In an interview with NBA Insider’s Chad Ford (a pay service or I’d link it), the Commish suggested recently that he would be willing to forego a collectively bargained 20 year old age limit if he could streamline the NBDL into a true minor league system. The interesting thing is, there would be 15 minor league teams (which means once Charlotte comes in this summer, there would be 1 minor league team shared by two NBA teams.) How will that work? Sure, the NBA will hire a coach, and it has been said that each team will be allowed to send an asisstant coach, but how will the two teams cooperate if they feel the team is doing more to emphasize a prospect from the other team more than their own?
It seems like it will be tough to cooperate with a rival team.
To make matters worse, the union is already bucking the idea. They are probably just trying to get more money out of the owners.
But they did have some legitimate concerns. Who can be assigned there? How does the salary structure work? Can the coaches and GMs use it as punishment for a veteran in the coach’s doghouse?
Legitimate concerns. As such, I offer these suggestions (and invite other plans):
If the player is drafted in the first round of the draft, he is limited to assignment up to five years after his 18th birthday. In other words, a HS player drafted in the 1st round could spend up to five years in the NBDL. Sounds harsh, but these guys, with a few exceptions, really need a LOT of work. They can get paid, get playing time and get actual fundamental coaching (I’d hire Mike Fratello in some capacity). This also means that the rare 4 year college player would only spend a maximum of one year in the minors if he is taken in the first round. It would possibly encourage players to stay in college for a while longer. (you would also need to revisit the rookie salary scale for players with a lot of college experience).
Players drafted in the second round (or later as the draft would likely be expanded) or undrafted have no pre-set limitation on whether they could be assigned to the minors. BUT, after five seasons of NBA service (minimum of 50 games per season), they would be protected as if they were first rounders.
If a 1st rounder is assigned to the minors, he makes the same wage he would make in the NBA. This could not be negotiated out of his contract.
A second rounder can negotitate “protected wages” (e.g.- a player with some leverage, like a Marce Lampe or a Carlos Boozer who falls to the second round) if they are assigned in the minor leagues. If they get this guarantee, they can be assigned to the minors, but are still guaranteed the NBA rate league minimum (or whatver they are able to negotiate).
However, if the 2nd rounder is unable to get this protected guarantee (as few would), if he is reassigned to the minors, his league minimum is substantially lower. While called up to the NBA, he is guaranteed the NBA minimum per game (which is substantial). But while in the NBDL, he is given the per game salary of the NBDL (which is probably based on a per game division of 25- $30,000 per season).
I think this accomplishes the NBA goal of giving the rookies playing time in meaningful situations.
It also means more money for the Player’s Union. While the rookies are in the minors (albeit making less money at times), the NBA teams will fill those spots freed up with veterans with fundamental skills. So, the NBA will be paying the extra salaries, giving more revenue to the players union.
I think this is win-win. The only true hold up in this is the number of years a player is eligible for assignment (well, the players union said that first rounders should NEVER be eligible for assigment, but that would defeat the purpose of the league. They are just posturing there).
Sounds like a good plan to me. I think you would also need to institute an “Options” program similar to Major League Baseball’s. IIRC, each minor league baseball player has three “options” that take effect after they are drafted. When the big league club calls up that player, one of the options is expired. The club can bring them up and back as many times as they want during the same season under that same option. After the third option expires, the big club has to keep the player on the big league roster or place the player on waivers, where he can be claimed by another major league club.
I also think that two clubs “sharing” one minor league club would work out okay. I don’t think each team really needs 12 players on their developmental roster. Six each sounds about right. Baseball clubs “share” teams in the Arizona Fall League and it works out pretty well.
Good point on the options. Perhaps there would be some exception in the last two weeks of the first season to this though. You wouldn’t want to put anything into place that would discourage the league to call up a HS draftee in his first pro season. It would be nice to give him a little taste of the pros.
“Sounds harsh, but these guys, with a few exceptions, really need a LOT of work.”
To be even harsher, a guy who needs a lot of work isn’t going to play in the NBA.
