http://www.sportingnews.com/ncaa-basketb...um=twitter


...Labissiere’s options do not seem great though. He could accept a high-risk, high reward contract in China that might pay him seven figures. He could take a short-term deal in Europe that would only pay him what whispers suggest a five-star basketball player can make under the table in college. Or he could sign a longer term deal in Europe for more money and more stability but which would delay his shot at the NBA by 2–4 extra years.

What Labissiere needs is an agent.

The NCAA already prohibits athletes getting involved with agents and retaining their eligibility, but the NCAA and professional leagues have combined to remove agents from the process of deciding whether to turn professional or not. The NFL CBA and NCAA rules for basketball players prevent any meaningful testing of the waters. MLB’s automatic draft entry system does the same while tougher slotting penalties have reined in contract negotiations...

...If more players like Skal Labissiere are going to consider going overseas rather than playing in college, the benefit to the NCAA to wade into that thicket and do that work would be worth it. Without an agent or with one acting only as an advisor, an athlete making a decision to the enter the NFL or NBA draft or sign an MLB contract can at least get a sense of whether it is a good decision. Labissiere cannot. It is not realistic for Labissiere or his family to set up tryouts on two continents and negotiate for the best contract in a completely open-ended market.

The downsides for the NCAA seem minimal. Baseball players have had agent-advisors for years and many still turn down high-six and seven-figure signing bonuses to play college baseball for three years, rather than the one or two a basketball player would have to. Having an agent is not technically related to the NCAA’s core definition of amateurism: profiting off your athletic ability or reputation. And allowing agents strengthens the NCAA’s argument that it is but one option for elite athletes.

The agent regulations are a focus of the power conferences once they get autonomy and allowing agents for prospects was discussed by the Leadership Council in 2012. So a change this big might be closer than many people expect from the NCAA. But allowing athletes to have agents increasingly looks like something that is so important for the NCAA to do that the complaints of how difficult the details are to figure out look weaker and weaker.

Sounds fine to me. The NCAA lost all claim to amateurism when the first College Football Playoffs brought in about $650M for 3 games. Big business.

And it's no secret that top players in both football and basketball get paid under the table by somebody (boosters, agents or shoe companies). And the SEC football coaches claiming last week, during Media Days, that they are unaware of any type of cheating, is laughable.

I like the suggestion last week that we make all college basketball players eligible for the draft each year. If you don't get drafted, you can return to school. If you get drafted, you can sign or return to school. No strings, no artificial declaring deadlines.

(07-29-2014 11:05 AM)TripleA Wrote:  Sounds fine to me. The NCAA lost all claim to amateurism when the first College Football Playoffs brought in about $650M for 3 games. Big business.

And it's no secret that top players in both football and basketball get paid under the table by somebody (boosters, agents or shoe companies). And the SEC football coaches denying last week, during Media Days, that they are unaware of any type of cheating, is laughable.

I like the suggestion last week that we make all college basketball players eligible for the draft each year. If you don't get drafted, you can return to school. If you get drafted, you can sign or return to school. No strings, no artificial declaring deadlines.

ooo I didn't read that. I like that too. They should stop with the funny business and just look at it for what it is. Big Business with many considerations.

It would be a shame if Skal or Hamilton aren't getting some type of credible expert advise and not someone just looking for the short term dollar. I agree that a change the NCAA rules with regards to agents would be a positive (and it seems to be in the works -- at least with the P5s)

I disagree with it completely. The agents would be 10X worse than the handlers.

(07-29-2014 11:32 AM)TIGERCITY Wrote:  It would be a shame if Skal or Hamilton aren't getting some type of credible expert advise and not someone just looking for the short term dollar. I agree that a change the NCAA rules with regards to agents would be a positive (and it seems to be in the works -- at least with the P5s)

Seems to me, Hamilton is not looking for advice. If he is, it's only to find how he can max his own payout.

(07-29-2014 12:11 PM)Pastnerized Wrote:  

(07-29-2014 11:32 AM)TIGERCITY Wrote:  It would be a shame if Skal or Hamilton aren't getting some type of credible expert advise and not someone just looking for the short term dollar. I agree that a change the NCAA rules with regards to agents would be a positive (and it seems to be in the works -- at least with the P5s)

Seems to me, Hamilton is not looking for advice. If he is, it's only to find how he can max his own payout.

Totally agree but I don't see where greedy agents would be any different. For some reason, I just see agents recommending the kid to get paid as soon as possible regardless of their best behalf.

(07-29-2014 12:50 PM)Tony85 Wrote:  

(07-29-2014 12:11 PM)Pastnerized Wrote:  

(07-29-2014 11:32 AM)TIGERCITY Wrote:  It would be a shame if Skal or Hamilton aren't getting some type of credible expert advise and not someone just looking for the short term dollar. I agree that a change the NCAA rules with regards to agents would be a positive (and it seems to be in the works -- at least with the P5s)

Seems to me, Hamilton is not looking for advice. If he is, it's only to find how he can max his own payout.

Totally agree but I don't see where greedy agents would be any different. For some reason, I just see agents recommending the kid to get paid as soon as possible regardless of their best behalf.

