Juan Toscano-Anderson: The NBA G League Is "The 2nd Best League In The World"

[YogurtProducer]

OP you right about G League. No doubt about it.

Only thing I’ll say: I feel like all the attempted hype for the G-League died when Scoot went from “Wemby’s rival” to one of the worst high profile rookies we’ve ever seen

The entire concept of the “G League instead of College” was that it would be better preparation for the NBA, but if that were true it shouldn’t have been possible to spent a year in the G League without red flags showing up. The G League seems to have been more interested in promoting Scott than alerting him to the things he desperately needed to improve.


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G League instead of College IMO requires the NBA letting teams draft like 18 year olds and make them play a year in the G League on a teams farm team before coming up the next year. Hell, maybe even let them draft 16 or 17 year olds.

But this weird they play on a team with other prospects is just weird. For the G League to work as they seemingly tried to requiers fundamental changes to it

Keen insight.

Yeah, superficially the idea of having a bunch of young guys on one team makes sense - NBA teams rebuild like that.

But if you only have the young guys together for one year, during which they are mostly focused on getting drafted, you're talking about taking a bunch of (likely) individualistic amateurs and surrounding them with other individualistic amateurs rather than getting them used to playing with true pros who can show them the ropes.

Whether the idea came from NBA marketing rather than real basketball people or not, it clearly got implemented as a place where guys could continue to get hype for another year without developing their game in an NBA-like team context. Utterly destructive idea.

I say this as a guy who previously said that I thought the G League could end up becoming the preferred place for mega-prospects over college. Why did I think that? Because spending a year playing college rules (and thus college tactics) is counterproductive to a player whose goal is the NBA. I believe it's very much possible for an NBA minor league to do a better job, but the G League Ignite was so poorly done that it may well protect college programs from such competition indefinitely.

One further thought getting into the Wemby vs Scoot situation:

It would be interesting to know how things would have played out if Wemby didn't exist.

The NBA clearly saw the opportunity to get people curious about Wemby to pay attention to Scoot trying to do a Bird/Magic or LeBron/Melo type thing. Maybe without Wemby they wouldn't have gone all in on Scoot hype, and Scoot would have had a healthier context for him recognize his crippling flaws and correct them before he got to the NBA. Maybe not of course - maybe the NBA was already locked in on Scoot as their "generational product" and would have done all the same stuff but with Scoot having a serious shot at being drafted #1, but the NBA clearly did run that "great future rivalry" playbook here, and it did Scoot no favors.

(ftr, I always said the LeBron/Melo rivalry was silly too. All the scouts knew that Melo's only chance to be a rival to LeBron was if LeBron was a major disappointment. Nevertheless, the NBA very much hyped the rivalry, and Melo was good enough that it didn't immediately lead to people laughing at the comparison, thus further cementing Melo as a basketball celebrity considerably bigger than his actual talent.)

Yeah I think the G League could be a much better league if:

A) teams actually controlled and had a real interest in every player down there. Currently guys can be sniped at any moment by other teams meaning you dont have a real incentive to build them up.
B) teams could draft younger guys and build them up in their systems. Just like how the NHL uses the AHL, or MLB uses a thousand minor baseball leagues.

As of now, why have any interest in a league in which the owners of said teams dont even care.

[JJ_PR]

O.P. put a huge amount of effort into a meaningless thread. The talent pool in the G-League is surprisingly strong, to be honest.

[Chuck Everett]

The G-League is still a step below the NBA. So when you talk about flaws, you have to understand that even though it's better than college from a talent perspective, the NBA is still a distinct step up across the board and the stuff that works against HS, college and the G-League just won't work at that level.

NBA, even with all of their rules to make guys look better than they really are, you still need to have an elite skill to standout somewhere.

[Mr Peanut]

If Juan Toscano-Anderson wants to get paid peanuts in the G-League rather than decent money overseas, all because of clinging to some faint hope that he'll make it back to the NBA (he won't), then all power to him.

[Mavrelous]

G league is crap, lots of players excel there and turn out to be nothing in the NBA, multiple Mavs players put up great stats in the G league and look unplayable even in garbage time when they play in the NBA.
I always though it's a good idea, to give projects playing time, I've yet to see evidence anyone actually benefited from it.

[JayMKE]

Nobody seriously thinks that the GLeague is the 2nd best in the world

[LuDux1]

Nobody seriously thinks that the GLeague is the 2nd best in the world

They are confusing GLeague with NCAA

[LuDux1]

Better topic
https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/news/euroleague-introduces-ground-breaking-financial-fair-play-regulations/

[firedavidkahn]

I haven't read any of this thread but the premise is ridiculous.

Can you point out anywhere where anyone (of significance and not some troll) was serious in saying the GLeague is the second best league.

No one thinks that at all.

You gotta bring the receipts for this claim

[the sea duck]

this is the first i'm hearing that anyone thought the G league was close to the second best league in the world. it wasn't built to be a top league. the "G" used to be a "D" which stood for "developmental".

[Devilanche]

If Juan Toscano-Anderson wants to get paid peanuts in the G-League rather than decent money overseas, all because of clinging to some faint hope that he'll make it back to the NBA (he won't), then all power to him.

Mad respect to him to want to play in the second best league instead of chasing the cash overseas.

[Mirotic12]

All this because what some end of the bench scrub Tuscano said? Hah yikes. Who cares what he said man. I have literally never heard of anyone else saying anything about G league being the 2nd best in the world lol. Most folks here in the US don’t give a flying f*ck about the G league

During all of these FIBA Intercontinental Cup competitions, every time you hear G-League players and coaches making these claims that the G-League is the second best league in the world. It seems to actually be something the G-League believes.

[Mirotic12]

The G-League used to be a complete joke back when it was known as the D-League. It wasn’t even a place for development, it was just a dumping ground for scrubs.

It’s come a long way since then. The fact that a G-League team can come in 2nd place at anything is a huge step up.

To give some more context, it was a G-League selection team, and they actually signed free agents that are not even in G-League. The other teams could only use their club champion, and couldn't send for example all-star selections from their leagues.

G-League's selection team beat a club team from Argentina by 12 points, that was competing without its three best players. Then they beat a club team from Australia, that lost its best player (Jack McVeigh) to the Houston Rockets in free agency, by 2 points.

Then they got easily beaten by a club team from Europe's third league in the final. And that team was also missing two of its main rotation players, including its first center.

In all honesty, the G-League selection team probably wouldn't have even beaten the club team from Argentina, if they had their three best players, because that game was close until the end. If the Argentine team had its top three scorers, most likely it wins.

So in summary, a selection team from the G-League, beat a club team from Argentina, minus its top three players and scorers, in a game that was close for most of the game, they beat a club team from Australia, whose best player is now in the NBA, by two points, and they were basically toyed with by a club team from Spain, that plays in Europe's third league, and that's probably somewhere around the 17th to 25th or so best team in Europe overall, that was missing two rotation players and it's main center.

I'm not really sure if that is really evidence of the G-League having improved from previous seasons.

[Mirotic12]

The G-League used to be a complete joke back when it was known as the D-League. It wasn’t even a place for development, it was just a dumping ground for scrubs.

It’s come a long way since then. The fact that a G-League can come in 2nd place at anything is a huge step up.

Yes, I thought the G-league teams normally lost to random Egyptian teams or whoever.

It used to be the G-League champions versus the other league's champions. But the G-League champions kept getting embarrassed, and even getting blown out regularly by teams from South America. So then last year, they changed it, and sent the G-League Ignite instead. But they also got embarrassed.

So this time, they sent a G-League select team, where they basically signed free agents, and had them represent as the G-League champions. So basically, like an all league team from the G-League, but better. The other leagues are only allowed to send their club champions. FIBA is allowing the G-League to send any selection of players that it wants to though.

That's obviously an unfair advantage that is built in for the G-League team, but FIBA allows them to send whatever team they want, because the North American representative at the FIBA Intercontinental Cup is supposed to be the NBA champions. The NBA is a joint partner in the FIBA Intercontinental Cup, just like the other leagues are. So they have to send a team, they can't refuse it.

But the NBA won't send the NBA champions, so they then get away with being allowed to send any team they want to instead. So that is how they get around being bound by having to send just the G-League champions, and how they can basically select any group of players they want, and call it a G-League team, while the other leagues are bound to sending just their league champion club teams.

[Ryoga Hibiki]

Only thing I’ll say: I feel like all the attempted hype for the G-League died when Scoot went from “Wemby’s rival” to one of the worst high profile rookies we’ve ever seen

The entire concept of the “G League instead of College” was that it would be better preparation for the NBA, but if that were true it shouldn’t have been possible to spent a year in the G League without red flags showing up. The G League seems to have been more interested in promoting Scott than alerting him to the things he desperately needed to improve.

I think some of the red flags were there, just they've been brushed off.
Tbh, once NIL arrived I don't see any point at going the Ignite route.
You play games that don't matter and nobody watches, while making less money.
If anything, if you're REALLY good and mature enough to handle it, move to Europe at 14 or 15 and take the Luka route.

[Ryoga Hibiki]

OP you right about G League. No doubt about it.

Only thing I’ll say: I feel like all the attempted hype for the G-League died when Scoot went from “Wemby’s rival” to one of the worst high profile rookies we’ve ever seen

The entire concept of the “G League instead of College” was that it would be better preparation for the NBA, but if that were true it shouldn’t have been possible to spent a year in the G League without red flags showing up. The G League seems to have been more interested in promoting Scott than alerting him to the things he desperately needed to improve.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I would argue that the red flags were there with Scoot and just ignored. Same with the Thompson twins. But that happens with players out of Europe as well.

The Thompson twins didn't play in the G League and I don't see how anyone ignored those red flags. They were literally the starting point of every scouting report.
Just they had amazing strengths that actually translated in the NBA.
Scoot's issue, in his rookie season, was that we didn't really see his strengths.

[Mirotic12]

That's just your opinion on Malaga's roster because you think their players suck simply due to their salaries. Fact of the matter is that they were significantly better than Baskonia who made the Euroleague playoffs, missed the Spanish playoffs and spent more money in the process. That's cool for them, but they were still not nearly as good as Malaga. They also lost both regular season matchups against Malaga last season. Would have been cool to see them meet in the playoffs, but, unfortunately, Baskonia didn't even make it, while Malaga cruised.

And why are you comparing Malaga to Panathinaikos? Not even Real Madrid could handle them. It would be better to compare Malaga to Baskonia or other weaker Euroleague playoff teams.

It's not an opinion. It's an objective analytical reality. Malaga might be better than a few EuroLeague teams. That's it. They might maybe be better than four EuroLeague teams (Alba Berlin, Zalgris, ASVEL, Baskonia). They might arguably have the best roster in FIBA BCL, but even that's debatable (Tenerife Canarias, Murcia, Andorra, Promitheas). They might probably have a stronger roster than all but two teams in the EuroCup (Valencia, Hapoel Tel Aviv).

So that would mean that being generous, Malaga has somewhere around the 17th best roster in Europe. They are miles away from the level of top EuroLeague teams like Olympiacos, Barca, Real Madrid, Panathinaikos. This is not an opinion. This is a fact. Kendrick Perry is arguably the best player on Malaga's team. In the EuroLeague, he was often barely even playable.

In making this comparison that the representative from Europe was a team from the EuroLeague, Toscano-Anderson wasn't claiming they were playing against any random team. He was claiming that was the champions from EuroLeague. Which is actually Panathinaikos.

Claiming the G-League select team had better players than the "EuroLeague" team at the FIBA Intercontinental Cup, which would by default be the "EuroLeague champions" that the G-League select team was playing. No matter how you want to spin it, the actual EuroLeague champions are Panathinaikos, not Malaga. And Malaga wouldn't stand a snow ball's chance in hell of beating Panathinaikos in a playoff series.

Panathinaikos would have absolutely crushed that G-League team, probably by over 30 points. Malaga is a far worse team than Panathinaikos is, and Malaga didn't even play a good game. They played a pretty bad game actually for their normal standards, and they played without their first center and second power forward. And they won the game by 15 points, and it wasn't even really that close to be honest, because the G-League select team got some easy points right towards the very end of the game, when the outcome was already clearly decided.

If that was Panathinaikos, that the G-League select team was playing, it would have been a gigantic blowout. The point is, Toscano-Anderson's comments made it seem like they actually were playing against Panathinaikos, when they were not.

Can you imagine the outrage that would ensue in US sports media and US social media, if some player from Malaga, had made comments that made it seem like the G-League select team were the NBA champions, that a Malaga player claimed they beat the Boston Celtics? The rage would be enormous. And if someone argued that well, it's not that much of a difference, it's just semantics, they are teams of professional players from Northern America....

It doesn't work the other way either. Claiming a team from FIBA BCL are the EuroLeague champions, is just an outright insult to European basketball, and to argue that it's just a semantic difference between Malaga and Panathinaikos, is similar to if a Malaga player claimed that was the Boston Celtics they were playing.

[jbk1234]

OP you right about G League. No doubt about it.

Only thing I’ll say: I feel like all the attempted hype for the G-League died when Scoot went from “Wemby’s rival” to one of the worst high profile rookies we’ve ever seen

The entire concept of the “G League instead of College” was that it would be better preparation for the NBA, but if that were true it shouldn’t have been possible to spent a year in the G League without red flags showing up. The G League seems to have been more interested in promoting Scott than alerting him to the things he desperately needed to improve.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I would argue that the red flags were there with Scoot and just ignored. Same with the Thompson twins. But that happens with players out of Europe as well.

The Thompson twins didn't play in the G League and I don't see how anyone ignored those red flags. They were literally the starting point of every scouting report.
Just they had amazing strengths that actually translated in the NBA.
Scoot's issue, in his rookie season, was that we didn't really see his strengths.

None of the three can shoot and they went 3-5 in the draft. NBA front offices keep drafting guards and wings who can't shoot, high in the draft, with the hopes that if they develop a shot they'll be a superstar. That's directly the result of the highest ceiling fallacy. They need to get better at earnestly assessing the chances of wings and guards developing a shot in the NBA because statically, it rarely happens.

[Fairview4Life]

Speaking as a Canadian, I would just like you to know that your desperate need for attention from Americans is never going to make you happy. You need to stop worrying about it.

[Nate505]

Nobody seriously thinks that the GLeague is the 2nd best in the world

And more importantly, who cares. We all know the NBA is by far the best in the world. If people want to rank 2-20, fine, but really, who cares.