Hoops

NBL "Next Stars" initiative; draft prospect as fourth import

Will the money lure major American prospects? It’s far more than the NBA’s minor league pays, and forgoing college basketball opens the opportunity for above-board endorsements. Australians speak English, making the transition overseas easier.

It could work, and good for the NBL recognizing a market inefficiency.

The Australian league is also running an impressive gambit. Expect these contracts to include an NBA buyout. NBA teams will be able to pay $725,000 toward international buyouts in 2019 without it counting toward the cap, and that amount will increase $25,000 annually. NBA teams are generally cool with paying that for their draft picks, and the money will go to the NBL (and trickles down to the young players whose signing with the NBL is necessary for the scheme).

The NBA has relied on college basketball for a free minor league for years. Now, the NBA might essentially have to pay the NBL to handle some of that responsibility.

It’s a small price and one that makes sense right now, but this could ultimately push the NBA toward emphasizing its own minor league.

Good initiative IMO. I give LK a lot of credit for innovation. He is willing to try things out. Sure some things will fail but at least he is giving things a chance to succeed.

Remember not a single aussie loses their job or money with this

This is an extra player, a 12th spot added, and funded by the league.

Yes some may lose minutes, but put it simple, if the 18 year old pospect out plays you they deserve the minutes, if you dont want to lose minutes to them, out play the 18 year old prospect.

Its another way it puts pressure on players to get better and develop further, which I like.

"Yet another half arsed poorly conceived LK idea.
The fans to relate to players that have talent and will be a part of a team, not effectively one season wonders.
Who wants to see 4 imports starting? No one."

LK's "half assed and poorly concieved" ideas have taken the NBL from the brink of death to sporting relevance. Tell us how your ideas would do better.

I’m just not sure.

Perhaps limit the minutes these players are allowed to play?

If the NBL had an all star game, they could use this for a reprise of the “future forces”? game for younger players. Maybe these guys, DPs, “Asian rule” signings and younger players who’ve played limited minutes? Then invite NBA scouts and some of the analysts who try to predict draft prospects. Try to sell the NBL as a league for future stars from the Asia-Pacific region (US has a Pacific coast).

If NBL does it, maximise the promotional potential for young guns, NBL and Australian bball in general.

Yet another half arsed poorly conceived LK idea.
The fans to relate to players that have talent and will be a part of a team, not effectively one season wonders.
Who wants to see 4 imports starting? No one.

A lot of people are just stubbornly against the league getting better. They want to see as many Australians in the league as possible but want to do so at the detriment of the playing standard and commercial interest. If the Aussies are forced to have to earn their place in the league is that really a bad thing? Imports can be kicked out in the cold for having a bad couple of games, yet some absolutely gutter scum Aussie players stick around year-in and year-out. And Americans may not be the only ones to take up an offer = Josh Green anyone?

Gr8 idea 4 imports.

If only Benno knew the ins and outs of how these things have worked with “handlers” of one and done’s for years.....sigh...

The money is not enough buddy.

Also teams can make money from this. They can set a buyout price for NBA clubs so they make money when the player is bought out. With Larry paying the first year if a club gets a player and could put a say $300k price tag on his buyout. NBA clubs can now pay upto $700k for buyouts.

"I just hope the focus remains on the growth of the league" umm this doesnt count as growing the league???? Yes maybe wont get 8 first year but i would like to see team like cairns or the hawks receive these players first dibs.

What nobody here understands, is that it’s not the easy to get these kids, so there won’t be 8 by next year, and secondly, they won’t come for a measly 100k gross.

The Dream Academy are the original model that brought out Ferguson, and there were many moving parts from what I’ve read.

I also note, that of late, the NBL seem to be running events that aren’t necessarily “core” business, such as league expansion etc. 3x3 Hustle, Uniforms and now the One And Done’s are great ideas, but only when the league has expanded I’d say.

In saying all this, I do love what LK has done with the league and he had the balls to do so by putting his money up. I just hope the focus remains on the growth of the league and not branching out into other areas that cost $$$ and take man power away.

@snooch is joey paying all the money and expenses for the players when they come? NO.... so sit the f down

One would assume so.

@Snooch - Is that what Joey's twitter comment was about lol?

Joey "I’m amazed at how a group can only portray you as a “ angry man “ but yet they keep stealing your ideas and calling them innovative!! #respectwillbegivenwhenitsgiven"

Bravo to Larry and the team always working on new things to improve our league!


Or I guess you could argue bravo Joey for giving Larry the idea for new things that could improve our league!

Agreed Benno and further strengthening our ties with the NBA can only be a positive in future for the NBL.

"I tuned out of this discussion when someone argued it would take playing time away from Greg Hire." Had a great laugh at this haha!!

I think its a great idea for exposure for the league and people saying it doesnt benefit players in our league is stupid. The more scouts coming to our shores the more chances our best aussies get NBA looks. Bravo to Larry and the team always working on new things to improve our league!

I tuned out of this discussion when someone argued it would take playing time away from Greg Hire.

Pretty sure I read that an extra roster spot will be created for these fourth imports.

However, there is the issue of saturation point of imports. Some teams just sign role players with their third import spots already like Derek Cooke, Delvon Johnson, Nnanna Egwu etc which could be used to sign local bigs from the SEABL instead.

The way I look at it is the potential lack of Aussies (in particular star players) will only be a short term problem. Right now the league wants to be as good as it can, be as popular as it can and get as much exposure as it can.

Bringing in the best players possible will get a lot more people interested in the league locally as well as internationally. With these young stars the NBL will get multiple mentions in every mock draft online and have people checking it out.