Well off the top of my head...Agents can get paid for a longer stretch of time than a guardian/handler. Plus agents want more than one client, so they are held more accountable.

(07-29-2014 12:50 PM)Tony85 Wrote:  

(07-29-2014 12:11 PM)Pastnerized Wrote:  

(07-29-2014 11:32 AM)TIGERCITY Wrote:  It would be a shame if Skal or Hamilton aren't getting some type of credible expert advise and not someone just looking for the short term dollar. I agree that a change the NCAA rules with regards to agents would be a positive (and it seems to be in the works -- at least with the P5s)

Seems to me, Hamilton is not looking for advice. If he is, it's only to find how he can max his own payout.

Totally agree but I don't see where greedy agents would be any different. For some reason, I just see agents recommending the kid to get paid as soon as possible regardless of their best behalf.

So called "street agents" - looking for a quick dollar in their pocket today - probably. But I doubt a credible agent works that way -- those who routinely represent professional athletes. If someone is planning on being the players representative long term than I'd think the agent's self-interest pretty much already matches the player's. That is, taking the course that maximizes the long term value to the player. Credible agents, those who do it long term themselves, don't want the rep of screwing those they represent - or giving them bad advise.

(07-29-2014 11:32 AM)TIGERCITY Wrote:  It would be a shame if Skal or Hamilton aren't getting some type of credible expert advise and not someone just looking for the short term dollar. I agree that a change the NCAA rules with regards to agents would be a positive (and it seems to be in the works -- at least with the P5s)

http://zagsblog.com/nba/williams-chooses...ver-china/

(07-29-2014 11:05 AM)TripleA Wrote:  Sounds fine to me. The NCAA lost all claim to amateurism when the first College Football Playoffs brought in about $650M for 3 games. Big business.

And it's no secret that top players in both football and basketball get paid under the table by somebody (boosters, agents or shoe companies). And the SEC football coaches claiming last week, during Media Days, that they are unaware of any type of cheating, is laughable.

I like the suggestion last week that we make all college basketball players eligible for the draft each year. If you don't get drafted, you can return to school. If you get drafted, you can sign or return to school. No strings, no artificial declaring deadlines.

Yeah...But NBA teams wouldn't be cool with drafting a player in the first round and the player deciding to stay in college for another couple of years

I agree that agents could give bad advice, and would be prejudiced toward getting the players paid in the pros, but you have to look at this in light of the current situation. Agents are around "giving advice" already. Only difference is, it's against NCAA rules, so the agents you get are the less scrupulous ones.

My point is, you should change the rules and just open the whole damn thing up. If you allow a player to contact an agent (NOT the other way around) for advice, then that's a good thing. I just think it's dumb to restrict players from TALKING to people who can give them advice.

But the best way to do that is to let all players be eligible for the draft, stop the silly false deadline to declare, and if a player doesn't get drafted, he returns to college, and if he gets drafted, then he has a choice. That way, the agent thing becomes moot.

(07-30-2014 08:34 AM)TripleA Wrote:  I agree that agents could give bad advice, and would be prejudiced toward getting the players paid in the pros, but you have to look at this in light of the current situation. Agents are around "giving advice" already. Only difference is, it's against NCAA rules, so the agents you get are the less scrupulous ones.

My point is, you should change the rules and just open the whole damn thing up. If you allow a player to contact an agent (NOT the other way around) for advice, then that's a good thing. I just think it's dumb to restrict players from TALKING to people who can give them advice.

But the best way to do that is to let all players be eligible for the draft, stop the silly false deadline to declare, and if a player doesn't get drafted, he returns to college, and if he gets drafted, then he has a choice. That way, the agent thing becomes moot.

I'm curious:is something similar in place regarding college players in the MLB draft?

(07-30-2014 09:10 AM)holyterror Wrote:  

(07-30-2014 08:34 AM)TripleA Wrote:  I agree that agents could give bad advice, and would be prejudiced toward getting the players paid in the pros, but you have to look at this in light of the current situation. Agents are around "giving advice" already. Only difference is, it's against NCAA rules, so the agents you get are the less scrupulous ones.

My point is, you should change the rules and just open the whole damn thing up. If you allow a player to contact an agent (NOT the other way around) for advice, then that's a good thing. I just think it's dumb to restrict players from TALKING to people who can give them advice.

But the best way to do that is to let all players be eligible for the draft, stop the silly false deadline to declare, and if a player doesn't get drafted, he returns to college, and if he gets drafted, then he has a choice. That way, the agent thing becomes moot.

I'm curious:is something similar in place regarding college players in the MLB draft?

No, not the same situation. With baseball, you can turn pro directly out of HS, or, you can go to college, but then you are ineligible to turn pro for 3 years.

Right now, with basketball, just declaring to be eligible for the draft makes you ineligible to return. The other solution, beyond removing draft restrictions, is to adopt the baseball model, but the NBAPA doesn't want the competition from the hot 18 year olds, and the owners and GMs want a year or more to evaluate them in college, before spending big bucks on them. What is likely to happen is that everybody will have to stay in college for TWO years now, making the situation with cheating, under the table payments, and perhaps turning pro overseas, even worse.

Thanks. Thought it was something like that