I hate to, um, bump this thread from September, but that helps me get to my point: Should we ever again get excited about a G-League player having a substantial, All-star type impact for the Rockets, or in the NBA in general? To be specific, will we see someone who spends an entire season or the majority of an entire season in G League go on to become a great player in the real league? So far, you can say Khris Middleton. But I think he only played like half a season for Detroit's G League team in 2012-2013. Of course, being the Pistons, they traded him away as a toss in for Brandon Jennings. LOL. And I don't mean to take shots at any of our guys, especially Jalen... but like many of you, I get excited about these prospects, and then, when you step back, the barrier to having a seriously great NBA impact seems pretty damn steep. Maybe the sample size is still too small. Cam Whitemore could become a G League poster child, though he won't even have spent half a season with the Vipers. EDIT: Okay, am finding that FVV played for the Raptors G League affiliate, apparently for a decent amount of time, as did Siakam. Gobert played for the Jazz G League team after they drafted him, but I haven't figured out how long. Eh, okay. Dumb post is kinda dumb. I was reacting to an online article about "best prospects" in the G League and I was like, b**** please. But there are a few pseudo-gems in the bunch. PJ Tucker will never be a star but he's had a solid NBA career after the G (and overseas stints).
I think the g-league is passable for assignments if you have a farm team running your team's sets and a coaching staff that will work on the specific things your GM wants. However I don't think the G-league is working as a college replacement like some executives thought it could. Perhaps more than other sports these basketball wannabe superstars need a bit of humbling and curbing antisocial tendencies that I don't think the g-league can provide.
It's actually impressive a few All-Stars are counted among G-League alumni. I get the feeling most All Stars generally flash their talent early and don't require a lengthy stint in the the G-League. But I also want to point out Middleton, FVV, Siakam, and Gobert had previously gone through the NCAA or a foreign league. I think the jury is still out on whether the Ignite program can develop star talent right out of high school. At the moment, returns haven't been great. Critics point out the lack of high pressure situations, games that matter, accountability, etc. I don't know much about the MLB farm system, but don't their minor leagues suffer from those same issues? What makes it work for them? I also had a half-formed thought. G-League teams affiliated with NBA teams are an extension of that program. They run the same system and plays. There is a defined structure with some continuity. The Ignite are an extension of..who? And with a revolving door of players, how is that coaching staff supposed to develop team structure, continuity, and identity? It sounds like a environment thats not conducive to either winning basketball or nurturing talent.
@B-Bob From what I know, the Raptors 905 always were an extension of the main team and it's not surprising they had such success in developing their players. I think your point is very valid. A lot of these guys who choose G-league right after high school are making a mistake. If you really don't want to go to college, then going to Europe/Australia and being surrounded by basketball veterans in a professional team environment could be a solid alternative.
I think you have it kind of backwards. Players that are good enough to be in the NBA already will probably not go to the G-League for long, if at all, and the only people with promise that end up in the G-League are young kids who were recently drafted, and if they really have NBA star-level promise, they won't be down there for long. Probably the same with foreign players. Most legit NBA players would probably do well in the G-League (generally speaking), so they're not going to be in the G-League for long. If you're in the G-League for a long time, there's something else going on probably stopping you from being an NBA star.
Thanks. I didn't mean to have it backwards and actually agree with your description. I still see folks get really excited at times about "oh he was the BEST player in G league last year!" or "he average blah-blah in G league!" and I'm like, well, okay, but that's probably not as exciting as a good college player actually. I think what @omgTHEpotential (great handle for this topic, haha) said makes a ton of sense too. Maybe the youngsters would be best served overseas instead of in the G league.
I'm not even sure that's the problem. I've said this before, but the kids in the US tend to be playing against kids they are far better than so can't compare or make a jump in skills/talent until they get to the NBA or maaaaybe the G-League. I also think a lot of these kids aren't getting the coaching they probably need in some cases. Overseas players that end up great usually are guys that are playing against older players at a much younger age. So when a Luka looks like a prodigy, he's testing those skills against increasingly better competition and older players at a young age. Here, when you see a player show great talent, he goes around the country playing against guys that are his age and will never smell a professional court, for the most part. Or at least that's what I think. Maybe I'm wrong. I don't think just going overseas is going to fix kids. You're trying to fix years of not learning in a year. The same reason kids leaving college after a year may have issues. Unless he's truly elite, sending some 17-18 year old overseas will usually just find him on the bench before he's ready to try and enter the NBA draft a year later. Most of these kids going elsewhere are doing so to camp out until they can try for the NBA draft (and they're taking some risks in doing so). I doubt his faults will get fixed in one year. As an example, France is turning into a powerhouse country for young talent as their kids come up through their system before going to the NBA, Euro teams, NBL, etc. But they came up through a system from when they were young. Will they all be great players? No, but they've put a few of them into the NBA and more are coming.
Having the structure that allows kids to play up a tier/level is a good point. OTE and G-League Ignite are trying to fill that gap domestically, but I think they are years away from figuring out the logistics and development plan that works. Looking at US prospects going overseas I can think of: Jeremy Tyler - Israeli League, Japan: Drafted 39th in 2011, washed out of the NBA quickly. Emmanuel Mudiay - China: Drafted 7th in 2015, generally seen as a bust. Terrance Ferguson - Australia: Drafted 21st, washed out after 4 years. LaMelo Ball - Lithuania, Australia: Drafted 3rd, All Star AJ Johnson - Australia: Currently playing 8mpg Trentyn Flowers - Australia: Currently playing 13 mpg If we're defining success as NBA impact, the evidence so far seems to supports your second point, a single year of overseas ball probably isn't going to do much for development. All of these players came out of their "study abroad" looking the same going in. The book is still out on Johnson and Flowers, but judging from mock drafts, they're not making much noise.
