TucsonClip wrote:Dynamix wrote:QRich3 wrote:So I don't wanna get into this whole debate again, but thinking we got Jamil, CJ and Wallace because we got a G League team is misunderstanding the issue greatly, imo. We don't need to own an affiliate to scout, find and sign players to 2-way contracts. The Blazers don't have a G-League team but they have CJ Wilcox on a 2-way contract. The Pelicans and Nuggets don't have one either, and they still have two guys each on those 2-way contracts. What's changed is the Clippers started stressing the need for scouting and developing players, and that started happening before the Agua Caliente Clippers, before Jerry West, and before all of the new regime.
Not saying owning an affiliate team won't end up reaping benefits eventually, I'm convinced it will, but right now it's just a way to spend money with very little benefit. You could do what we did without owning a team.
But isn't it much easier to develop these players when you have your own people running the G-League team? It's one thing for them to get random minutes on some random team, and another to play within somewhat of a system, with guaranteed minutes and fixed positions based on what the main team needs, have better feedback on their progress on the court, during practice, etc. Even being closer to home seems like an important advantage. Or sending a main player to practice with the G-leaguers while rehabing, that could also have a positive impact. Sure, simply having the team does not guarantee anything, but I wouldn't say there's very little benefit to it.
Im also not going to get back into this debate, because I think its nonsensical, for the most part.
Short answer, yes. Not to mention not having to reassign guys to Fort Wayne, Erie, Maine, and all over the damn place each time they are sent back down.
But it's a very good point about not needing a G-league team to sign people to 2-way contracts.
And in years past, we'd have wasted millions of dollars on a D-league team for the sole purpose of giving Brice or Wilcox or Bullock or Diamond Stone some minor-league burn and they suck anyway. Most of the "success stories" are guys who played only 10 or 20 games in the D-League and came to the NBA to stay. And anyone could have snatched Ty Wallace right off the ACCO roster before we gave him Jamil's 2-way slot. It's nice he knows half the plays but we got lucky--there's a good chance anybody who's any good isn't even going to be there when you need him.
Yes, a G-League team is better than no G-league team. But that's not the argument.
