G League Ignite

[MNCavsfan]

It's the off-season still so let's talk about something not that important. G League Ignite is a relatively new experiment brining some of the youngest talent into professional basketball. Many pro-prospects use it as an alternative to college basketball. It's existed for three years. How well is it doing?

On the basis of pure wins and loses over its first 3 seasons the team is 25-34. Seem pretty poor.

However it's real job is developing NBA talent not winning G League games. Here are the players drafted so far.

In my opinion almost all these guys are disappointing, but I do think Ignite deserves a bit of leeway for the covid shortened seasons resulting in less development. I'm sure launching a program like this during lockdown was hard.

That said Scoot is the big star from this year's class and so far seems good.

So thoughts. How do you all think the experiment is going? If I were a serious NBA prospect I'd still prefer my development opportunities at high Division I, but thar could shift as Ignite improves its program.

 

[foucault87]

Beauchamp was good value imo. He was drafted a bit lower than his value and was a bit older. His circumstances were unusual.

I'd also argue Dyson looked really good for NO last year

 

[Cavatt]

I am not sure if ignite is good or not. I guess I question if playing against more vet players in the Gleague tells you what you really want to know.

Seems to me especially Green and Kuminga still had questions coming out that everyone ignored BECAUSE they were playing against grown men.

There were more caveats for Ignite players in my mind. They ended up ignoring some weaknesses you would rip a college player for. Maybe it is just they haven't gotten the best prospects yet?

 

[foucault87]

In a broader sense, I think there is definite value in having an alternative to the college pipeline. College works great for some players, but for some you need a development focused environment not a winning focused one. Assuming part of the training includes things like financial literacy and general professionalism, that sort of pathway will really pay dividends over the next 10+ years that we may not see yet. I really hope to see the Ignite produce more role player level guys than just stars. I think a good number of both is what will show the viability of a developmental team like that.

 

[Bob_The_Cat]

It's the off-season still so let's talk about something not that important. G League Ignite is a relatively new experiment brining some of the youngest talent into professional basketball. Many pro-prospects use it as an alternative to college basketball. It's existed for three years. How well is it doing?

On the basis of pure wins and loses over its first 3 seasons the team is 25-34. Seem pretty poor.

However it's real job is developing NBA talent not winning G League games. Here are the players drafted so far.

In my opinion almost all these guys are disappointing, but I do think Ignite deserves a bit of leeway for the covid shortened seasons resulting in less development. I'm sure launching a program like this during lockdown was hard.

That said Scoot is the big star from this year's class and so far seems good.

So thoughts. How do you all think the experiment is going? If I were a serious NBA prospect I'd still prefer my development opportunities at high Division I, but thar could shift as Ignite improves its program.

I think the more interesting thing to look at will be G League Ignite vs Overtime. Right now, I’d easily take either of the Thompson twins over any of the Ignite guys aside from Scoot. Kuminga and Green both got into situations that weren’t very good for their development, and as you said both had pretty big flags that haven’t been answered yet.

Daniels will probably wind up being the best player out of those first two classes, if for no other reason than he wound up in a good situation, with a clear role, and opportunity to play.

 

[bigfoot5415]

I think the more interesting thing to look at will be G League Ignite vs Overtime. Right now, I’d easily take either of the Thompson twins over any of the Ignite guys aside from Scoot. Kuminga and Green both got into situations that weren’t very good for their development, and as you said both had pretty big flags that haven’t been answered yet.

Daniels will probably wind up being the best player out of those first two classes, if for no other reason than he wound up in a good situation, with a clear role, and opportunity to play.

It's interesting to see these two separate entities pop up as an alternative to college. Some of the guys on the rosters are much further from the NBA than anyone would lead you to believe.

The 5 year evaluation will be interesting.

 

[MNCavsfan]

I think the more interesting thing to look at will be G League Ignite vs Overtime. Right now, I’d easily take either of the Thompson twins over any of the Ignite guys aside from Scoot. Kuminga and Green both got into situations that weren’t very good for their development, and as you said both had pretty big flags that haven’t been answered yet.

