This time I agree with Fuddy-duddy Sloan.

[Paper Face]

I think summer league should absolutely be a boot camp. This is an entire generation of players who grew up thinking they were going to be MJ and being told that they are golden boys who are going to win the lottery. They need their a$$e$ kicked into shape and their minds straightend out. They need to be taught to work in the summer so they don't spend their entire careers with a work ethic like Kirilenko's.

Teach them the Law of the Harvest. Use Millsap's career as a standard. They've already grown up getting their egos massaged by every blowhard in their neighborhoods who preach the "thug life". Show them what it means to be men instead of teaching them to extend their collective adolescence as a fraternity of f**king playboys.

Las Vegas is fine for All-Star games. It's outright stupid for summer leagues.

[StocktonShorts]

Show them what it means to be men instead of teaching them to extend their collective adolescence as a fraternity of f**king playboys.

Nicely phrased -- and I agree with your sentiment, but 7 days of summer league isn't going to change that culture.

[UTJazzFan_Echo1]

I dunno I guess I am just more in line with the Sloan and the old school thinking then I am with making the NBA fun and what have you. Your getting paid MILLIONS to play a sport, you should be working your butt off 24/7 to be a better player not worrying about having vacation time and playing somewhere where they have good clubs and a fun night life.

A lot of these players just don't understand how lucky they are to have the opportunity that they do and it would be a shame to see them ruin it for themselves before they even had a chance to start. You don't need to place them in a situation where they have more opportunities to do something stupid I'm sure they will have plenty of those throughout their career anyways.

All I know is that I'm glad the Jazz are playing things safe and smart as they should.

[Paper Face]

Show them what it means to be men instead of teaching them to extend their collective adolescence as a fraternity of f**king playboys.

Nicely phrased -- and I agree with your sentiment, but 7 days of summer league isn't going to change that culture.

Well, I feel the system for young players is set up wrong in the first place. Summer leagues should play for a month so that these teams have time to develop within teams' systems. They're all playing pick-up games and subjecting themselves to opportunities for injury all summer anyway. For many of them, it'll be more time than they'd get during the regular season. They should get drafted, get a month off to recover from draft workouts, then get to it. How better to start them off on the right foot than by instilling a need for work ethic right off the bat? You can change the consciousness of a lot of players simply by giving them the structure to succeed.

There should be 2 main summer leagues, one in each conference. Every franchise should be required to field a squad. Utah is a perfect place for the West, or it could rotate to non-NBA cites (not LV) to promote the league.

Additionally, the NBA should tell foreign national teams to forget about NBA draftees until they become veterans. These are multi-million dollar investments that should be trained to work seriously, and if the NBA is the best league in the world, then it should demand the lion's share of these players' time. Young foreign players shouldn't be handed back and forth like commodities between countries. They should be trained properly in the capable hands of the teams that are signing their checks.

Young players have nothing better to do than improve themselves. The league could do a lot more than it does to help them become men instead of McGradys and Kirilenkos.

[ColdBlue]

I think summer league should absolutely be a boot camp. This is an entire generation of players who grew up thinking they were going to be MJ and being told that they are golden boys who are going to win the lottery.

So what about the other guys who have the work ethic already? Besides work ethic is developed much sooner than 21. If you are 21 and you don't have a work ethic, it's already too late.

[Paper Face]

So what about the other guys who have the work ethic already?

It's job training in the system, so they'll gain just as much from it as anyone.

Besides work ethic is developed much sooner than 21. If you are 21 and you don't have a work ethic, it's already too late.

Wrong. People can still develop good habits that will serve them through life & career at any age. Of course the older you get, the more difficult it is. But we're not talking about a bunch of 40-year-olds. We're talking about people who, by and large, are still impressionable. If you cultivate a culture of hard work on a league-wide scale you can influence plenty of players that would otherwise waste their talent and careers. You just have to care enough to lead them to success.

Can everyone be saved? Of course not. But you don't give up on a 21-year-old talent just because he didn't get good guidance when he was 16. Unless you don't give a ****, that is.

[ColdBlue]

So what about the other guys who have the work ethic already?

It's job training in the system, so they'll gain just as much from it as anyone.

Besides work ethic is developed much sooner than 21. If you are 21 and you don't have a work ethic, it's already too late.

Wrong. People can still develop good habits that will serve them through life & career at any age. Of course the older you get, the more difficult it is. But we're not talking about a bunch of 40-year-olds. We're talking about people who, by and large, are still impressionable. If you cultivate a culture of hard work on a league-wide scale you can influence plenty of players that would otherwise waste their talent and careers. You just have to care enough to lead them to success.

Can everyone be saved? Of course not. But you don't give up on a 21-year-old talent just because he didn't get good guidance when he was 16. Unless you don't give a ****, that is.

I disagree. I think if you create a boot camp atmosphere you will alienate many young players. I remember being that age, and that time of your life the last thing you need is 'the man' coming down on you and dictating what you do.

Also, I think we are both skirting around a grey line of 'boot camp'. There is a fine line between developing a culture of hard work, and creating a platoon of soldiers. There is a compromise in there that works best.

[Paper Face]

I disagree. I think if you create a boot camp atmosphere you will alienate many young players.

Hard work isn't going to alienate players from NBA contracts. Are they going to go to Europe or China en mass just because of month-long summer leagues?

I remember being that age, and that time of your life the last thing you need is 'the man' coming down on you and dictating what you do.

Who cares what employees want. They get to play basketball for a living. The man is the one who signs the checks, so he gets to call the shots. The players are employees. It's their job to 'suck up' to 'the man'. It's not a youth camp we're talking about. It's job training for the inexperienced.

When college is over for most people, that's when the real competition begins. Why should it be any different for NBA players?

There is a compromise in there that works best.

Sure, I agree. But if your interpretation of compromise includes gathering up young players in Vegas, then I would argue that you don't care in the least for the weakest individuals of that group of players.

Social Darwinism went out of style in the 1900's. I'm perplexed why anyone would consider it a good approach when discussing the future of the league.

[stevebozell]

I disagree. I think if you create a boot camp atmosphere you will alienate many young players.

Hard work isn't going to alienate players from NBA contracts.

And either is the Vegas summer league...thank you for making my point.

[UTJazzFan_Echo1]

I disagree. I think if you create a boot camp atmosphere you will alienate many young players.

Hard work isn't going to alienate players from NBA contracts.

And either is the Vegas summer league...thank you for making my point.

It has nothing to do with alienating players, its about putting them into a bad situation unnecessarily.

What is the point of sending them into that kind of environment when you can get the same experience in Orlando or Utah?

[Paper Face]

And either is the Vegas summer league...thank you for making my point.

Thanks for the non sequitur.

[ColdBlue]

Sure, I agree. But if your interpretation of compromise includes gathering up young players in Vegas, then I would argue that you don't care in the least for the weakest individuals of that group of players.

I don't think Vegas is all that tempting and destructive, but it's clear to me now where you are coming from.

[DelaneyRudd]

I'd be more inclined to support training camp in Vegas than summer league. Of course 2 years of carefully grooming Fesenko could all come crashing down one night at the Spearmint Rhino.