interest in raising D-League standards — but, not surprisingly, with different goals in mind.

Commissioner Adam Silver is known to want the N.B.A. age limit extended to two years after high school, perhaps in exchange for increased D-League pay. Michele Roberts, the National Basketball Players Association’s executive director — while observing a moratorium on public comment during negotiations — has previously described herself as a firm opponent of any age restrictions.

N.B.A. players have never galvanized to challenge the current one-year age restriction. A good number no doubt support it, sharing the league’s conviction that preps-to-pros jumpers diminish the quality of play and push veterans out of the league prematurely.

Tellem wasn’t the first to argue that the solution is to make the D-League a more attractive option than college, with each of the 30 N.B.A. teams operating a franchise. He just presented the pertinent details that would, among other things, protect N.B.A. teams that draft high school talent by not counting their D-League salaries against the cap; provide more options and maneuverability for high school players; and compensate the college game by committing high schoolers who do not enter the N.B.A. draft to remain in college for at least two years.

After making its debut as more of a career lifeline for players on the way out, the D-League has become a viable N.B.A. feeder. Its teams are allowed to sign high school graduates, but, as Tellem wrote, who would choose such woeful compensation over a packed campus arena at Kentucky or Duke?

The age limit imposed in 2006 gave birth to the college game’s one-and-done era, in which the teenage elite commit for one season, becoming pretend students whose only financially prudent alternative is playing abroad.

Silver’s predecessor, David Stern, often acknowledged that the culture of the college game was objectionable at best. To their credit, Stern and Silver have never stooped to a once common and paternalistic contention that a year or two at Slam Dunk State was a preferred social or academic pathway to young adulthood — a rationale seldom mouthed in sports more populated by whites.

The status quo of having players pitched to the public during March Madness and having a bridge year or two in college for maturity and evaluation has been better for N.B.A. business, they believed.

But in an interview last season, Malcolm Turner, the D-League’s president, said: “From a development standpoint, the feedback I hear from N.B.A. coaches and general managers is that the college game is very different from the N.B.A. game. So you can argue that the D-League is even more important today to prepare young players because it is N.B.A.-style coaching, N.B.A.-type training.”

If the D-League offered salaries even somewhat representative of the N.B.A.’s growing prosperity, how many 18-year-olds would suddenly lose the phone number of Kentucky Coach John Calipari?

In an interview last year, Silver said he could envision increased D-League pay, although the figure he hypothetically suggested, $50,000, was only the minimum proposed by Tellem, who also imagined $2 million team budgets, excluding first-round picks who might apprentice in what would become a true minor league.

The owners could demand to have the D-League salary budget come out of the players’ cut. The players could bargain for a stake in potential profits generated from enhanced interest and revenues.

The college game would lose star power, but that’s the problem of Calipari and company. The players would deservedly be positioned to finally circumvent N.C.A.A. chicanery, and those not destined to make it to the big stage would at least get paid decent money until their dreams were competitively snuffed out.

“The time is right to develop a legitimate minor league that protects younger players, nurtures and cultivates future stars, and works in the N.B.A.’s best interests,” Tellem wrote.

After the recent orgy of free-agent spending, who would argue that the league can’t afford it?

Interesting ideas, but the NCAA would oppose it vehemently, which is the biggest hurtle, and the NBAPA would have to agree to co-subsidize it.

It's clear on every draft night that there is enough talent out there for the draft to go three rounds at this point. Or at least have the lottery teams get a third round pick.

WaltLongmire wrote:

crzymdups wrote:I was actually thinking that one solution for more money in the system would be to increase roster size to 16 or 18. And have five guys who could shuttle back and forth in the D-League unlimited times, but be making an NBA rookie minimum salary at least (if not more).

It's clear on every draft night that there is enough talent out there for the draft to go three rounds at this point. Or at least have the lottery teams get a third round pick.

NFL has a Practice Squad(do they still call it a Taxi squad?) and players stay in college for a number of years, MLB has minor league teams coming out the wazoo, as does the NHL.

You also have winter ball in Central and South America and good college baseball teams.

Time for the league, the owners, and the player's union to wise up.

Football players aren't physically mature enough for the NFL.

NCAA baseball and hockey aren't multi-billion dollars businesses.

The NCAA tournament is actually good for the NBA.

That's the difference, and the obstacle.

WaltLongmire wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:I believe an nba team can protect up to four guys from the d league draft that they bring to camp. Typically those four guys would sign partially guaranteed deals (I.e. For. 50-75g) so that they were compensated for playing in the d league. A team can also send down uo to two players at a time so there is potential for a d league roster to have 5-6 guys earning a total basketball income around 100k. It needs to be fixed. Bumping salaries up to 50k would be a good start. I believe tickets to the a Knicks are pretty expensive.

We did that last year, but while there might have been a gentleman's agreement between Trice and the others with the Knicks, they had to be waived as they were not on the 15 man roster.

Not sure about this, though.

In their case the team is taking a chance because another NBA team could sign them at any time. It was weird that none of those guys were brought to camp.

franco12 wrote:

crzymdups wrote:I was actually thinking that one solution for more money in the system would be to increase roster size to 16 or 18. And have five guys who could shuttle back and forth in the D-League unlimited times, but be making an NBA rookie minimum salary at least (if not more).

It's clear on every draft night that there is enough talent out there for the draft to go three rounds at this point. Or at least have the lottery teams get a third round pick.

I remember when the draft was 7 rounds.

In 1986 there were 162 players selected. Once you got past round three, there were no real players that stuck:

http://www.basketball-reference.com/draft/NBA_1986.html

I don't understand why owners don't want to expand things. I guess players feel like - and these are the top players- they've made it and they want the lotto generational loot, and expanding out will crimp their potential for these deals.

But, yes, I absolutely agree - more money, expand out the D league to a proper place players can make money. There absolutely is a way to do that and not impact the NCAA if they wanted to.

More players in the U.S. and world market (Even though there are also more NBA and International teams, of course) so I would think you could find a group of players who would benefit from a better D League system.

As it stands now, the amount of money a DL player makes is almost criminal, and is not much of an incentive.