Hypothesis: the purpose of the D-League
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Hypothesis: The purpose of the D league appears two fold:
1.) to develop players taken before they are ready, as part of an apparent draft program intended to informally subordinate NCAA D1; and
2.) to soak up the excess supply of players to discourage the formation of another competing professional league.
Does anyone have evidence supporting or refuting these two hypothetical purposes, or see any other apparent purposes to add to the hypothesis?
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Number 1. It only exists to give players like Diallo practice and a statistical way to measure improvements. Or, to see young guys that were borderline draft picks, like Selden, prove they can play at an NBA level ball.
It has not proven to be effective except for having a pool of extremely cheap players to draw from in case of injury. Which is why it won’t go away.
The NBA will get a 2 and done rule in though. It is costing them millions to develop guys and get no actual value from them at the pro level. Let someone else develop them for free instead of paying them $1m to play D-League ball.
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If these pro fools don’t draft Frank I hope to see him give the League a hopping and fly off to Europe to join Keith Langford in pocketing a few million as an independent operator. The kid deserves more than a D-League trial or an idle spot at the end of an NBA bench.
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Frank is a Nate Archibald waiting to happen.
Nate got lucky, because Bob Cousy was still with the Kansas City Omaha Kings and drafted him.
The moment I saw him play in KC, I figured Auerbach didn’t take Archibald as a favor to Cousy, who was caught in the black hole of Kings-zone trying to get some players, when the idiotic management was not looking. These were the Morons that could not figure out how to draft complementary players for Oscar Robertson and Jerry Lucas back in Cincinnati. This was arguably the dumbest management that ever got control of an NBA team.
Auerbach, then the Boston President, apparently understood the rest of the NBA was too stupid to recognize and draft Archibald, so he could let Archibald fall to the Kings. But the Kings insouciance reached new heights, when they passed on Archibald in the first round. The rumor I heard was that Couz threw a fit and said he was leaving if they didn’t draft Archibald. In typical Kings management fashion, they drafted him in the second round. I can’t recall if Cooz coached him that first season, or left. Anyway, Nate set an NBA record for a point guard averaging 34mpg. The same season he set the NBA record for assists per game: 11. Kings brain dead management then decided to trade Archibald to the NY Nets for two players and two draft choices. Cousy infarcted and quit, if I recall. Archibald got injured with the Nets and played little. They shipped him to the expansion Buffalo Braves and he promptly tore his Achilles tendon and missed that season.Fortunately for Nate, Auerbach finally got ahold of him in a trade with Buffalo and Nate lead the Celts to the best record in the NBA three straight seasons and won a title with Larry Bird his first or second NBA season.
The point of all this recollection is to say that the NBA is now and always has been an association of never more than 3 reasonably intelligently run franchises and bunch of of franchises run by dildos with ties and suits.
Frank will have to get very lucky. He could revolutionize the NBA the same way Archibald did. The suited dildos of the NBA will not recognize Frank, same as they did not recognize Nate. They will see that Frank played under the modern equivalent of Don Haskins, and they will think that what Frank did at KU is what Frank is capable of, same as the morons thought about Nate Archibald.
Frank needs what few basketball men remain in the drug and shoe contract addled NBA to have a slot and a DC to use on him. If they don’t, no one else will have a clue about him. Frank has the kind of speed Nate had, maybe more so. He is not the superb dribbler Nate was, but he has become plenty proficient for the NBA game today, which is three bounces and a cloud of treys.
Frank has an after burner he could NEVER use at KU, because our players couldn’t keep and receive passes at that speed.
The guys in the NBA are good enough to keep up, if they will only give him a chance.
Only a few gate keepers ever recognize greatness outside the norm.
Most persons never dreamed Cousy could do to the NBA what Auerbach realized he could do.
mOst persons never dreamed Archibald could do to the NBA what Couz and Auerbach realized he could.
Frank needs his Couz, or Auerbach.
All the great ones outside the norm do.
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@jaybate-1.0 Well, Frank Mason is an absolute gem. If no league team recognizes his game and his potential, then American professional basketball is definitely being managed by a cluster of numbskulls. At this stage I see him as a very capable second point guard on an annual top 8 squad, a player who could step right in as a dependable replacement if a starter goes down. Give him 3 pro years at 15-20 minutes per game, and that experience could make of him a 6th man award on a Final Four squad. He is a very determined competitor who proved at the collegiate level that he could play with the best of the super OADers; and he just keeps a’pumping. I wish him the very best and know full well that he will grab a brass ring wherever offered.
