Any number between 30 and 60 is small compared to the number of guys playing for a living in Europe, Asia, and Australia and the like hoping to make it back to the NBA.
Wonder if LW gets to play in the G-league "combine?"
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Any number between 30 and 60 is small compared to the number of guys playing for a living in Europe, Asia, and Australia and the like hoping to make it back to the NBA.
Shaun Livingston didn't start his career overseas. He was a top 5 pick
Livingston was a Top Five recruit who went straight to the NBA.
About as far removed from the path for Deonte and Lindell as one can get.
I think we've been inundated with the G-League success stories of Niang, Naz, Monte, Nader and Burton that we fail to realize guys like this are the exception, not the rule. Also, Niang, Monte and Abdul have the benefit of having been drafted, which by all accounts Lindell will not. Most guys are lucky to get a 2 way deal or a 10 day, and for the most part spend their career bumping around different G-League teams.
Add BDJ to that list, too.
Him playing himself into an NBA contract was a pretty unique outcome.
My bad, I got him mixed up with Josh Childress. He started in the NBA, then went over seas for a couple years, then back to the NBA. Brandon Jennings is another example.
He was becoming a much better professional player than he was a college one. I always thought his size and style translated better to the NBA, anyways, and it did.
No. The G League remains a viable option for a lot of guys (and the Summer League takes a lot of players). There are 300+ guys in the G League. I think it's easier to get a spot off the bench in the G League than in a significant European league. The Euros usually want polished players and there are limits to how many a team can contract.
Childress was drafted by Atlanta, played 3 years in the NBA, averaged double digits, then went overseas. He was a legit NBA player, didn't need to prove himself. He left by choice.
Jennings was a blue chip recruit that was all over the NBA radar before he chose to not play in college. Again, not a guy who worked his way in to the league. He was always on the NBA's radar.
Yeah, those are poor examples of guys cutting it overseas and making it to the NBA.
Brandon Jennings was a consensus Top 5 high school recruit who was deemed ineligible and had to go over seas due to the one-and-done rule. He was always going to wind up in the NBA.
Yeah, but he still did it. Going to play in Europe isn't the problem. The problem is if you aren't good enough to make it straight out of college, you probably aren't good enough to ever make it. If you do improve though, the NBA will find you. In other words, its not going to Europe that causes players to never make it to the NBA. It's that they were never good enough if the first place.
If Wigginon plays in Europe and makes huge improvements, he can still make it to the NBA. The odds of him making those improvements are *not* very high though.
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40% of the players who were on NBA rosters at the start of this season have G-League experience in their career. Six years ago, it was 19%. It is becoming very common.
This pretty much sums it up. Yes there are plenty of examples on guys that played in Europe on NBA rosters, but many of those are European players and a few like Gerald Green that had a stint mid-career. When you count the guys like Burton, and LW will likely be this year, where they are deemed not good enough to be in the NBA right off the bat, the odds of making it to the league are very small. LW may be that exception, but every year there are dozens of guys that think they also are that exception.
The NBA isn't static so those statistics don't tell the whole story though. Look at the number of players drafted in the 1st and 2nd round last year that played in the G league and compare that to six years ago. I imagine that number has increased significantly as well.
What is proving itself out here is what I’ve always said.
LW will never play in the NBA.
I’d go overseas if I were him and wanted to play “professionally”. Play 5-7 years and make a decent nest egg then return to the states and coach kids or sell insurance.
LW will never play in the NBA.
I’d go overseas if I were him and wanted to play “professionally”. Play 5-7 years and make a decent nest egg then return to the states and coach kids or sell insurance.
