Let's design a better player development system

Ululating Daddy

Ululating Daddy

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Since it’s now clearly the offseason….. I promised to bring this back up during a thread late in the season. And while it has the potential to become a never-ending circular argument, I’ll give it a try. Let’s design a better system for players to develop into the best on-court versions of themselves than the NCAA has done.

I’ve stated several times that I’d like to see a development system for players more like minor league baseball. I have no illusions that the baseball system is perfect. But here’s what I like about it:
  • Players get immediate and frequent feedback from professional talent evaluators. Graduating high school and show even a modest amount of talent? You’re likely to get drafted. The round you’re drafted and the bonus you’re offered shows exactly where you really rank in the Scouts’ rankings.
  • The coaches are being paid to make you better, not solely on their own wins and losses. If the organization thinks you have a future at shortstop, they’ll tell the manager of the Frederick Keys to play you there. Even if you’re his only viable option at 3rd base.
  • There’s a clear hierarchy of leagues, and you’ll play in the level you demonstrate you belong. Tearing up the South Atlantic League, batting .400 and jacking homers? You’re on the next bus to the Carolina League. No transfer portal or redshirt year required. In fact, if the scouts made a mistake and started you too low, you’ll move up mid-season. The flip side is if they start you too high, you’ll get sent down. But at least you don’t sit out a year.
  • And the players get paid, aboveboard and legal.
Some folks have stated that there’s already a path for players to get paid as they develop their games and try to reach the NBA, through overseas leagues and the G-League. And it absolutely is a legal way for players to get paid while they play. But I think asking a player to navigate the wide range of overseas leagues, figure out where their current skills fit and where they will develop best, is harder than figuring out where is the right college program. And there are plenty of misses in college recruiting, too. Make a mistake, and you waste a year of precious development time. And the coach’s job is to win games, not make the players better. His job depends on his win-loss record, not how many players he sends back to the G-League or NBA, so he’s going to play you where you’re good now, not where you need to improve. Not to mention how navigating a different culture at 18 or 19 years old can affect a player’s ability to actually concentrate on developing his game. So while I agree it is an option, it’s a high-risk/low-reward option for the player.

I’m not saying to layer all my “good points” into college basketball. If we knew that a player having a good year at VCU will get “called up” to the ACC next year, it takes a lot of the fun out of the Siegel Center. I think the parallel minor leagues and college baseball paths provide two distinct options, and neither one is right for everyone. I like that players have the choice.

So what say you, Ram Nation?
 
Sorry U. D., but I don"t want to see VCU turn into a farm team and that's what would occur.
It would improve recruiting at UR though.
Then again, what wouldn't?
 
Yeah, not sure I want to see programs like ours turn into stepping stones to the next level for our players. We've endured enough of that at the coaching level.
 
EdRen said:
Sorry U. D., but I don"t want to see VCU turn into a farm team and that's what would occur.
It would improve recruiting at UR though.
Then again, what wouldn't?
Click to expand...
Chris Mooney?
 
Ululating Daddy said:
Since it’s now clearly the offseason….. I promised to bring this back up during a thread late in the season. And while it has the potential to become a never-ending circular argument, I’ll give it a try. Let’s design a better system for players to develop into the best on-court versions of themselves than the NCAA has done.

I’ve stated several times that I’d like to see a development system for players more like minor league baseball. I have no illusions that the baseball system is perfect. But here’s what I like about it:
  • Players get immediate and frequent feedback from professional talent evaluators. Graduating high school and show even a modest amount of talent? You’re likely to get drafted. The round you’re drafted and the bonus you’re offered shows exactly where you really rank in the Scouts’ rankings.
  • The coaches are being paid to make you better, not solely on their own wins and losses. If the organization thinks you have a future at shortstop, they’ll tell the manager of the Frederick Keys to play you there. Even if you’re his only viable option at 3rd base.
  • There’s a clear hierarchy of leagues, and you’ll play in the level you demonstrate you belong. Tearing up the South Atlantic League, batting .400 and jacking homers? You’re on the next bus to the Carolina League. No transfer portal or redshirt year required. In fact, if the scouts made a mistake and started you too low, you’ll move up mid-season. The flip side is if they start you too high, you’ll get sent down. But at least you don’t sit out a year.
  • And the players get paid, aboveboard and legal.
Some folks have stated that there’s already a path for players to get paid as they develop their games and try to reach the NBA, through overseas leagues and the G-League. And it absolutely is a legal way for players to get paid while they play. But I think asking a player to navigate the wide range of overseas leagues, figure out where their current skills fit and where they will develop best, is harder than figuring out where is the right college program. And there are plenty of misses in college recruiting, too. Make a mistake, and you waste a year of precious development time. And the coach’s job is to win games, not make the players better. His job depends on his win-loss record, not how many players he sends back to the G-League or NBA, so he’s going to play you where you’re good now, not where you need to improve. Not to mention how navigating a different culture at 18 or 19 years old can affect a player’s ability to actually concentrate on developing his game. So while I agree it is an option, it’s a high-risk/low-reward option for the player.

I’m not saying to layer all my “good points” into college basketball. If we knew that a player having a good year at VCU will get “called up” to the ACC next year, it takes a lot of the fun out of the Siegel Center. I think the parallel minor leagues and college baseball paths provide two distinct options, and neither one is right for everyone. I like that players have the choice.

So what say you, Ram Nation?
Click to expand...
So, will there be a entry draft, salary caps, and is there even a market for the equivalent of A basketball? What about the length contracts? Why should players only get 4 years in the NCAA?

I have to wonder if people are paying to watch the player’s talents or their college. Once you identify what the fan actually cares about then you can make a system that works.
 
I guess I wasn't clear. I don't want college basketball to look like minor league baseball. In my perfect world, there would be a minor league basketball system, completely professional and completely separate from college basketball. College sports would edge back a little closer to the "ideal of the student-athlete." I just don't know how to make that happen. I don't know how the colleges can force the NBA to spend the money on a separate development system when the colleges are willing to do it for them, at no charge.
 
Ululating Daddy said:
I guess I wasn't clear. I don't want college basketball to look like minor league baseball. In my perfect world, there would be a minor league basketball system, completely professional and completely separate from college basketball. College sports would edge back a little closer to the "ideal of the student-athlete." I just don't know how to make that happen. I don't know how the colleges can force the NBA to spend the money on a separate development system when the colleges are willing to do it for them, at no charge.
Click to expand...
Personally, I think the key is enforcement of the rules and actual penalties for breaking the rules at the NCAA level. IMHO The NCAA will be right back here tying to figure out how to clean up the sport without enforcement of whatever rules that will be developed.
 
Ramcounter said:
Personally, I think the key is enforcement of the rules and actual penalties for breaking the rules at the NCAA level. IMHO The NCAA will be right back here tying to figure out how to clean up the sport without enforcement of whatever rules that will be developed.
Click to expand...

You are so right on this subject. It is criminal and negligent of the NCAA to be what it shouldn't be.
 
Who said that every once in a while the NCAA gets so mad at Kentucky for cheating that they suspend Cleveland State for two years?
 
Did the A10 allow for guaranteed 4 year scholarships yet or is it still a year to year basis?
 
Dude was talking player development and making a comparison (with a good bit of validity for pure discussion ) to other systems of development. Nothing more. I fully expected a beat down and low and behold I got one as I read through. There's a lot of stuff to consider for those of us with little else to do in the long dark off-season.
 
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