You’re asking the league owners to fund a minor league system at a loss so everyone can have a third-string point guard in the minor leagues. This player will probably never make the professional roster. In the event of a rash of injuries, the player might play a few minutes a week.
Between keeping a core lineup and needing a spot for next year’s first round draft pick, there isn’t a lot of room on a NBA roster for bringing people up and sending people down.
If a player is a top prospect, he’ll get better coaching and more realistic practice being a scrub with the professional team. If the player isn’t a top prospect, he probably isn’t going to make the professional team.
Keep in mind, a minor league system is something David Stern really wants, and if the Godfather wants it, the owners will most likely line up right behind him. It’s the players association you have to worry about rejecting any minor league proposal.
Teams are always signing guys to 10-day contracts due to injuries, and under this plan they wouldn’t have to worry about keeping that roster spot open for the next draft pick.
I think you do have a point here, but there are plenty of contributers in the league that may not have made it if it weren’t for the three or four years they had in college to improve their game - and if players like that doesn’t want to go to college, there should be a place for them to develop their game under the umbrella of The League.
I am not sure you get better coaching and practice in a pro team: especially a top tier one.
Because a HS kid doesn’t know HOW to practice the proper NBA Game (Exceptions noted: I am sure we all agree that a guy like Lebron James wouldn’t spend 1 minute in this system).
Other than the handful of teams that aren’t concerned with winning (I guarantee the Clippers would be a vote against this), moust teams show up every year thinking they can make the playoffs. This year in the West, even the Clips had SOME watered down hope of playoff action. In the east, the team I thought was the worst going into the season (Milwaukee) is fighting for homecourt in the first round! While there is likely some assistant responsible for tutoring raw, young guys, on a team full of veterans the priority is to win.
So I really don’t think the young guys get the opportunities they need at the club level. Everything I have read says that playing time in MEANINGFUL games is the best way to instruct a player on how to improve his weaknesses. Think of the classic debate with teams that have had young stars (e.g.- The Bulls). There is always the war between the coach (who wants to WIN by playing the unheralded vets who have fundametals) versus the GM (who wants to DEVELOP the team by having the coach play the RAW players.)
This system would allow the players to get real playing time in real games without watering down the NBA product. There are already six teams in the NBDL. I think SOME of the costs of adding 9 teams could be offset by actually offering a few “marquis” names to the roster (people may be interested in seeing Darko Milicic).
Okay, I’m a little ignorant of the whole minor league system, but why will this be run at a loss? Up here we have minor league hockey (OHL, Quebec league, Western League?) and I don’t think they lose money. The players make a smaller salary (around 30K per year). The cost to see these games are less than NHL games, but still a pretty good price.
Canadian minor hockey is the exception, not the rule. Teams in the OHL and such make money because A) hockey’s well supported here, and B) the OHL and similar leagues are the only step below the NHL.
Minor league basketball would be in direct competition with college basketball, which is already a well estalbished lower rung of basketball. There’s just no way a minor basketball league could possibly have the market penetration to reliably make money.
Please explain. Minor league basketball would be composed almost entirely of former college players who were in camps with NBA teams but didn’t make the cut- just like the NBDL and all that. The best players from college, excepting those few who actually got onto an NBA roster, would be farmed out to some team’s minor league system. In other words, I don’t get how it would be direct competition with college ball- it would be a rung up from college but a rung down from the real deal.
Do you mean competition for TV time and stuff like that? If that’s what you mean, I can understand that, but minor league baseball does all right without ever getting on TV. As long as people show up for the games, they can be viable, and I know I would go to a minor-league NBA game to see the young guns- guys like Darko Milicic, Kwame Brown, and Jermaine O’Neal, even Tracy McGrady when he was up there in Toronto- in their first few seasons. Instead of riding the pine, they would really benefit from playing time under NBA tutelage, and I’d enjoy watching them play competitively.
I can’t imagine that the shitty players would be against a league that would allow them to play ball professionally without having to travel to Turkey or Argentina. Would the rich and talented players have a problem? God only knows.