APBRmetrics

Kevin Connor asked Adam Silver about high school players going direct to Gatorade League. Silver said that wasn't the plan... but they are looking at options.

If you could draft 17 / 18 years olds and give them the 2 way contracts and lots took them... and the NBA figured out how to promote the G league to kids, youngish fans and maybe typical fans as a true junior league and not a reject league and they got tv attention, maybe in long run you could take back a lot of the NCAA money. Maybe you want a April Madness or take the g league and run it in late summer / fall instead of totally normal / overlapping with NCAA / NBA. Maybe a true junior league is more realistic than NBA expansion. Migrate some of the D league to bigger neighboring markets. Maybe international friendlies or participation in some fashion in European regular seasons / playoffs in addition to the domestic schedule.

The NCAA is popular but it is probably more a Dad league than a hip 20s just getting money league of fans / advertising targets. NBA piping in hip hop & pop halftime shows and running lots of social media hype and second screens. They could probably eat the NCAA if they tried. If they decided it was smart. It might not be in the end.

I would love to see some G-League/Euroleague games, would be great for judging the relative strengths of each league too. Anything that hurts the NCAA, I'm a fan of.

if 17/18 year olds coming out of high school started playing in a G-League with more seasoned professionals, I think you will find the knock on effect being that scouting will actually become a lot harder, particularly of players late in 1st round/2nd round picks.

It could be compared to how it is difficult right now from a statistical perspective to evaluate 17/18 year olds playing in Europe against men. The jump from high school to playing against men/seasoned professionals is huge. Sure a Kobe, Lebron type of player coming out of high school is most likely going to still be able to showcase their skills and perform at a high level, but what about late first round pick type players? They are going to really struggle to show off their skill sets and put up meaningful statistical numbers.

Here in Australia, we had Terrance Ferguson play for the year in our top division (Fran Fraschilla ranked it number 10 in the world), he struggled to show if he could be a dominant player, simply because playing against men is tough.

The league here in Australia is looking to bring over more 1st round prospects next season as an alternative to D1. They get paid well, come to an English speaking country, so not a huge culture shock and will be given solid minutes. But I do wonder how long it will last if kids aren't performing and just aren't up to it yet, purely from a physical stand point. I can see a similiar rocky path for kids trying to skip D1 and go to the g-league.

If they get two way contracts and play in G-league they are already scouted / captured from a draft perspective.

It might be easier to judge how they will do in the NBA where men play.

Is development playing against men instead of younger men faster, slower or "different"?

If the G-league transforms it might go back to being mostly against young men.

I think it would be much easier to judge how good of an NBA prospect a player is when he's playing against men. Maybe it makes potential a bit harder to judge, but certainly makes it easier to find who is ready and who has a higher floor.