5* Syracuse recruit Bazley decommits; will head straight to G League
In what could be the first of many defections straight to the pros, 5* Syracuse recruit Darius Bazley will forego college and sign with a G League team. Not OT because Beilein recruited him briefly, and this could start a trend among 5* one-and-dones who would prefer to focus full-time on basketball.
https://sports.yahoo.com/projected-top-10-draft-pick-make-leap-high-sch…
Also, couldn't have happened to a better coach.
Way OT...like really OT.
if all of your one-and-dones start skipping college altogether, that greatly changes the landscape of top-end college basketball recruiting in a way that should help Beilein and our program.
You don't see how other schools missing out on high end talent could help Michigan???
Meh. When Mundiay signed a million dollar contract with a foreign pro league that was supposed to signal a mad spree of kids chasing cash overseas. It didn't. Will this? Probably not. I don't think a D-league contract is enough to tempt many outside of obvious academic non-qualifiers.
Who is the only person that can hold Jaren Jackson Jr. to under 11 points per game?
Answer: Tom Izzo
Ain't no way Jackson is getting 30 minutes per game for some strange reason. He averaged 21.8 this season.
Theoretically, if most of them go pro directly, the Kentucky's, Dukes, and Kansas' will have less players to fight (bid) over. They'd then be entering the much bigger pool of 4* and 3* star players, where at least there is more to go around.
Yes, but those schools will also be wasting valuable time and energy recruiting kids who wont decide that they are going direct to the G-League until late in the year, similar to this kid who is no longer going to Syracuse. That does advantage Belien who prefers to build strong relationships with kids prior to them commiting. Those kids are less likley to be scooped later in the cycle like many of the 3/4 stars the Kentucky's will need to fill their slots.
You mean the two players who were never committed to Michigan and were never rated as a 3 or 4 star?
Seems relevant.
I hope this signals the end of one and done. While that may take away some of the best talent in the NCAA, I think it is overall for the best.
He is taking a pay cut going from Syracuse to the G-league. The usual suspects must have the bagmen on hold while the FBI is around.
We joke about this but not all of these prospects are getting huge cash. "Bag man" money is smaller change. He probably doesn't go if $75k a year is a paycut.
On the other hand, note that we don't see a lot of this sort of flight from the blue bloods.
See my post further down the thread.
Underrated tax protip
So who does he sign with? Is it a one year deal with any team he wants to play for and then his rights are available in next year's draft? Didn't look like the article mentioned how that would work
Guaranteed $75,000 salary, more games to play to develop, NBA scouts still readily available to watch games. You lose the college experience (and the class work if your school is picky about it) and some of the fan attention, but it seems like a fine way to spend a year preparing for the draft.
The dam will only "break" if the top players aren't already making that money from boosters. Honestly, though, it's not a bad way to go.
I'd be interested to see someone try a major junior-type league for basketball, maybe in the Acela suburbs, recruiting 16-19 year olds for a preparatory experience.
That's a paycut compared to college without bag men. UM out of state tuition is like $62k (factoring in room and board). Add on top of that all of the other benefits (training table, gear, insurance, etc) and you're close to $75k tax free. That $75k G League salary is before taxes and won't include insurance probably. That being said, a guy like Bazley could probably start signing some pretty nice endorsement deals even as a G League guy.
Yeah, but he clearly doesn't value an education. So, it's not worth 62k to him.
The fact that a player may not see value in his education does not mean it literally has no value. It does carry value to society - which he may recognize later on in his life.
"Tattoos and dreadlocks"... dude my dogs heard that dog whistle all the way in Chicago. Chill with the racism.
Only if the player actually got an education.
Fact is, most elite athletes would not qualify for many of the schools they attend if they did not possess the athletic talent they have. It's kind of a national scandal that many athletes leave high school with academic abilities/skills that are very low, sadly. Those young men aren't in a great position to get a lot out of the college experience. They aren't getting the full $62K value from the scholarship, usually much, much less.
And then you have all the shady academic tricks schools pull like the UNC fake classes, athletes-only classes, and the tutors who do a lot of the work for them (my wife tutored football players in college). Most of the athletes are just passed through the system so they can play.
I'm with Brian that we should just rip the curtain off the facade, pay the players and stop pretending that they're here for anything other than playing their sport. Value and compensation are in the eye of the beholder.
Actually, it's having the degree that matters most. Most employers don't necessarily care what you majored in, just that you have the degree. A bachelor's is a prerequisite for lots of jobs - including lots of coaching jobs in sports.
It seems more to the point that the after tax $75K from the G League is in spendable funds, while the $75K from the collegiate scholarship is non-monetary. The latter is a lifelong investment, true, but I would guess most one and dones don't have that perspective, since they see other avenues to success than academic.
what kind of endorsement deals are out there for G-League players? Bazley is going to be much less well known than if he went to Syracuse. Honestly, I don't see all that many major league athletes doing a lot of endorsements. A few big names seem to get the lion's share.
Ask Adidas.
Adidas would pay Bowen to go to their flagship school. They have a lot of money invested in Louisville. Would they pay him the same for an endorsement deal when he'd be more or less anonymous for a year in the G-League? Seems unlikely.
March 29th, 2018 at 10:18 PM ^
The point isn't about getting kids to flagship schools or what they bring to the table right now. It's about investing in the possible future earnings the kid could bring in. So Adidas doesn't really profit from Bowen going to Louisville. Adidas profits from signing Bowen early in the hopes that he becomes a big NBA star.
March 29th, 2018 at 11:17 PM ^
Adidas had no contract with Bowen. He was free to sign with anyone once he got to the NBA. They weren't even going to pay him directly. They pay Louisville a lot of money every year. 100K to make Louisville more prominent was a small investment to protect the bigger one.
The guys at the top of the draft board are worth a lot to the shoe companies. They throw around money to get involved with them early. By the time someone's in the G-league and they're projected to go mid to late first round, how much are they really worth to shoe companies? There are something like 30 5 stars every class. Maybe half of them even go in the first round.At least they can make a name for themselves in college that carries over into the NBA. G-League players can't be expected to do that.
You may not have known many lower league professional hockey players, but most of them lived rent free in sponsor homes and had additional stipends / per diems on top of their base salary. I'm not sure what the G-League offers, but as a 19 year old kid, this isn't really a pay cut. He could save most of it for school on his own terms if he so desired. Not to mention, you are talking about a player is who pretty much looked at as a lottery pick one year from now. I don't think he's sweating the pennies.
How much is 1 year at UM worth to your future if you don't stay and get your degree?
I'm kind of surprised more top-flight recruits don't do this (or go to Europe) instead of college. If you know your future is basketball, I struggle to see the benefit of college vs. the G-League or Europe. Seems like the cons of college for these caliber of players for outweigh whatever pros there may be.
How long until top recruits don't bother with high school as well? As soon as someone tells these kids they're going to be stars some may consider just going pro in some form. There are agents who will sign 8 year old kids... and spit them out like rotten lettuce as soon as they think they have someone better.
Also, Bazley’s rights won’t belong to any team until he’s draft-eligible. There really isn't an incentive for a G-league affiliate to play and develop him and then see him get drafted to someone else.