OAD era





  • Do you have the correct link?





  • It seems an improbable coincidence that this conversation is happening after Self was elected president of the NABC. It also seems that Bill Self’s apparent successes with OADs Jackson, Embiid and Wiggins, while having a history of player development, Frank being a perfect example, make it easy for him to talk the talk of an impartial mediator. Still, I think moving to a 2 year minimum system would benefit Self and I wonder how much he is involved in kick-starting the revisit.





  • JayHawkFanToo said:

    Do you have the correct link?

    No, I totally flubbed it up, but @mayjay found it.



  • I think it would solve every problem by simply doing something no one has proposed. Let kids enter the draft and regardless of whether or not they are drafted, let them return to school if they don’t sign. If they don’t sign, the draft pick is forfeited and the kid can enter next year.

    Teams won’t want to risk their picks on players who are not ready, and players who aren’t drafted aren’t booted out of college due to a gamble that turned out unwise.

    Why does the NCAA punish players who want to explore their worth by making them risk losing an entire education before they get any answers? I admit that the new combine/declare-and-withdraw system helps, but it still is all or nothing. Why not let kids see their standing in stark B&W, and decide with real information instead of just the informal evaluations given now pre-draft?

    There is no legitimate reason for the NCAA not to adopt this change, and if it really gave a crap about “student” athletes, it would do so. Yes, coaches would have to wait a few more weeks for certainty, but they are free to institute their own no-return policies if it is that important.

    The NCAA has a stranglehold on the kids. I would love to see it loosened.



  • @mayjay

    Why not adopt the baseball model then? Prospects that are ready can go directly from HS, if not then they have to wait 3 years which gives the time to potentially graduate or at least make substantial progress towards a degree which they can finish on line or later.



  • @JayHawkFanToo That is a MLB model. I am just proposing one thing solely within the control of college basketball, which is the group doing the complaining.



  • @mayjay So help me out here. If the kid goes second round and doesn’t like it, how long does he have to back out? If more than a few minutes, the draft takes forever. If longer, what happens to the nba team who now drafted some thin air?



  • JayHawkFanToo said:

    @mayjay

    Why not adopt the baseball model then? Prospects that are ready can go directly from HS, if not then they have to wait 3 years which gives the time to potentially graduate or at least make substantial progress towards a degree which they can finish on line or later.

    Baseball teams will actually pay for their education if they get drafted and end up wanting to go back to school. It is a stipulation in a lot of HS draftee’s contracts. And probably even college players.

    Baseball doesn’t want anyone to fail. All of the other sports almost feel like they want everyone to fail and be at the mercy of either the NCAA or the NBA. Whoever can profit off of them at the time… But then again, baseball has a very strong union. Much stronger than any of the other major sports.



  • @Fightsongwriter Interesting question. I would say that the NCAA has the say on when someone drafted has to decide to return to school, but the NBA has to be the one to decide how long before a draft pick expires.

    I have no problem with draft picks proving worthless. If teams are not going to draft someone under any circumstances, they should say so. Teams now are drafting and stashing to avoid conflicts with their current rosters, often leaving players in foreign limbo for years.

    The biggest problem for colleges with my barely thought-out idea is if a kid decides to go back to school and changes his mind to sign with his drafting team in, say, September. So, the NBA might have to rule that draft picks expire as soon as a kid makes his choice to return, and then that player cannot be signed either at all, or until the next college season is finished.

    Obviously, greater minds than my own would have to work out these and many other kinks. My bottom line is simply that kids should retain eligibility despite being drafted if they don’t sign.



  • @mayjay

    Tems cannot stash a player indefinitely. After a player indicates he is ready to sign the team retains the rights for only 1 year after that. I believe what you are thinking is what is called the Eurostash player and those are Euro players currently under contract and the team retains the rights until their contracts expire or 12 months after he informs the team he is ready to sign.

    Teams retain the rights of underclassmen until 1 year after their class would have graduated or 4 years maximum for a OAD, otherwise the draft would be moot and prospects would be like free agents and able to negotiate with any team.



  • @mayjay I absolutely agree that they need to be able to get their scholie back. If they really are STUDENT-athletes, if they don’t sign a contract that provides them compensation (e.g., they are now a professional), they are therefore still an amateur. Being drafted does not make you a pro, signing the contract makes you a pro. If my daughter gets an offer to go work at a hospital after her junior year in college, and work while going to school, she would not have to give up her academic scholarship. So the system, as we know, is hopelessly flawed. But I just don’t see the NBA ever being willing to throw away draft picks and let kids walk after the draft. It is their pipeline after all. So we need a smart person to figure out logistics so the kids can be kids and finish school if the are not signed pros.



  • @JayHawkFanToo I was really referring to a different practice, that being where teams with high payrolls sign (edit: draft) foreign players in the 2nd round whom they never intend to sign so that they don’t have payroll problems. But I was ignoring that they often intend to trade away the rights to these players for future draft picks, thus deferring their potential payroll problems into the future.



  • @mayjay

    where teams with high payrolls sign foreign players in the 2nd round whom they never intend to sign

    I am sure you meant draft?

    I am not sure what you mean. If a foreign player is under contract overseas, an NBA cannot sign him, however it retains the rights for one year after the player informs the team he is available to sign. Ricky Rubio was selected by the Timberwolves and the team waited for several years until his contract buyout was less and they kicked in part of it as part of the contract. Until he actually signs he does not count in the the salary cap. NBA team carry 15 players on the roster and a minimum of 8 and maximum of 13 can be active for games; this is why you see the 3 bottom players taking turn being active during the playoffs.

    Lots of exemption to the salary cap.



  • @JayHawkFanToo Oops! Writing too fast. And you obviously know the intricasies better than I do.

    Perhaps you can yell me what the deal was with Sasha Kaun, whom I had been thinking of as an example. The Sonics (now Thunder) drafted him late in the 2nd round, then sold the draft rights to Cleveland. Played many years in Russia or Europe under a couple of successive contracts. Then came back to USA and signed with Cleveland for one year. Was his signing with Cleveland unrelated to them having obtained his draft rights years earlier? Could he have signed as a free agent anywhere? Or, if he never told them he was coming back, did they have rights to him forever?



  • @mayjay

    The Cavaliers had the rights to Kaun for as long as he was under contract overseas. Once he was no longer under contract and available to sign with an NBA team, they had the rights for 1 year after which he would have been free to sign with any team. While playing overseas he did not have a contract with or drew a salary from the Cavs so there was nothing to go on the cap, makes sense?



  • The draft is what needs to be eliminated.

    The NBA should agree to limit each NBA team to signing two players each year. No draft.

    Pro Team’s recruit on college campuses the same as firms do.

    Players sign if they want and that’s that.

    If there is excess talent, then add franchises.


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