I generally agree, but Simons took the same route last year, and he seems to be a decent prospect. Dame loves him, so I'm on board. My biggest fear with Bazley is his agency -- don't want anything to do with Klutch or Rich Paul.
lol. No player without red flags is dropping to #15, let alone #25. We WANT red flags!!! We also want for those red flags to not be justified.
You bet your ass he's a gymrat. If you show up to the combine measruing out at 3.6% bodyfat (2nd lowest measured > although I'm not too keen on the way they measure it at the combine...mostly since most %'s there are...unhealthy low), 3rd among PF's/C's in lane agility time, 6th overall in shuttle run time, 4th among PF's/C's in three quarter sprint, 4th in standing vertical leap among PF's/C's, 2nd max vetical leap among PF's/C's, you know he is either a generational physical specimen or has been in the gym a lot over the past year. Mitchell Robinson did the same last season and he did quite well.
Just read Rich Paul was behind trying to get Walton fire. He address it to Silver at place where Silvers was eating. Silver shrud him off and ask who you think should be Rich reply Lue. He was also behind trying to get management to trade all those players. The players got wiff at it and that's when things went down hill. But I still would like Bazley because I don't think our management who put up with that crap from Rich.
Absolutely, and Simons was riddled with Red Flags because of it, hence the drop from "top 5" prospect to where we drafted him. I honestly can't tell if you're disagreeing with me or not.
Everybody in here clamoring for Bazely better realize 2 words: Rich Paul http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...ley-1-million-internship-result-broken-system NBA agent and Klutch Sports co-founder Rich Paul called the choice of top prospect Darius Bazley to forgo college and opt for a $1 million shoe-company internship the product of a broken system, saying Wednesday that the on-court component of the next seven months was "the one thing that we were missing." Bazley, ranked the No. 13 prospect in 2018 by ESPN, decommitted from Syracuse in March and said he planned to play in the NBA's G League. This week, he again changed course, landing a first-of-its-kind three-month job with New Balance, a deal Paul brokered. Paul, speaking in an appearance on ESPN's The Jump, said he wasn't sure the move would start a trend but did think it was a pioneering leap out of an institutionalized process that needed to change. "And until that happens, they need options," Paul said. Paul said Bazley was part of a system people in authority have "been able to control for a long time." "And when you're a threat to that system, they don't like that," Paul said. Bazley, a 6-foot-8 forward from Ohio, will enter the 2019 NBA draft, Paul said. Bazley had been poised to be the first five-star prospect to skip college for the G League, after several players have gone the overseas route. Like most high school players, Bazley was ineligible for the 2018 NBA draft because he's not one year removed from his graduating class. In the past, if a player was ruled ineligible for college or wanted to skip college, he generally went overseas, as Brandon Jennings, Emmanuel Mudiay and Terrance Ferguson did. In May, Bazley signed with Paul, who also has longtime friend LeBron James, John Wall and Ben Simmons among his NBA clients. Bazley will be paid a $200,000 base salary annually over five years, assuming he is on an NBA roster in the second year and in the league each season thereafter. Paul earlier this week told The New York Times that the internship was part of a multiyear shoe contract that could pay Bazley up to $14 million if he reaches performance incentives written into the contract. "Darius is a very, very different kid," Paul told The Jump. "His mom and him came to me, and they wanted advice. ... The main thing for me was just trying to find out the best way for Darius to spend his time since he was not going to college. And New Balance is a very fearless, independent brand, and what they represent aligned directly with who Darius Bazley is and what he wanted to do." The slender Bazley, who was listed at 195 pounds in high school, also will work on his strength and skills in the run-up to the draft. In an interview with The Times, he called the move "my risk." "For who he is," Paul said, "regardless of what happens in the rest of his life, he'll have a head start. He'll know more about the business around the game than anybody in his class based upon what he'll learn." But Paul said the on-court component remained uncertain. "It's tough to find runs, right?" Paul said of pickup games. "So, he has an unbelievable skill set. But he needs to play. He's going to train on the court, obviously find pickup games here and there. But the way this goes, we're here in October and tomorrow we're in March. It goes like that. "So any rookie that comes into our league, it still takes time for them to develop. So he has a skill set that you -- he's 6-9½ with a guard skill set. And