Now that the hysteria involving the latest NCAA tournament
is couple week’s history, I like to examine a phenomena completely
counter-intuitive organizational success through the NBA and its partnership
with NCAA basketball.
Two Different Games
From how halves and quarters are set-up, the duration of the
game, to the court dimensions and the rulebook, I can list dozens examples of
how NCAA basketball and the NBA game differs but I’d like to focus on one
particular person, Jim Boeheim.
The Syracuse coach has leveraged his fancy two-three zone to
catapult his career, his employer and his former conference to amazing heights.
Boeheim is considered a basketball legend who’ll be mentioned among the
greatest basketball coaches for all of eternity.
I am of the perspective that Boeheim, his ilk, and his
philosophy is the greatest danger to the NBA game.
Follow me for a second!
Boeheim runs a two-three zone. It’s what he’s known for and
it is very effective as Boeheim has tallied the second most wins of any active
NCAA coach. Every off-season, Boeheim enters the living rooms of college kids
and lies to their face. He cites Derrick Coleman and Carmelo Anthony as
examples of how his players make the leap from Syracuse to the NBA.
What Boeheim doesn't tell them is, unless you’re an
otherworldly offensive talent like Carmelo or DC, going to Syracuse will
severely limit any chances at sustained NBA success.
See, Boeheim’s two-three zone is a nightmare for NBA TV
programming partners. The zone slows the game and limits scoring which is bad
for business. The NBA has fought the zone throughout its existence. But somehow
Boeheim is able to trick youngsters to attending Syracuse when effectively half
of the skills they’ll need to excel in the NBA (you know, man to man defense)
is not nurtured at Syracuse.
Somehow, Boeheim, a guy who in nearly decades of leading a
prominent NCAA basketball program, has never had an NBA All-Defensive player.
Boeheim regularly recruits players whose physique and athletic make-up seem well
suited for the demands of NBA man-to-man defense (i.e. Hakim Warrick and Wesley
Johnson), yet they never can make the transition to the NBA style.
Remarkably, basketball media has somehow overlooked decades
of developmental sabotage committed in the name of contract extensions by
Boeheim and voted him into the hall of fame.
NBA Support of NCAA
Basketball
While Boeheim is the most prominent saboteur of player
development, major program NCAA basketball is rife coaches implementing systems
counter-intuitive to the development of their players. Instead of pressuring
the NCAA to adhere to player developmental standards suited to the pro game,
the NBA encourages players to go to and stay in college!
I cannot think of any successful organization that encourages
its future work force to develop in an environment antithetical their desired
environment.
I get that college basketball, with its regional TV
contracts and NCAA tournament is a huge platform to introduce basketball fans
to the future NBA stars but that paradigm is increasingly becoming antiquated.
First, top tier college talent are normally one-and-done.
Next, and contrary to popular belief, basketball fans are not ditching work to
watch the tournament all-day. Most fans, scoreboard watch to keep up with their
brackets. Most basketball fans do not
watch a full NCAA tournament game until the Final Four.
While NBA thinks that NCAA basketball is promoting their
future stars, fans are only likely to see a half dozen to a dozen future NBA
players over a duration of 80 minutes. God forbid, a coach has a weird
substitution pattern or the kid gets into foul trouble, a fan might only catch
a kid for 40 minutes over the entire final four.
Such a short promo is not worth a future NBA talent enduring
100 practices and 40 games a year in a environment that’s aligned with his
future goals.
The D-League Solution
Considering the NBA has a developmental league lends
credence to the argument that NCAA basketball has underwhelmed in quickly
developing talent, particularly in the one-and-done era, for NBA readiness.
If I were Adam Silver, I’d invest heavily in the D-League.
The merits of the D-League are plentiful for the players, the league and its
franchises. Players play under the same system as NBA teams, the receive NBA
level coaching, refereeing, scouting and strength and physical development.
The 50 game season and accompanying practices can allow for
a smoother assimilation into the travel and practice schedules of the NBA. D-League
players are filled with former high-performing college players and NBA players
on the end of rosters, so the competition is greater in the D-League than in
the NCAA. Players also benefit by being paid. The current D-League salaries are
low compared to international leagues ($13,000-$25,000 annually, plus a $40 per
diem for road games) but the figure, along with free housing and free
healthcare, is substantially greater than the current NCAA compensation (nada) and
shared dorms.
The Plan
The NBA should expand to 30 teams, one for each pro
franchise and do away with its one year requirement to enter the NBA allowing
high school athletes the ability to jump directly to the NBA. The high school
players not drafted into the NBA could then enter the D-League draft with the
NBA franchise drafting the player retaining their rights and the ability to
call-up a player to the NBA franchise (essentially a true minor league system).
The D-League could also aggressively pursue players in the
NCAA. Stories of NCAA players having a fall-out with their coach or a NCAA
player being stuck at a college after the coach he committed to playing for
took a different job at a another or in the pros are plentiful. The D-League
could implement these players into the league and begin the true preparation
for the NBA.
Moreover, the D-League can expand the aims of its rookie
symposium by offering forums for players focused upon financial management and
domestic and social decision making.
The NCAA, faced with real competition, would be forced to
alter its environment, rules, and compensation strategy or perish.
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