The Beijing men's basketball team was tragically defeated by Jilin Xiake and missed the CBA quarterfinals, and Kansas reversed and defeated North Carolina to win the NCAA crazy March.
Originally, the CBA and the NCAA were two leagues that had no connection. But because of zeng Fanbo's choice and the choice he is about to face, the two leagues still have some connection.
When the madness came to an end in March, it was time to explore whether Zeng Fanbo had made the right choice to give up going to Gonzaga University in favor of joining the G-League Ignition Team. And, did igniting the team playing in the G-League program really challenge the NCAA's status?
The difference in income, the advantage of igniting the team is no longer obvious
The NBA established the Ignition Team and allowed the Ignition Team to play in the G-League program, starting with several previous brain drains. Brandon Jennings and Mudiel skipped college to play in the CBA league in Italy and China respectively, and the NBA has been touched, and what really made the NBA determined to establish a ignition team was Lamelo Ball and Hampton skipping college and running to the Australian League to play.
The reason these rising stars skip college is simple: either because they don't meet their academic performance standards or because they want to make money early. The NCAA, on the other hand, advertises itself as the "purest amateur league, and does not allow players to receive income or sign sponsorship contracts. So, in order to allow talented high school students who want to skip college to stay in the United States, the NBA created the Ignition Team, which has a salary to pay, can sign sponsorship contracts, and can also prepare for the NBA draft with the help of professional coaches.
According to people familiar with the matter, talented high school students who join the Ignition Team can get up to $500,000 a year in salary, and as little as $125,000. Compared to those college players with zero income, these talented high school students can make a lot of money a year earlier. Including the Overtime Elite program for senior and senior high school players, players who participate in the program can earn at least $100,000 a year, and if they choose to go to college, they can also get an additional $100,000 scholarship.
Both of the NBA programs are designed to keep talent in the U.S. and cultivate it on its own. Many people in the industry believe that these two programs will have a huge impact on the NCAA, many people will give up the opportunity to go to college, whether it is a player who finished high school or a senior year, or a player who graduated from high school, they all have the opportunity to prepare for the NBA draft in advance with a salary, and the power of money is huge.
However, the NCAA, which felt the crisis, responded quickly. In April last year, the NCAA officially announced that it would allow college players to sign commercial sponsorship contracts, which they can use their names, likenesses, etc. to get income, and they can also use social media to advertise and earn income by participating in commercial activities. In this way, the advantage of the ignition team formed by paying salaries was greatly weakened.
Exposure, ignition team seriously insufficient
For any new star whose goal is to be selected in the draft, exposure is extremely important. In this regard, the NCAA has an overwhelming advantage.
In 2016, the NCAA signed an eight-year, $8.8 billion new contract with CBS and U.S. cable channel Turner, an average annual TV revenue surge from the previous one of $11 billion worth of $14. The NCAA's crazy March attendance, ratings, and some NBA Finals games can not match.
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Last year,Gallen Sagas was a great example, and while his experience can't be described as "world war-I fame," his super-long-range whistle-and-shooter hit in the final four against UCLA not only boosted his profile, draft market, and brought him great commercial value.
"Now that everyone who watches the tournament knows Sargas, he's probably going to make millions more dollars," one league executive said.
Television broadcasters will be greatly inclined to the NCAA when scheduling the broadcast time of the game, especially during the tournament, the key matches are broadcast in prime time. G-League matches are second-class citizens at the tvcaster, are not priority options at all, and the game time is always in non-prime time. The strong teams in the G League do not enjoy good treatment, let alone ignite the new army with poor records. Many of Zeng Fanbo's matches are in the early morning of Beijing time, and it is difficult for domestic fans to pay attention to his performance in real time. Even if Zeng Fanbo had a highlight performance in the ignition team, there were very few reports.
"Again, in the case of Sargas, he is far more marketable than before, and he is now a household name," one agent said, "such an influence, the G League can not be replicated,"
In the 2021 draft, Sargas was selected by the Magic with the 5th pick, and his call to enter the top three picks before the draft was once very high. At the beginning, Saggers turned down the invitation of the Ignition Team and chose to join Gonzaga. In his year in Gonzaga, although Sagas failed to lead the team to win the championship, in terms of popularity among fans, he was higher than the leader of the ignition team, Jaren Green. Green played fewer games in a year on the Ignition team and had less exposure.