again, the challenge would be the actual play part. And that's OK; he's accepting that. I tell him all the time -- we just talked this morning -- 'Even if you have to play one-on-one, one-on-none to work on certain things, that's what we have to do.' But I'm not going to throw him out there with just anybody and have him play. That's not going to happen." Bazley's move won't come without controversy. On Wednesday, Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim -- who later tweeted he wished Bazley the best and even called Paul to apologize -- told Stadium's Jeff Goodman, "LeBron did a nice job helping his client. It is LeBron's client, right?" James was quick to respond via social media. Paul said he wasn't certain whether more players would follow Bazley's path. "It's not for everybody, so I'm not going to sit here and say anyone should follow this path," Paul said. "This was just the right path for Darius Bazley. This is the right path for Darius Bazley and his family. It takes a collective group of people; his mom was very understanding and willing to allow me to advise them as a family. And the parents are important in this, as well. It's not just me. The parents are very important. And you have to work together with families to help them understand why this is important." Paul said the college route is "the right thing" for most players. "Because you need to learn how to play the game," Paul said. "And you need to learn how to mature as a man." New Balance hasn't marketed basketball shoes since the 1990s. Bazley, who decided not to play in the development league, is the first athlete signed to promote the company's reentry into the basketball shoe market. Paul said Bazley would start the three-month position in January and work out of Boston. "They wanted to be able to tell his story and to tell it the right way," Paul said of New Balance. "For me, I don't have a platform for NBA scouts to reach out and call and say, 'Well, what's his character like? How's he doing in class?' "And so, I presented to him," Paul said. "I said, 'Let's do this deal, but while doing this deal, let's implement this into the deal.' And so he's going to be an intern. He starts in January; it's for three months. He'll be in Boston. He'll work out and train there. And he's able to learn a business that actually aligns with what he likes. He'll learn what goes into making a shoe. He'll learn about a storyboard -- why they picked a certain athlete that they pick. And so -- rollout plan, how to execute it."
I don't like to comment on these things because if I can be open about it, I wonder if there is some part of my feelings that is like, "old white guy" trying to tell young Black athletes and agents how to act. So I'm uncomfortable with myself here because I never ever want to be that way. That said, I've always kind of disliked Rich Paul, and Klutch Sports and I have odd feelings about it, and if I was a GM would I want to have to deal with them? I'm not sure. This might be a post I regret heh.
Rich Paul is a player's advocate. Nothing more. He's about the $$. And fuck him. But here's the thing, He's right. Personally, I'd go take the million instead of dumbing down my on the ball defense to go play for Boheim.
Thats kind of how I feel. I feel like he’s kind of a power / money hungry that I wouldn't trust though, at least as a GM. I completely understand GM’s arent all that trustworthy either.
Paul should be a players' advocate. That's his job. No one else is going to look out for the best interests of players. If the Blazers believe in Bazley's talent, they should absolutely take him at 25 if he's there, IMO. Winning some gambles on high upside players is your best shot at getting over the hump from good to great.
Think of it like this: The players need an advocate. The NCAA is the DEVIL... Such a SCANDALOUS organization of good old boys who are making billions off of "student" athletes. The vast majority of "student" athletes don't earn a degree at all nor do they go pro. It's modern day slavery and exploitation.
The kid has already proclaimed himself a stone-cold mercenary who won't even pick up a basketball unless he is paid for it. When he gets to the NBA is he suddenly going to start caring about his team or the fans? Will he care about anything but his own minutes and stats? Is he so lacking in self-awareness he doesn't realize that a year in college or the G league would have made him a better player - or is his ego so huge he doesn't think he has anything to improve on?
I'm sorry this is just a bullshit post and is completely backing the good ol' boy slavery system the NCAA has setup. Lacking in self awareness?? Really??? Something tells me he's VERY self aware, otherwise Rich Paul wouldn't be his agent. What makes you think he "doesn't think he has anything to improve on"? What makes you think you can read his mind? What makes you think he doesn't care about fans or team? Maybe he says FUCK being a exploited "student" athlete who may get hurt and would rather get paid to get NBA coaching? That's a sound decision if you ask me.
