HS Basketball players going the pro route
- Thread starter Halincandenza
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He was the most hyped player coming out of high school that I can remember outside of maybe LeBron and Kobe.
I believe it. I've heard of him but didn't know he was a straigh outta high school player
Most those guys took at least a few years before they became really good. LeBron and Dwight Howard had the best rookie years of all those players.
Zion was a very hyped player coming out of high school but his one year at Duke launched him into superstardom. He had a few high school games on tv but at Duke, he was on ESPN every game. Many who follow NBA closely knew he was good, but his year at Duke got him the attention of casual fans. He went from likely top five pick out high school to consensus #1 pick after his freshman year. Yes, GL highlights would have been shown but the primetime games were likely out because of the tv deal in place.
One thing that always disgusts me about basketball at the high school/AAU level is the handlers involved. They take advantage of the players for their own personal gain.
Endorsement value skyrockets when casual, or even non-fans know who you are and want to buy stuff you endorse. His time at Duke made that happen. You knew who he was in HS, but I can read a couple of your posts and safely bet you know more about CBB and HS prospects than 99% of the population. It's not the knowledgeable avid fans, or all the other HS and college kids that follow on social media that make for the massive endorsements like Zion got. Once you are known by the casual fans and random Dads, your endorsements go to a whole new level.
Mikey Williams has 2.4 million followers in IG alone right now. He is nothing that remotely approaches a household name. If he was able to go the pros right now would he get some endorsements, but no casual fan has a clue who Mikey WIlliams is. None of those same casual fans knew who Zion was before the season started, and they wouldn't know who he was in the G League either.
Had Zion gone to the GL he would've got some endorsements too. But there's no way he would've garnered or maintained even remotely the same amount of interest among the casual basketball fan for months in the GL vs. what he got while at Duke. His time at Duke shifted him from somebody avid basketball fans knew to somebody that everybody that casually followed sports knew. That's a HUGE difference in the level of endorsements you get.
Sounds like Dickie V. needs to start pimping the Maine Red Claws. You are absolutely correct on this issue. Real Estate........location, location, location. Duke is the location. No one is paying top dollar for a Red Claw Zion.
The OE league is definitely well funded at this point but I doubt it can be sustained for the long term if they are going to be paying players $500K/year plus salaries for staff support. I am assuming they are aggressively pursuing Bronny James to help with OE exposure and potential TV deals.
There had been talk about the NBA reinstating rules to draft HS players but they got rid of it for good business reasons and it would be senseless on several counts to reinstate the rule.
And it's long past overdue to implement rules where if a HS player enrolls in college, they are ineligible to play in the NBA for two years (or three if they want to mirror MLB). They also need rules to stabilize the NBA Draft process where if an underclass CBB player is not drafted in the first round, they are no longer Draft eligible, ineligible to play in the NBA for one season and can return to CBB or play GLeague for one season. Far too many underclassmen remain in the Draft every year and end up not getting Drafted or get drafted in the late 2nd round without a NBA contract.
There had been talk about the NBA reinstating rules to draft HS players but they got rid of it for good business reasons and it would be senseless on several counts to reinstate the rule.
And it's long past overdue to implement rules where if a HS player enrolls in college, they are ineligible to play in the NBA for two years (or three if they want to mirror MLB). They also need rules to stabilize the NBA Draft process where if an underclass CBB player is not drafted in the first round, they are no longer Draft eligible, ineligible to play in the NBA for one season and can return to CBB or play GLeague for one season. Far too many underclassmen remain in the Draft every year and end up not getting Drafted or get drafted in the late 2nd round without a NBA contract.
Bronny James doesn’t really make sense considering he’s the high school prospect who needs money the least in the world
Players just need to be allowed to go directly to the NBA. College can certainly boost your image and make you a lot of money, but kids should be allowed to go grab their money right away if they want to.
Josh Selby and Cliff Alexander are a couple good examples of guys who could have gone straight to the pros if they were allowed to, but instead were exposed in college and lost millions of dollars.
Josh Selby and Cliff Alexander are a couple good examples of guys who could have gone straight to the pros if they were allowed to, but instead were exposed in college and lost millions of dollars.
In the past they would have gotten millions of dollars, but been exposed in the NBA. Good for the kid to make the money, but teams got tired of wasting money on players that didn't materialize hence the "one and done" rule. Hopefully there can be some kind of middle ground.
I agree that they should be able to, but I don't think guys that were incorrectly believed to be good enough out of HS dropped in the draft is a very good rationale. There are a finite number of draft and roster slots. If a team gets fooled into picking a Selby out of HS in the lottery and guarantees him a roster spot, it ultimately means somebody that is a legitimate NBA player loses a spot.
So if allowed say Selby goes directly to the 2010 draft and gets picked in the first round. That means somebody that was a better player slides to the second round and loses a bunch of money. That seems like one of the few good things about the one year requirement.
And interesting fact, that 2010 first round featured only one player that ended up with less NBA action than Josh Selby. That was Craig Brackins.
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Bronny James is currently the most high profile HS player in the country and would definitely bring in the most exposure and TV eyeballs for OE. I agree he doesn't need the money but OE sure as heck does for the short and long term.
And this is exactly why the NBA Players Association would be incredibly stupid to vote on reinstating the drafting of HS players. It's bad business for both the NBAPA and NBA front offices.
I doubt that the G League will prepare anyone for playing in the NFL.
Well you never know. Nice catch
Kobe got put into an awesome situation which accelerated his development. If he'd have ended up in Charlotte and tossed into the deep end, it would have been totally different.
For me, its LeBron and Tracy McGrady and that's it. Howard and Garnett definitely would have benefitted from a year in college to help their offensive development.
Interesting thought. I think Kobe would have been great regardless. He was such a hard worker that even MJ respected him after working out with him. He would not have had the rings in Charlotte, but he'd have been good and maybe left for a contender eventually.
Kobe is the closest thing to MJ in game style. Lebron is just so much bigger