Daniels will probably wind up being the best player out of those first two classes, if for no other reason than he wound up in a good situation, with a clear role, and opportunity to play.

I like Daniels. And many of this dudes could still pop off. It's definitely too early to have firm answers, but I think it's a fun offseason discussion to have. Overall, I think with time the program and Overtime may both improve at what they do. The writing is on the wall, IMO, that college basketball might become more amateur in the coming years.

 

[Bob_The_Cat]

I like Daniels. And many of this dudes could still pop off. It's definitely too early to have firm answers, but I think it's a fun offseason discussion to have. Overall, I think with time the program and Overtime may both improve at what they do. The writing is on the wall, IMO, that college basketball might become more amateur in the coming years.

I don't think this is the writing on the wall at all. I think the writing on the wall is college basketball and football will be undergoing massive changes in the coming years. I work in the NIL space and it's almost impossible to predict what's going to happen. I think we'll have a much clearer picture next summer when all of the movement around the SEC and Big 10 is about to take place.

College basketball has the most widely watched and monetizable product with March Madness. They aren't going to let that slip away.

There needs to be most structure in place, but Overtime and Ignite aren't going to give college basketball an amateur feel. I think the only thing that will actually do that is the NBA developing an extensive minor league system like the MLB has done.

My friend's son had originally committed to play in OTE, then ultimately chose to go to MSU. He's a top 20 player in his class and has played on multiple USA Basketball teams. OTE couldn't really compete with a program like MSU, and to my knowledge, his decision wasn't based on any type of big NIL deal or something like that. It was the fact that they felt playing for Izzo and in the Big 10 was better for his long-term development than what OTE had to offer.

 

[MNCavsfan]

I don't think this is the writing on the wall at all. I think the writing on the wall is college basketball and football will be undergoing massive changes in the coming years. I work in the NIL space and it's almost impossible to predict what's going to happen. I think we'll have a much clearer picture next summer when all of the movement around the SEC and Big 10 is about to take place.

College basketball has the most widely watched and monetizable product with March Madness. They aren't going to let that slip away.

There needs to be most structure in place, but Overtime and Ignite aren't going to give college basketball an amateur feel. I think the only thing that will actually do that is the NBA developing an extensive minor league system like the MLB has done.

My friend's son had originally committed to play in OTE, then ultimately chose to go to MSU. He's a top 20 player in his class and has played on multiple USA Basketball teams. OTE couldn't really compete with a program like MSU, and to my knowledge, his decision wasn't based on any type of big NIL deal or something like that. It was the fact that they felt playing for Izzo and in the Big 10 was better for his long-term development than what OTE had to offer.

Cool thanks for this perspective. I guess I don't follow that space closely enough.

 

[Dr No]

I don't think this is the writing on the wall at all. I think the writing on the wall is college basketball and football will be undergoing massive changes in the coming years. I work in the NIL space and it's almost impossible to predict what's going to happen. I think we'll have a much clearer picture next summer when all of the movement around the SEC and Big 10 is about to take place.

College basketball has the most widely watched and monetizable product with March Madness. They aren't going to let that slip away.

There needs to be most structure in place, but Overtime and Ignite aren't going to give college basketball an amateur feel. I think the only thing that will actually do that is the NBA developing an extensive minor league system like the MLB has done.

My friend's son had originally committed to play in OTE, then ultimately chose to go to MSU. He's a top 20 player in his class and has played on multiple USA Basketball teams. OTE couldn't really compete with a program like MSU, and to my knowledge, his decision wasn't based on any type of big NIL deal or something like that. It was the fact that they felt playing for Izzo and in the Big 10 was better for his long-term development than what OTE had to offer.

As you say here, the colleges have a lot of advantages built in - facilities, fans, coaches, overall experience. But lets also not forget one of the biggest advantages - $$$$$$. These top kids have the potential to make a lot of money, maybe more money, at the KU's, UK's, UNC's and Duke's of the the world. Not only because of the dollars that come to them via playing for the universities (which have very big donors with very deep pockets), but also because of the exposure that they get at these universities that fuel the huge money they can make from social media.

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longhornswire.usatoday.com