Here are the final NBA previews.  I am very excited for the season to begin, and especially interested in seeing how my Miami Heat fare this year.  But let’s talk Northwest Division for a minute.  It seems like every year the San Antonio Spurs are in contention.  I don’t think this year will be any different.  All the main pieces are back, but I am focused on how Tiago Splitter adds to the team.  I have been following him for a while; I think he has big upside.

Grizzlies:  Straight Outta Vancouver | 3 Shades of Blue | SBN Recap

Hornets: At the Hive | Hornets247 | SBN Recap

Mavericks: MavsMoneyball | The Two Man Game

Rockets: The Dream Shake | SBN Recap

Spurs: Pounding the Rock | Project Spurs | SBN Recap

NBA Blog Previews: Southwest Division Recap from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

Basketball

• Agreed, now how do we get rid of under-the-table payments to these players? [NCAA Should Admit Its March Madness Players Are Professionals]
• Arn Tellem represents Tiago Splitter now, too? Who doesn’t Tellem rep these days? [Spurs' situation with Splitter reminds of Scola]
• From a Merrill Lynch financial advisor.  See, it’s not only agents and boosters giving these kids money [Oklahoma BB Star Scores Questionable Cash].
• Low 5-figures to get Murray State coach, Billy Kennedy, out of his K [The Smallest Coaching Buyout?].

Soccer

• I hope that the players are unified and committed to taking action [MLS Players Vote to Strike, League Has Some Decisions to Make].
• On the bright side… [Soccer In The States Reaches It’s Tipping Point…].

Baseball

• Guaranteed money and security at the age of 26 [Twins lock up Span for five years].
• No baseball players on the list of Top 10 Funniest Athletes [Why Michael Strahan Is Pitching Baseball Bats].

Shabbat Shalom: Friday Wrap-Up (3/19/2010) from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

Brandon Jennings was the best high school prospect in the class of 2008. He was flirting with the idea of going professional after high school, only to hear the NBA once again strongly reinforce its one-year-out of high school requirement.  His dream of playing professional ball out of high school did not end as Jennings searched for another alternative: playing professionally overseas.  After weighing the two options for some time, Brandon Jennings has now decided to forgo a year at Arizona and play overseas, further enforcing Darren’s and many others point that the NBA age requirements should be lifted.

On Tuesday July 8^th, Jennings released a statement through his attorney Jeff Valle regarding the issue.  Jennings said, “Over the course of the last two months I have consulted a number of people in basketball before coming to this decision.  I would like to thank the University of Arizona for their interest and support through this process.”

Valle went on to say that Jennings will not even wait to see his third SAT score, after his second test was questioned by the NCAA. The results from the third test are due later this week, but whatever the magic number is, he will not be playing basketball on this continent next season.

Jennings’s decision to play in Europe is a first amongst young potential NBA athletes. These athletes for the past three years have simply attended college for a year, met the NBA requirements and then ditched school for the pros.  As Darren pointed out, this is a benefit for the institutions as they get to feed off these players individual success and what they do for the schools programs.  The kids probably only attend class during the season and most don’t even care about their grades.  Why would they, if they go into college only planning to stay a year?  Some college coaches have commented that it hurts the institutions because the players only stay for a year, thus forcing the coach and the team to lose cohesiveness and rebuild each year. However, these one-and-dones can put a program on the map as well (Kansas State, USC, Ohio State).

On the other hand, playing one year in college could benefit the young talented players.  They would get a chance to be “the man” at any institution they chose for basically no cost (assuming they have the grades and SAT score).  They would also have the chance to be seen by a lot more NBA GMs and NBA scouts than they would overseas.  Not to mention the ability to get acquainted to the style of the international game versus the faster paced NBA that focuses more on individual play rather than the team. Staying in college could be a benefit to these players, as they get to build their stock for a year in front of an American audience.

This year’s draft was the first time we saw three freshmen get picked 1,2, and 3. Five out of the top seven chosen had only played college ball for one year.  A total of 12 freshmen got picked in day one, annihilating last years total of 8 as the most freshman taken in round one.  I think this is yet another reason for David Stern to change the minimum age requirement.

Look at the O.J. Mayo situation this year.  If the one-year rule were not instituted in the NBA he most likely would not have gone to college.  As it turns out, O.J. turns USC into a good team for one year, at the same time he “allegedly” violated NCAA rules by receiving anywhere from $30,000-100,000 from an associate of BDA.  Mayo switched agents several times and still has not had any sanctions placed on him. O.J.’s ordeal has made a mockery of the one-year-out-of high school requirement and only further strengthens the argument to drop the rule.

Many foreign drafted players (Fran Vasquez, Rudy Fernandez and Tiago Splitter) have even chosen to stay overseas after being drafted by NBA teams because of the high salaries and lack of regulations (age and salary) in foreign leagues.  NHL marvel Jaromir Jagr recently left the New York Rangers to sign a big contract in the Russian league.  Playing in high priced foreign leagues is starting to become a trend for many athletes in a variety of sports (Is Becky Hammon Russian?).

This is a trend that Brandon Jennings might have just set for many young ballers in the U.S.A.  He is the first player to officially play overseas instead of college.  Although I can see both sides of the debate, the underlying factor still comes down to the money.  The NBA is a business just like the NCAA is, and both are looking to benefit off of these athletes.  They claim to be “educating student athletes” but that doesn’t appear to be happening.  The colleges are benefiting immensely from these one and done players at the expense of these athletes.  It has now come to the point that an amazingly talented point guard like Brandon Jennings is headed overseas (Check out this youtube video). Sonny Vaccaro recently commented about the Jennings situation saying it is “the best possible way to stick it to the NCAA and the NBA’s rule banning players straight from high school.”

If this rule was put into affect a year earlier, we would have seen LeBron James play for Ohio State instead of learning the ropes of the NBA.  It’s time for David Stern to do a real cost-benefit analysis and change this controversial requirement.

Jennings Sets Precedent, Heading Overseas from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

Many believe that the NFL will be the next major American professional sport to institute a rookie salary scale, at least for the first round of its draft. The NBA currently uses a scale for players drafted in the first round and the MLB does its best to force its member organizations to use a similar signing bonus number for a player drafted in the same slot in the previous year’s draft. Maybe slotting ends up becoming implemented in the NFL and turns out to work like a charm, but in the NBA, the system may have created some unintended consequences.

A team like the San Antonio Spurs has to worry that its last year’s first round draft pick may choose to stay overseas rather than come play for basketball’s most consistently solid team of this past decade. Tiago Splitter put up decent numbers this past year overseas in Spain and is probably due for a larger check from the Spanish club (Tau Ceramica) than he would receive as a rookie next year with the Spurs. It is not that the Spurs aren’t willing to pay Splitter enough money, but that the salary scale will only allow the team to hand over $771,000 at most in Splitter’s first year of play. Because of that ceiling (which lasts for two years and could be picked up for another two by San Antonio), the Spurs may never even have the chance to give that money to Tiago.

Splitter is not alone. Fran Vasquez and Rudy Fernandez are among the other players who have been drafted by NBA teams in the first round only to say “no thanks” and remain with their overseas clubs. If you were an NBA GM, would you draft a non-American player in the first round? If he is an early first round pick, maybe it is a different scenario, but taking a foreigner with a late first rounder is definitely a risk under the current slotting system.

Many have had nothing but praise for the NBA’s slotting system, but if it alienates foreigners, potentially forcing their fall to the second round, should it be kept? What can be done to fix the system? It will be interesting to follow this year’s draft and see how many foreigners are taken in the first round after the lottery picks have been made.

Is The NBA Rookie Salary Scale Bad? from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules