Tag: select team

Report: LaMelo Ball turned down Team USA Select Team to focus on rehabbing wrist

LaMelo Ball reportedly turned down an opportunity to join the Team USA Select Team this summer in order to rehab his injured wrist.

With Team USA struggling in its build up to the Olympics in Tokyo paired with Bradley Beal and Kevin Love needing replaced on the roster, LaMelo Ball’s name has been whispered by some as a potential replacement following an impressive rookie season.

However, according to Charlotte Radio host Travis Hancock, Ball passed on the opportunity to take join the Select Team this summer in order to rehab his broken wrist that hampered him at the end of the regular season. That being said, Ball also noted that he had interest in playing for Team USA in the future as well.

Ball returned from his wrist injury after five weeks out to play in the final 10 games of the season plus the play-in game. However, after the season, he admitted that the wrist still bothered him and impacted his play on the court.

Despite the calls from fans, Team USA circled back to Select Team roster member Keldon Johnson for one of the two roster spots open while also adding JaVale McGee.

For Ball, it could potentially have bene an opportunity missed in hindsight, but his health should remain the number one priority for him and the Hornets moving forward. A summer in wihch he can recover from his injury and improve could put him on the radar for not just the Select Team, but Team USA itself in the future.

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Five-star players skipping college basketball helps Wisconsin in the short-term, but what does it mean for college basketball in the long run?

How the recent news about Jalen Green and Isaiah Todd going to the NBA G-League changes the landscape of college basketball

Recently, I wrote about the Wisconsin basketball identity that does not involve one-and-done, five-star players.  The identity of the Badgers is about players who stay, build, and grow with each other as college basketball players. We will hopefully see the positive results of that process play out this season, a year where the Badgers will have serious pre-season hype.

Over the past decade, most high-profile programs have operated differently than UW. There has been the need to adapt within the one-and-done era. The past few days have altered that era forever. This morning, one of the top prospects in college basketball Jalen Green announced his decision to play for the brand new NBA G-League select team according to ESPN. Green is a likely top-3 pick in next year’s NBA draft, and chose the new G-League option over the likes of Memphis and Auburn.

The NBA felt that they needed to compete with the NBL, a league in Australia that has seen top 2020 prospects Lamelo Ball and RJ Hampton choose them over the NCAA or other pro alternatives. This select team was their way of competing. Former NBA player and current NBA G-League President Shareef Abdur-Rahim confirmed that to ESPN in a piece earlier today.  “The NBA is the best development system in the world, and those players shouldn’t have to go somewhere else to develop for a year,” he said to ESPN.

The brand new NBA G-League select team that Green will be a part of is not exactly just another G-League team. The NBA G-League has long been the development league of the NBA, similar to other development leagues around pro sports. This select team would look very different than your average NBA farm squad. While we do not have every detail just yet, ESPN’s Jonathan Givony and Adrian Wojnarowski provided early details today via Twitter.

Essentially, the NBA wants to be the best development option for young players that also pays them a competitive salary in comparison to the rest of the world. There has already been a shockwave sent through the Big Ten because of this new initiative. Two days ago,  2020 Michigan commit and five-star recruit Isaiah Todd told Sports Illustrated that he was hiring an agent and turning pro. Today, we learned where he would be playing pro.

From a Wisconsin perspective this is a short-term win. Other Big Ten teams and perennial powerhouses around the country lose out on five-star talent that the Badgers would not have likely gone after/landed in the first place. Despite that, this is a scary proposition for the NCAA as a whole in the long-term. Sure, an NBA G-League select team can never have March Madness, thousands of fans screaming at Cameron Indoor Stadium at Duke, or the type of love that comes with playing for your dream school. With that being said, $500,000 and training from actual NBA personnel with consistent, guaranteed looks from NBA teams is hard to pass up. The reality of the situation is that these players have the goal of signing massive NBA contracts, and they should absolutely be encouraged to take the path that best gets them there. Playing overseas in a professional league against grown men in the NBL is a different level of threat to the NCAA than playing with NBA personnel in an environment catered to their growth. Oh, and the half a million dollars does not hurt either.

Yes, this helps the Badgers in the short-term, but the NBA G-League select team should rattle the NCAA to its core. The changes that the NBA is making will push the NCAA in directions that could include serious discussions of player payment. Todd and Green are not unicorns in this situation. They are going to be the new norm for a handful of top college basketball players. The one thing that we know for sure is that if the NBA G-League select team succeeds, which all signs point to, then the NCAA will be forced to make major structural change. The events of this past week could be the catalyst that changes college basketball forever.