Including this year, the Ignition team has played more games than last year, but most of their matches have not been counted, and their opponents are only equivalent to taking time out for sparring. The most critical playoffs, the Ignition team did not play, and they have recently ended their trip to the season. When the development league was playing the playoffs and the NCAA was heading into March madness, the Ignition players had to prepare for the draft on their own.
Today, several key players of the Ignition team, Jaden Hardy, Sterling Henderson and Michael Foster, are all lower in the draft than before joining the Ignition team, and Zeng Fanbo has never been on the simulation draft list, nor has he entered the top 100 in the ESPN Top 100 Players List. In contrast, North Carolina defender Caleb Loaf, his previous draft market was not good, but with the desperate three points against Duke, he has attracted a lot of attention, and the draft market has improved. Abaji, who helped Kansas win the championship, has stabilized the draft with his outstanding performance in the tournament, and he is likely to be selected in the lotto area.
"The NCAA has all sorts of problems, but the platform they're offering to players is incredible," one agent said.
Training system, ignition team really has to blow so bull?
The essence of the ignition team is to let the new stars who aspire to impact the NBA draft adapt to the adult world in advance, and accumulate experience and find deficiencies through confrontation with professional NBA players. For this system, whether it is Green, who has entered the NBA, or Hardy, who is still impacting the NBA, they all agree, and they all believe that the experience of the ignition team can make them adapt to the cruelty of the NBA in advance.
However, can the talent training system and on-court tactical execution of the Ignition Team really compete with the more sophisticated NCAA teams? This issue is hugely controversial in the industry.
Last year, the core of the ignition team, Green and Cuminga, eventually entered the NBA as a lottery, but green adjusted his shooting action under the guidance of Lucas Sr. after joining the Rockets, which led to his post-All-Star breakout. Cumminga is still a player who relies on physical talent to play, and in the Warriors' complex system, he relies most on his "wild bull breakthrough". From these two people, it is not possible to see too much of the ignition team's sculpting of their personal skills and basketball IQ.
Including This year's Hardy and others, they do show signs of improvement in the second half of the G League, but because the Ignition team itself is a crash course, unstable in all aspects, and a head coach every two years, they are not like the NCAA, which has formulated a long-term development plan and a highly targeted training program according to the situation and stage of each player.
"The Ignition team is a toxic environment," one agent said, "and no one can get any better there." ”
From a confrontational point of view, igniting team players to play against professional players in advance is helpful for their future. However, the problem is that compared with the NCAA team that emphasizes the implementation of tactics at a glance, the ignition team is a team with no tactics and no battles, and Zeng Fanbo does not get too many opportunities in this atmosphere, which is not helpful for the ignition team players to cultivate a sense of winning and improve their basketball IQ.
One coach said: "The Ignition players didn't learn any Bull X tactics, and if they switched to another development league team, they might play better because those teams are much better at executing tactics than Ignition." ”
epilogue
Back to the question at the beginning, Zeng Fanbo gave up joining Gonzaga and went to ignite the team to play in the G League, is this the right path?
At this stage, this is still a no-question answer.
Zeng Fanbo's goal is to enter the draft in 2022, but Gonzaga and many draft experts believe that Zeng Fanbo, like Japanese star Yamura, needs to play at least three years in college to participate in the draft. Zeng Fanbo's expectations of himself are inconsistent with the expectations of the outside world for him, which is a major reason why Zeng Fanbo chose to ignite the team.
The problem is that in the past half a year, Zeng Fanbo has not experienced an improvement in the draft market because of the ignition team. Judging from the test of the ignition team in the past two years, in addition to the talent of Green and Kuminga, who can lock in the lottery no matter what performance they play in the G League, it is not a reasonable choice for other young players to take this quick path. Indian player Singh also joined the Ignition Team Shock Draft last year, but this year can only travel to Australia's New Zealand Saboteurs to play.
We all hope that Zeng Fanbo can conquer the NBA team through future trials, and finally be called by name in the draft. But for now, the likelihood of Zeng Fanbo being selected this year is very low. According to previous reports, if Zeng Fanbo is not selected, he will return to Beijing Shougang next season to participate in the CBA League. And if Zeng Fanbo had gone to Gonzaga, Beijing would have given him more time to prepare for the draft.
The playoffs are out of the game at 12 in 8, and Beijing, which is in urgent need of fresh blood, needs Zeng Fanbo. But Zeng Fanbo's dream, in the NBA. As a pioneer among China's new generation of players, can Zeng Fanbo succeed?