Darius Bazley - Players Tribune | Page 7 | Syracusefan.com

Darius Bazley - Players Tribune

Zelda Zonk said:
I can't 'buy' the rationalizations.
He cites a worthless statistic: 38% — of NBA players have played in the G League. Meaningless. More relevant is that 90% of them played in american college. That seems like a pretty straightforward, standardized, proven route.
Expand...
category error

the relevant statistics for comparison would be
a: pct of g league players who end up playing in the nba, vs
b: pct of college player who end up playing in the nba

i have no idea what the actual values are, but i would surmise that a >>> b
 
I suppose it's not cool to say anything negative about a teenage kid who wants to play the cards the way he sees as best to make his dream of playing in the NBA come true. BUT. To do so at the detriment of a particular College Basketball program is BS. I hope the best for him an al that crappy pseudo "wish him the best" narrative... but there are consequences that are born upon the University and the program you COMMITTED to as well.
It's nice in this current 21'st century of " I'll do everything that suits me best" mentality. BUT

You COMMITTED to a program... that is made up of other kids just like yourself for the most part... and those kids made decisions about their future based on the assumption that your COMMITTMENT meant that you were COMMITTEDED to coming to Syracuse for …… let's be honest... 1 YEAR.

You let a lot of people down... and , make no mistake about it... It's your own prerogative. But... you screwed over a lot of people and kids that would have been your TEAMMATES... by OPTING OUT AT THE LAST MINUTE...

Therein lies the problem I have with all of this. The way you conducted yourself PREMPETED what Syracuse could have done on the recruiting front. That's not cool. PERIOD. I don't contest that it is well within your rights... but if you had that notion anywhere inside that brainpan of yours and didn't let on to it at the expense of Syracuse University Basketball... It's not cool.

In an effort to be pragmatic on my end as a Syracuse basketball fan... I will say this. I concede wholly that you are entitled to make a decision such as you did to go to the G league and forego one year of College basketball... but in doing so you have essentially done a disservice to Syracuse University Basketball and it's fanbase by co=opting a scholarship for a team that may have had a chance to achieve great things in the coming year. Now.… you leave a program in disarray and one which may feel the effects of your decision reflected in the decisions made by players currently on the team and also of those who are considering committing to Syracuse during the next recruiting period.

Frankly... that sucks. the fact is this... We all among the Syracuse fanbase acknowledge the fact that you are a special talent... and that is why we all have been so excited since you made your Pseudo commitment to Syracuse. In the timeline that is Syracuse Basketball you represented the hope of tens of thousands of fans that we could, on the heels of a difficult era of the program, return to the top of the college basketball world and have a team with a palpable chance at pursuing a national title.

Your decision had all but extinguished such hopes for all of those who would have idolized you. Again... I get it... in the current era … it's not about winning a NC... its' about the individual player realizing his dream of playing in the NBA, So although I cannot fault you for doing what's best for BAZE... in doing so you have crystalized for all of us who have loved college basketball for all of their adult lives... the fact that the days of latching onto a player who goes out on the floor on any given night and leaves everything he has out there because of love of the Game and the college logo he wears on his uniform...… ARE DEAD AND GONE>

I get it... I really do…. but I must say... there is a sense of emptiness that I doubt you would ever have the capacity to understand... that people like myself have experienced as a result of the decision you made... and the manner in which you made it... And that, my young cager…… is a wonderful and magical thing which you and all that come after you will never have the gift of recognizing what I am even alluding to.

I do wish you the best... Baze… or whatever it is that you will be referred to as... It is not you... you just happen to be the pivot point which represents the final chapter in the complete and utter demarcation between what was once considered " collegiate basketball" And now the abomination which poses to be amateur collegiate basketball. It there be a positive thing I can garner from what, as a lifelong Cuse fan, one could have... it is this. You are in fact truly a trailblazer in that you have opted to do the G league to NBA route. By doing so you do pull back the curtain of pretense as to what the realities are between amateurism and professionalism and may draw focus on all the surrounding issues which are attendant to the phenomenon. Perhaps some good can come of it. God knows that the sport is in need of it.

Go and watch a Utube video which features the likes of Pearl... or Coleman …. or Melo... that my friend... is the kind of magic that you won't find anywhere in the NBA... or in College basketball... and you might have had the opportunity to be the " last guy " who was part of such magic and would be considered the last legacy of what some of us here were blessed enough to have experienced...

