NBA

[ed-S: bumped to diary]

Every year we see the "talent-drain" occur in college basketball where the best players make themselves eligible for the NBA draft. With the <grimace> thought that there is the possibility of losing Burke, Hardaway, Robinson, and McGary I did a search (albeit a quick one) of the data regarding entering the NBA after 1 or 2 seasons. Is it worth the risk? Well here's what I've come up with.

* The majority of this information comes from "Weakside Awareness" and "Basketball-Reference.com"

http://weaksideawareness.wordpress.com/

http://www.basketball-reference.com/

How many players are in the NBA? ~360-450 (max).

30 teams in the NBA. Each roster can have a maximum of 15 players with a usual minimum of 12 (teams are allowed to have as few as 8 players). So, at any given time there are between 360-450 players in the NBA.

How many players retire/go unsigned/or otherwise leave the NBA yearly?

Very difficult to identify, but math tells us it should be roughly equal to the number of draftees that are signed.

How many players enter the draft?

Roughly 60 players. Of course, a draft only gives a team the OPTION of signing that particular player. However, they still tryout for the team and may go UNsigned prior to the season starting if they don't make the grade. I could not find data to show me the average number of draftees who were NOT signed by their drafting franchise.

What is the average length of career for an NBA player? (Weakside did a great eval on this at http://weaksideawareness.wordpress.com/2011/11/22/average-nba-career-length-for-players-details/)

If averaged from the start - 1947, it comes out to 4.86 seasons per player. However, in the last decade, this has increased (due in part to more positions due to expansion). Either way, it's not a long-term career.

Interestingly, Weakside broke this down by number of minutes played and height. Obviously, the more minutes you play, the longer you are kept around. The taller you are, the longer your career.

Minutes - < 12min a game: 2 seasons, > 30min a game: 10.88 seasons.

Height - > 7 feet: 5.78 season, < 6'2": 4.12 seasons.

What financial impact do we see?

(Good article from Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/sites/aliciajessop/2012/06/28/the-structure-of-nba-rookie-contracts/)

The initial term of an NBA rookie contract is 2 years with a 3rd year option. Agents don't have much leverage in negotiating a rookie's contract as the NBA has a "rookie salary scale." For players from the 2012 Draft, this scales from the #1 pick to the #30 pick as follows (Col 1:Draft pick, Col 2: 2012-13 Season, Col 3: 2013-14, Col 4: 2014-15):

The collective bargaining agreement states that a player may make between 80%-120% of this scaled salary amount based on their lottery pick. This variable is where the agent is important, particularly for the mid-range draft picks to get closer to the 120% rather than the 80%.

Despite this large up front amount, the data post-career is alarming. According to a report in 2008 from the NBA Player's Association, 60% of players are broke by 5 years post-retirement. This usually stems from having to pay for things you bought/made while you were still making the dough (ie houses, kids, divorces).

BOTTOM LINE

So, is it worth it? Does a college degree prevent the financial collapse? Is the upfront signing guarantee worth it? Does the answer even exist? Tim Duncan stuck around for 4 years, but would he have had the same longevity if he left after year 2?

I think a diary by the Mathlete is in order. Let's discuss!

http://www.silverscreenandroll.com/2013/2/18/4000992/lakers-dr-jerry-buss-has-passed-away-cancer

Title says it all. :(

A sad, though not unexpected, day for all professional basketball fans.  I lived in L.A. for the first seven years of my life, just as the Showtime era began, and I learned to love the Lakers somewhere between mastering potty training and my ABC’s.  In short, I was aware that the NBA was a thing for almost the entire 33-year run that Dr. Jerry Buss was the Laker’s owner.  In that time, my favorite pro team has been to the Finals sixteen times and won ten titles.  Suffice it to say that I’ve been spoiled as an NBA fan.  That this season has so spectacularly gone to shit does not diminish the Laker’s run of success, but rather testifies to a culture of winning and expecting championships that Dr. Buss made into a hallmark of being a Laker.  Many people have said (not without reason) that the Lakers are basketball’s version of the Yankees; in my infinite arrogance, I would submit that it’s the Yankees are baseball’s version of the Lakers.

As such, I’m not exactly impartial, but it is my considered opinion that Dr. Buss was the best professional sports owner in all four major leagues.  Much like fellow Laker legend Chick Hearn whose vocal mannerisms are now standard basketball parlance, Dr. Buss’ contributions reach far and wide beyond.  He certainly had no small amount of help from Magic and Kareem and Kobe, but Dr. Buss did was much as anyone else to make the NBA relevant - to make games an *event*.  How many people remember that Magic’s legendary close-out game in the 1980 finals was shown on tape delay?  That’d be inconceivable today.  I suspect many people here are Pistons or Bulls fans – I’m sure you have fond memories of the great teams they had during the 90’s.  But besides all the winning, don't you also remember ancillary moments like The Final Countdown blaring through The Palace during the 4^th quarter?  John Mason saying ‘Joe Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuumars!’ after another clutch bucket by #4?  Dimming the lights and introducing the Bulls starters to Allan Parson’s ‘Sirius’?  All of that started with Jerry Buss.  Most of all, Jerry Buss knew how *not* to be Jerry Jones.

To bring this topic within a country mile of MGoBlog’s purview, it’s easy and probably apt to compare Jerry Buss to Bo.   They were both, for lack of a better word, icons.  In their passing they left footprints so large and so deep that they’re impossible to fill.  Michigan will always have Bo Schembechler’s indelible legacy to live up to and it’s no less the same for the Lakers in the post-Jerry Buss era.  Without going to the ugly details it’s no secret that the Lakers have an even bigger leadership void to fill.  As a Michigan and a Laker fan, it’s hard not for me to both appreciate the legacy that Bo and Dr. Buss have respectively left and to also feel trepidation about how things will go moving forward for L.A. given what we had to go through in the wake of Bo’s passing.

Surfing through my FB feed today, a post about Loy Vaught popped up on the fan page called "Forgotten NBA Role Players." 

Apparently Vaught averaged 16 points and 10 rebounds over a 4-year stretch in the NBA. I remember Glen Rice having a really nice professional career, but I don't remember ever hearing about Loy. Maybe because he was stuck on the Clippers for so long?

Are there any other former Wolverines that had sneaky good pro careers other than the obvious stars like Webber, Rose, Howard and Jamal Crawford?

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Forgotten-NBA-Role-Players/403903329690479

Tuesday, December 25
RESULT	WINNER HIGH		LOSER HIGH		ATT.
Boston 93, Brooklyn 76	Rondo 19 Pts		Lopez 15 Pts Wallace 15 Pts		17,732
MATCHUP	TIME (ET)	AWAY TV	HOME TV	NAT TV
New York at LA Lakers	3:00 PM
Oklahoma City at Miami	5:30 PM
Houston at Chicago	8:00 PM	CSN Houston	WCIU
Denver at LA Clippers	10:30 PM	Altitude Sports	FSW2

*I really started this thread to ask - "has Darius Morris been starting at SG recently?!" He's started the Lakers/Knicks game WITH Nash and Kobe and it made no sense. They had him guarding Carmelo and he got owned. Why would they start him over Metta World Peace who's a MUCH better defensive matchup? Seems like a terrible coaching move.

I could see playing him with Nash when the Knicks have Felton and Kidd on the floor and Kobe is out...but not having him guard Carmelo who's playing PF!

come on yalll lets get it onnn

Funniest crew in sports at it again the other night

Finally got it to embed, see below.