The NBA's proposed developmental league for college-age
players scheduled to begin in fall 2001 "could jeopardize
the future" of the CBA, according to Athelia Knight of the
WASHINGTON POST. However, NBA Deputy Commissioner Russ
Granik said that he expected the NBA "to continue its
relationship" with the CBA next season if the proposed
developmental league debuts. Granik: "I would assume [the
CBA] would continue." Granik said while the league has had
talks with CBA Owner Isiah Thomas about a developmental
league, "We haven't been able to get our business notions to
mesh. I think we have particular issues. Our focus is not
so much on creating a minor league that will stand on its
own, but one that will help the NBA and the NBA teams. And
I think we just haven't been able to find the right way for
us to work together on a long-term deal." Knight writes
that the two sides "do not agree" on an age limit. The
CBA's average age is about 25, while the developmental
league would take players 18 and older. Thomas: "I don't see
myself morally or ethically going after high school kids.
If there is a senior in high school, talking about going to
the NBA, and if he is not Kobe Bryant or Kevin Garnett, my
mission is to work with the NCAA to convince that 18-year-
old to go back to college and get an education. The CBA
will catch you when you've exhausted all of your
opportunities to make it in the NBA. We don't want to
compete with college basketball." NBPA Exec Dir Billy
Hunter "doesn't understand why NBA officials would create a
league to replace" the CBA: "It seems to me that the CBA ...
serves the purpose of making players available when they are
needed on the NBA rosters" (WASHINGTON POST, 3/24).
PARADIGM SHIFT: In DC, Michael Wilbon writes that if
the NBA's proposed league is launched, the "landscape of
organized basketball will change dramatically, with the
seriously affected parties including high schools, colleges,
the NCAA, the NBA, the CBA, television partners, corporate
sponsors, sports agents and street hustlers." Wilbon: "The
seismic shake-up will be felt because the NBA feels it has
to do something to address the issue of younger, and often
unprepared, players wanting to enter its ranks." Wilbon
adds, "As a result, the CBA will be hard-pressed to stay
alive, the TV networks will have to find room in an already
crowded field for more basketball programming, sports agents
will routinely recruit high school players, and the NCAA
will be forced to confront its own hypocrisy, which helped
create the environment that forced the NBA's hand. ... It's
not every day you see college basketball get blind-sided
during March Madness, but this is potentially a big blow."
But Wilbon adds that of the 318 schools that play Div. I
men's basketball, "I'd bet 250 will be largely unaffected.
And March Madness isn't going to shrivel up and crawl away.
... The teams who could really be hit are the big programs,
the ones that are the guts of the feeding system from
college basketball to the NBA" (WASHINGTON POST, 3/24). In
Pittsburgh, Dave Mackall writes that if the NBA "follows
through" with the league, "the repercussions could be
devastating for players who wind up making the wrong
choice." Shaler (PA) High School boys' basketball coach
Howie Ruppert, a former assistant coach at Duquesne Univ.
and Seton Hall Univ., on the proposed league: "They are
going to get the guys who are super-talented, who are
telling college coaches they are only going to stay a year.
That's what they should do" (Pitt. TRIBUNE-REVIEW, 3/24).
