Hoops

Next Stars Going Forward

Kings top seven all signed two year contracts plus Hunter three years, I’d say that’s building some thing and that’s not counting Didi.

I don't see how turning the NBL into G-League south helps it get better

"Before he came to the NBL no one wanted to know him in America because of his dad.
Now after playing as a NBL next star he has improved his game and was picked up by an NBA team, and now playing and scoring on that very team.
It very much looks like the NBL and the next star program helped him achieve his dreams what he does from here is up to him.
Nice work Brian Bowen "

Wasn't he considered a likely bubble first rounder before coming to the NBL and ended up going undrafted after? Well done Next Stars.

Next Stars was never going to be anything other than niche. Thinking that there was going to be 18 year old phenoms from the US knocking down the doors of NBL teams is pure fantasy.

Of the 5 guys that have been through the program, only 2 fit the original description of who the program was intended for - kids choosing to skip their one year of college to play pro. One was a guy who played college but got booted, another a guy who wasn't eligible for college as he'd already played pro, and one who's already been drafted, after the retro actively changed the rules.

Only Armstrong and Hampton fit that original description and one isn't close to good enough to play. What a success!

The league might be able to attract some more guys over the coming years that fall foul of the NCAA rules and lose eligibility, but that will never be anything other than ad-hoc.

Looking at the 2021 NBA Draft prospects, sadly most of them have already committed to Colleges.

Jalen Green intends to choose a college soon.

So I can't see many at all that would come to the NBL

What about limiting the amounts you can pay a NS player to say $350k (and the NBL still contributes the $100k).

That means teams are only $250k out of pocket for the NS player - which gives more competition for teams to compete for the NS player and its not just the team with the fattest cheque-book.

I know we may lose some NS coming here with the limit; but $350k AUD is still a decent wad of cash versus earning zilch in college

And frankly my view on it is that if teams have to pay more than $350k anyway for a NS player, then were better not having them in our league because I don't think thats sustainable frankly.

So how do the restraint of trade provisions in the Trade Practices Act (TPA) come into this sort of discussion? My limited understanding is that these sorts of drafts can be acceptable under that Act if there's a legitimate interest in need of protection; the restraint is reasonable (to protect that interest); and the restraint is not against the public interest.

Maintaining evenness of the competition and viability of the league could be viewed as legitimate interests for this sort of draft. They're cited in online comments about the AFL draft and restraints of trade.

It would probably depend then on whether the interests of the players would be adequately catered for in the draft arrangements. e.g., limit draft contracts to 1 or 2 years, after which players can change teams freely.

Mike Kelly in an interview on local tv said they had some talks with his people but didn't hear back. He also said the Taipans were aware Illawarra were in talks with Ball as well. The Taipans asked questions such as what Ball was wanting (amount of court time, etc.) and the impression I got from the article is that Illawarra asked less questions and were keen to have him, no matter what.

Before Taipans-Hawks last round there was an article published by the Cairns Post/News Corp about how Cairns were close to signing LaMelo. It's behind a paywall so I couldn't read the finer details - it may shed further light on the process of Next Stars and how clubs bid for players?

There's not enough money in it to force Aussie rookies to play for a certain team. Would be different if these guys were earning hundreds of thousands of dollars. Then I think they wouldn't mind being forced to move interstate if required to play.

I would like to see set 100k contracts for this purpose.

Both next stars and Australian rookies (not including returning college players) can register to go into the draft and then teams pick in reverse order for the right to sign.

I believe that Campbell and Flint flew to US to meet Ball at the suggestion of the league due to most other clubs turning Ball down due to the hype and all that follows the Ball family. Once meeting the Balls they found out he was a level head good young bloke and went ahead with it. He’s been a great asset to hawks, in fact all the new stars have been great.

Images from Friday night's game
Lightning v Sydney