D-League Loop-hole...

[AriesMar27]

I was reading an article about brandon jennings and i was thinking.... instead of going to europe and playing for 1 year why not go straight to a d-league team of the nba team that you want to play for. then have them call you up the next year. i'm not sure if a player in the d-league can enter the draft but if they could they might as well... the player would get tons of minutes playing for the la d-fenders or bighorns than they would in europe like jennings is getting now....

wouldnt that be funny though? jennings goes to the d-fenders then the lakers call him up next season as opposed to being drafted by a bad team like the twolves.... future prospect players could choose where they wanted to play by going to certain d-league teams. the d-league holds open tryouts and has a draft, it would be up to them to make the cut.

 

[Bibby.10]

Doesn't the D-League have the same age restrictions sine it's assosiated directly with the NBA?

 

[AriesMar27]

no they still have 18 as their age limit.... a highschool grad could try out for a d-league team, play for a year then be called up by the corresponding team... and they would be basically playing for a contract.

 

[pkballr]

One word: Money.

If he knows he'll be getting paid millions to play overseas, why should he try to prove himself in a d-league.

 

[MassachusettsKingsFan]

wait wait wait, didnt mike taylor need to be drafted to a team from the D league this past year??

 

[Bibby.10]

wait wait wait, didnt mike taylor need to be drafted to a team from the D league this past year??

Yeah, you're right. Guess it wouldn't work. But they could still go to the D-League if they wanted I guess instead of Europe/College, but it wouldn't make much sense.

 

[Sptsjunkie]

Yeah, you're right. Guess it wouldn't work. But they could still go to the D-League if they wanted I guess instead of Europe/College, but it wouldn't make much sense.

Makes for an intereting debate. The overall level of college play is probably higher than college, because you have top college players who could not quite make the NBA in the league. However, you would also be missing the star-level players, since they as of now either go to college or go from college straight to the NBA. So for one person to do this would mean missing out on some quality matchups.

From a development standpoint the kid would probably get more practice time, discipline, humility and be less likely to get in trouble than in college. This is similar to what Jennings is getting in Europe, although the benefit to staying in the states would be a less of a culture shock and a more familiar style of play.

Overall, college is still the best option, but it would be intriguing to see a legitimate top recruit try the D-League.