All of this popularity hopefully equals more $$$ for the league. Once this happens hopefully we reach a point in the future where the top Aussies are either in the NBA or the NBL and we don't lose players to Europe and Asia due to money. Plus expansion teams in the future will mean there are still plenty of spots available for Aus players.

"It's the reason why guys like Greg Hire are slowly being pushed out. Prior to the 3 import rule guys like Hire would play 20 odd mins/game yet now given the number of imports in the league and the marquee player rule the talent has increased so much."

Oh no! Not the virtuoso talents of Greg Hire! Whatever will we do without players of his standard?

I'd say a drop in his minutes represents a raise in the standard of the league.

And I think there may be some just concern for the future of Australians in the NBL, but the NBL is no longer about developing Australian talent alone. It is about having the best possible competition here, and retaining our best possible players.

And the league will expand in the next season or two. I'm not too phased at all. Any Aussie who was going to be particularly good is going to get his spot.

Yeah - great for an established NBL star like Creek.

But what about returning Aussies from college? What about a local product who does not head to the US?

Let's say 4 Americans + 1 Aussie star in the starting 5 as a baseline. 2-4 genuine rotation players across 8 teams.

That's not a lot of opportunity for developing Australian junior talent, especially given the growth of the sport. We have 70-odd D1 guys in college at the moment. Now granted only a reasonably small percentage make the transition to pros each year, there are up to 7 guys NBL level or higher that will graduate this year. How many of those can the NBL reasonably expect to accommodate next season?

Without opportunities for our young players, they may choose other sports instead. That is a real risk, especially if they want to stay in Australia rather than play overseas.

The only issue with the worst team picking first, is that the worst kid in the draft will end up on the best team in the league and likely receive no playing time at all.

Which is fine from a league fairness perspective, but what high school prospect wants to sign up for that and kill their draft stock?

"DRAFT DRAFT DRAFT."

Yes but I prefer lottery then draft.

Last spot = 8 balls.
7th place = 7 balls.
....
1st place = 1 ball.

Giving it to the lowest money spenders just rewards teams like Cairns who don't even try to improve their financial situation.

"Just don't screw that up. I heard a rumour that the 36ers accidentally released Ferguson freely rather than getting paid the buy-out."

Why would the Sixers be eligible for a buy-out? T-Feg's contract was for one season which finished. He left and another team picked him up.

Does this mean we have rosters of 11 still or rosters of 12?

If they've entered the draft and gone undrafted, they're not eligibleffor the draft.

Im confused about the "Draft eligible' player. is it a guy who wasn't drafted after entering the draft or is it like a Emanual Mudiay/LaMelo Ball situation where they forgo college to play overseas before going into the draft?
If its the latter, I doubt the talent will be high as guys do this to get noticed and paid, China and Europe do more of both.
If its the former it's no different to the current model except an extra import that teams don't have to pay for...can teams refuse a 4th import?

LK definitely putting his money on the line. $800k plus car/flight/accomm contra/deals. I assume he's banking on getting a couple of contract buyouts from drafted players?

Just don't screw that up. I heard a rumour that the 36ers accidentally released Ferguson freely rather than getting paid the buy-out.

On one hand, money is money and if you want to go big, you open up and take the best players wherever they're from. On the other, people are obviously sensitive to the idea of the premier Australian league losing spots for Australian players.

I'd rather see a maximum of three imports, and if you use the third spot, it has to be one of these draft prospects, or someone who played a minimum number of games/minutes at ABL level the off-season before.

Does the A-League have limitations?

This could fast track the number of teams being allowed licences, which would increase the number of job slots for Aussies.

Good idea imo

With this rule and the 'Asian Passport' rule you could have 5 on 5 with no Aussies playing.

Presumably, these kids would have similar playing time/role to Ferguson's time with the 36ers. Otherwise there's not much attraction for them to come out here in advance of going into the NBA draft.

So the 4th import would replace one of the Australians at number 6-8 off the bench. Given they're going to be young and inexperienced, probably a young Australian player.

As a hypothetical, who would have been relegated down the bench in each team's line-up if this additional import had been in place this season? Assume every team would have gotten one of these imports and they'd have played 15 mins per game, like Ferguson did.

I reckon it's a great idea. Over the last year I've been thinking they should allow teams to sign an import development player. I think Ferguson was great for the league, but teams wanting to win a championship will be hesitant about signing a raw 17/18/19 year old who likely wouldn't impact as much as someone a bit older who is already drafted or coming straight from college.

I don't think its a bad thing though that guys like Hire are getting slowly pushed out (although I don't think these 4th players will be playing big minutes). At the end of the day you want to see the best players possible. 3 imports + a younger development import still gives enough of a balance between Aussies/Imports imo. Also increases the talent pool for any potential expansion teams in the next couple of years.

I just had the scary thought of Lavar Ball landing on our shores... yikes.

My only concern with this is that with so few teams and only so many roster spots available - potentially 4 taken up by imports moving forward - I wonder what opportunities our younger, talented players will get moving forward?

The opportunities are already so few and far between already.

A lot of these kids while obviously talented, would be very physically challenged in the NBL, particularly the PFs & Cs. Two possible candidates next season are Jordan Brown & EJ Montgomery, nice additions as some form of 'advanced' DPs but would be limited impact & take away opportunities from our growing local talents.

Not sure if its the best idea except for the exposure.

And what's the bet Melbourne United end up being "allocated" the most talented of these 4th imports that is signed by the NBL

A really interesting article on players that have played both NBL and NBA.

http://andthefoul.net/?p=2046