Stern, Silver Talk Hoops Academies With IMG, WMG And Reebok

Stern (l) And Silver Meeting With Agencies About Basketball Academy

NBA Commissioner David Stern and Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver last month were “briefed on IMG’s sports academy business” by IMG Chair & CEO Ted Forstmann and IMG Sports & Entertainment President George Pyne, according to Lombardo & Mullen of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. Stern and Silver also recently met with WMG Chair Casey Wasserman and WMG Management President Arn Tellem, as well as Reebok Senior Dir of Grassroots Basketball Sonny Vaccaro, “to discuss developing an academy that would combine basketball training and academics.” Silver said, “We are in the investigative stages and are talking to all interested parties. The meetings stem from the working group put together by [NCAA President] Myles Brand together with representatives of the shoe companies, the AAU and other constituents.” Lombardo & Mullen note Stern plans to tour IMG’s 300-acre academy complex in Bradenton, Florida. The NBA’s goal is to “create a system that helps develop and educate young basketball players both on and off the court,” which explains “why the league is interested in IMG’s model.” Silver: “It may not be that we need to partner with people who already do it. There is an academy run by IMG and others have expressed interest. The NBA doesn’t have to be in the academy business. We just want to be sure that potential NBA players are developed” (SBJ, 11/6 issue).

COLLEGE TRY: In Miami, Michelle Kaufman wrote “many college basketball coaches are not convinced” the NBA’s rule requiring players to be at least one year removed from high school before entering the NBA Draft “is a good idea.” Univ. of Miami coach Frank Haith: “It’s like the kid has one foot in college and one foot out. He’s not really committed to the team or academics, he’s just there counting days until the draft.” Duke Univ. coach Mike Krzyzewski: “I’d rather have it the way it was, or have it (a mandatory) two years in college.” But Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg said the rule “affects a very few number of schools and kids. The few programs that can recruit those kids are able to get the next-best guys, too, so it doesn’t make a whole lot of difference” (MIAMI HERALD, 11/5).