G-League -To help eliminate shoe trials?

[pdub]

"...start chasing away the players that have cool YouTube mixes, you'll chase away the fans who care more about those players than the schools they go to for 1-4 years..."

Bye felicia.

[jfish26]

This guy is RSCI's #16 guy in the 2018 class (for reference - Grimes is #8 and Dotson #23):



So: here's an idea of market for a fringe 1st-round type.

This seems like a desperation move by New Balance. I highly doubt these types of deals will be going to the Top 25-30 high school players every year. Would also love to see the details of this deal. Only 1 of 14M guaranteed? How many years is the 14M spread over? Could be a really shitty deal in the long run.

It could be an awful deal for the player, for sure. What if it's $14mm for, like, ten years, or where New Balance has match rights or something for the rest of the guy's career?

I want to be clear I don't know anything about Bazley's circumstance, so I'll generalize, but: a lot of these guys come from such terrible backgrounds that even a million guaranteed feels like a fortune and makes a huge, immediate difference, even if the way they're getting it really fucks them long term. In that, it's not unlike taking money under the table.

[pdub]

Chad from Purdue is still going to hit up Buffalo Wildwings during March Madness when he finds out his team is in it come March.
If they make it past the Sweet 16, he might buy a shirt.
If they don't, he'll still watch a game here and there, and catch the Final Four, and learn a bit about the players that are in it.

Tim, who watches the NBA, and scours YouTube for mix tapes, didn't go to college, and doesn't care about the schools, but rather the potential super stars that will be in the NBA. I don't care about Tim. Don't need him. We've got enough easily enough Chad's, mixed with some pdub's and jfish's, to keep college basketball sustainable.

[jfish26]

Chad from Purdue is still going to hit up Buffalo Wildwings during March Madness when he finds out his team is in it come March.
If they make it past the Sweet 16, he might buy a shirt.
If they don't, he'll still watch a game here and there, and catch the Final Four, and learn a bit about the players that are in it.

Tim, who watches the NBA, and scours YouTube for mix tapes, didn't go to college, and doesn't care about the schools, but rather the potential super stars that will be in the NBA. I don't care about Tim. Don't need him. We've got enough easily enough Chad's, mixed with some pdub's and jfish's, to keep college basketball sustainable.

"We can stand to lose some eyeballs," does not seem to be a good strategy for an entertainment product.

[pdub]

Not everything in life is about increasing revenue.

[Deleted User 75]

Do you think Self would coach harder/better/"more pure" if he was doing it for free?

[jfish26]

Not everything in life is about increasing revenue.

Revenue, perhaps not. But certainly, the viability of an entertainment product is pretty dependent on growing the audience. Actively turning people away because of motivations that are (at best) short-term, amoral and unwittingly racist and classist and (at worst) actively racist and classist, and also short-term...seems kinda dumb, you know?

[pdub]

Please.
Take it to the poli-bored.

[jfish26]

Please.
Take it to the poli-bored.

Go create a Religion bored for your approach, then.

[DrPepper]

I don’t know this kid, but I expect this agent will be earning his money for the next few months (keeping the kid out of trouble).

[DrPepper]

Someone remind me why a shoe company wants to send a prospect to a college that wears their shoes and attire? Like why not just pay the kid/family $100k and let them go to whatever school they want. How much more is it worth to the shoe company? Does a Nike agent care if the kid ultimately chooses Duke over UNC since both schools are Nike?

[Deleted User 75]

According to the guys on trial, and the ones who cooperated with the feds, there is value in having the top recruits at their top schools with their brand. Be that for the free marketing from the players being on TV, or just because these brands pay certain schools more money than others and they want the schools they pay the most to be as good as possible.

Your example is Duke and UNC, 2 top 4 programs, so doubt there's much difference in those....but there is absolutely a difference between Duke and Clemson (or whichever none elite school you want to throw in there).


"It's Kansas and then everyone else. Fall in line. That's what's good for adidas...."

(Or something along those lines)

[Deleted User 89]

illy’s name is Tim?

who knew...

[Deleted User 75]

illy’s name is Tim?

who knew...

I do watch nba.
I don't scour youtube for mix tapes.
I did go to college.
I do care about the school.
I do care about the players.

[jfish26]

Someone remind me why a shoe company wants to send a prospect to a college that wears their shoes and attire? Like why not just pay the kid/family $100k and let them go to whatever school they want. How much more is it worth to the shoe company? Does a Nike agent care if the kid ultimately chooses Duke over UNC since both schools are Nike?

I also expect that Nike's Gassnola-type stooge is actually competing with Jordan Brand's Gassnola-type stooge.

[DrPepper]

Ok, then that was a bad example (because Nike has a Jordan brand). So how about Kansas vs Louisville (if Ville was still good)?

[Deleted User 75]

You're comparing the top 2 Adidas schools....but clearly Adidas favors Kansas. We are the 2nd winningest team in history. We are a national title contender every year. Etc.

You compare Kansas to a different lesser Adidas school and the preference just increases. Kansas is an asset to Adidas brand. That's why they pay us so much money to wear their gear...and that's why they pay good players to come here so that we continue to wear that gear deep into march.

[DrPepper]

I’m still amazed that that many shoe and apparel people know which schools are aligned with which shoe brand. If KU hadn’t gone through a switch from Nike to Adidas while I read these boards, I surely would have not known. Maybe I would have known that UNC has Jordans, but even Jordan is getting to be ancient history so I question how well known this is.
So, was Illinois an Adidas school when Self coached there?

[Deleted User 75]

No. They were Nike when Self was there iirc.