cram

Did anyone see how Boston and Charlotte were fined for wooing underclassmen? Charlotte received a 15k fine for discussing durant and oden in a live interview, and Ainge was only fined 30k for sitting with Durant's parents during the big 12 tournament.

30k?????

Does anyone honestly think that any team in the NBA wouldn't take an opportunity to woo an underclassmen into either coming out early, and/or coercing into working out for only that team if hte price tag is only 30k?????

That's just silly.

speedythief

Kind of seems silly in the case of Durant or Oden, though... I really doubt either of them stay in the NCAA when they will (under virtually any circumstances) go number one and number two overall.

mo76

I'd say 30k is a pretty heavy price, since nothing is really gained. Players are drafted not recruited.

shookem

Yeah, 30k to possibily get the leg up on some other team? I think any team would pay that in a heart beat for either of those two guys.

__________________

Hockey Forum.com Toronto Raptors Toronto Blue Jays

mo76

What do you mean, oden and durrant are 1, 2.

The team with the first pick will draft oden.
The team with the second pick will draft durrant.

kamego

Everyone has to remember these fines are not to help the NBA in any way. The NBA is enforcing NCAA rules with those fines to keep a postive association with the college ranks. NCAA players and families are not allowed to have direct contact with NBA employees they didn't know before there kids started playing.

The reason those fines were so small were because the NBA doesn't really care outside of that. In a draft lottery system it doesn't really matter how much Oden or Durant like your team, as they have no real imput.

__________________
DePaul Basketball

Piston Forum - Atleast we can't get in trouble for paying Cwebb this time

Boycotting the Detroit Lions since the 2007 NFL Draft

shookem

Yeah, that's true but if their was any doubt that the player would enter I'm sure the NBA guys are doing all they can to erase that.

*edit: post #6000.

__________________

Hockey Forum.com Toronto Raptors Toronto Blue Jays

mo76

Ya, teams with high picks will want players like durrant to declare so they have more options.
I think the celtics really want oden, so they can develop him into the next bill russel,

ballocks

it's purely political, imo. when they decided to fine mike, i bet the conversation went something like this, "hi mike. i hate to do this, dog (apparently randy from american idol has a job with the nba ), but we'll have to fine you for the oden/durant references you made." "ok."

to think that the nba really cares is to live in an alternate reality, imo. as was pointed out above, they're just under a contract with the ncaa and wouldn't want to jeopardize that.

but it's a microcosm of the modern age, i think: we just say things and do things out of seeming obligation, not necessarily out of 'proper' morality or ethics. that's the whole thing- you can't watch a leader (whether he/she's the president of the united states or the commissioner of the nba) speak to those he/she leads because we're just so cynical (and rightfully so). these people aren't speaking to you/us as much as they're speaking for themselves. the exchange of honest dialogue probably survives behind closed doors, but rarely out in the open (imo). that's too bad. i wonder when someone will bring a solution forward re: that issue.

peace

cram

even though its a draft, there are 2 advantages to wooing players...

- convincing them to declare (if durant is genuinely on the fence)
- convincing them to decline workouts with other teams. I remember it happening with Golden State (Biedrins), Seattle (Swift?) and am sure there are others. If anyone remembers, bargnani was also declining owrkouts with other teams unless they wanted to work him out in toronto. It made no difference because we were #1.....but if we were #2, 3, 4, or 5 it could have been huge.

Reality is Durant isn't slipping past #2 so if there is an advantage, its in convincing him to declare. Especially relevant with recent news that Durant is letting his parents decide what he should do.

JuniorNoboa

It's not really political.. it's more legal. The NBA does not want tampering .. PERIOD. It is in the best interest of the league and its owners to not allow tampering (as it would increase player costs) and to draw a line against all activities. Sometimes rather innocent comments will get dinged, but that is necessary to curtail tampering on a more higher level. They don't want to allow certain comments, and set precedents that could allow teams to tamper and get away with it. I don't think it reflects on morals or ethics as you suggest, but just the legal world we live in.

The NBA is not acting under a contract with the NCAA or protecting its relationship with them.. there is absolutely no contract between the NBA and NCAA.

The One year in the NCAA rule was done purely to help the NBA, and not the NCAA

a) The NBA was tired of having its lower level teams get dinged with drafting high schoolers who flopped. Of course the NBA, who seeks parity, wants players to go to the NCAA for one year.. it allows them to better evaluate them and allows for more certainty in drafting.

b) Having star freshmen in the NCAA provides free advertising for the NBA. How many people seriously knew Durant last year? I knew who he was, but his coming to the NBA was no big deal as it is now... the same could be said of Carmelo Anthony. Durant would have been a top pick, but he would not be as marketable as he is today. You get the odd high schooler such as Lebron James and Greg Oden who get an extreme amount of attention and are elite prospects. I am sure the NBA would love to have such players one year earlier. But the optimal case is for players to go to college for one year.

kamego

This is the most important point. The NBA gets advertising from the NCAA games and those players get hyped without the NBA having to do anything. The NBA now tries to make sure those NCAA players do nothing to upset their eligibilty until they declare. Any NBA person is allowed to talk to any college player as soon as they offical declare but not before hand. That is the NBA respecting and working with a simple NCAA rule.

__________________
DePaul Basketball

Piston Forum - Atleast we can't get in trouble for paying Cwebb this time

Boycotting the Detroit Lions since the 2007 NFL Draft

JuniorNoboa

The strange thing is I saw the game against OSU. Ainge was given tickets by U of T, to sit besides Durant's mom... he had just asked for tickets, and that was what U of T gave them. They showed him a handful of times, and he was completely ignoring Durant's mom - they reflected it on it a few times during the broadcast.

I don't think anything wrong was going on... Ainge never intended to sit besides Durant's mom, that was the seats given to him. But I guess the NBA struck down hard, so that others with different motives cannot claim this as well/

ballocks