But... you will never know...………. but I will always remember.
 
Last edited:
moqui said:
category error

the relevant statistics for comparison would be
a: pct of g league players who end up playing in the nba, vs
b: pct of college player who end up playing in the nba

i have no idea what the actual values are, but i would surmise that a >>> b
Expand...
Good point. But that conclusion sorta implies college is a hindrance.
And prior to now, could you get to the g league without college?
This is why I dislike statistics...
 
Flacusian said:
I suppose it's not cool to say anything negative about a teenage kid who wants to play the cards the way he sees as best to make his dream of playing in the NBA come true. BUT. To do so at the detriment of a particular College Basketball program is BS. I hope the best for him an al that crappy pseudo "wish him the best" narrative... but there are consequences that are born upon the University and the program you COMMITTED to as well.
It's nice in this current 21'st century of " I'll do everything that suits me best" mentality. BUT

You COMMITTED to a program... that is made up of other kids just like yourself for the most part... and those kids made decisions about their future based on the assumption that your COMMITTMENT meant that you were COMMITTEDED to coming to Syracuse for …… let's be honest... 1 YEAR.

You let a lot of people down... and , make no mistake about it... It's your own prerogative. But... you screwed over a lot of people and kids that would have been your TEAMMATES... by OPTING OUT AT THE LAST MINUTE...

Therein lies the problem I have with all of this. The way you conducted yourself PREMPETED
Expand...
What happened when college and pro coaches committed to schools or teams and then reneged? There have been a few. Didn't Belichick commit to the Jets?

The Billy Donovan Club: 15 coaches who changed their minds after taking another job - Photo Gallery
 
He's a top 10 recruit - over the last decade there has been 100 top 10 recruits - and he's the first to go this path? Towns, Davis, Bagley. etc.??? and he thinks he knows something that the rest of the world has missed? I refuse to believe he is making the right decision - so he goes to the G league - what team does he go to? and then he leaves after one year to enter the draft? so he has no ties to that team and that team has no interest in developing him because he will not be part of their organization the following year - this is a mistake regardless of committing to Cuse or Duke
 
24 fans to 36 would be what...a 26% increase? That's how I'd market it!
 
br801 said:
Darryl Dawkins was also drafted out of high school in 1975 (5th overall pick by 76ers) and was selected before Willoughby.
Expand...
Yes...that's right. Thanks.

I was conflating Moses and Darryl in my mind.
(That would have been some player).
And you know the old slogan, "A mind is a terrible thing to have."
 
two3zone said:
Why did Mali and Lydon leave? Why is Battle going to leave?

They could be here playing in front of 30k. They chose pro ball instead. So did Bazley.
Expand...
BecAuse they had their positive nba evaluations and now safely have guarenteed draft money to go back to college with to finish their degree if all else doesnt pan out.

Id rather trust NBA coaches and University’s good faith than G league coaches and Agent scum
 
Briancuse said:
So are they hoping to grow their attendance from 34 to 46?
Expand...
All due respect, but this is extremely shortsighted thinking, IMO.
Attendance figures notwithstanding, the ball has to start rolling somewhere and with someone. Bazley may or may not be the catalyst, but at least he's willing to put his immediate future on the line and try this new, relatively untested path. Again, it sucks for us as SU fans, but I hope it works out and he's successful.
The full-blown hypocrisy of the NCAA parasites and their "student athlete" model, needs to be eliminated. JMHO
 
Last edited:
Col. Bleep said:
Yes...that's right. Thanks.

I was conflating Moses and Darryl in my mind.
(That would have been some player).
And you know the old slogan, "A mind is a terrible thing to have."
Expand...
You were right about Moses being the first in 1974 to the ABA. Those were great times to be a fan, with many of the great NBA stars of the 60s still around and the upstart ABA rising up to challenge. I'm still sorry we never got to see the Nets compete in the NBA intact with Dr. J.
 
The shoe agent had Bazley stay committed to SU through the McDonald's game so he would still be invited to play and use that as a platform to build the Bazley "brand'. Then come out right after the game media buzz and declare his real intention. That is a fraud and it deprived SU the opportunity to get another highly rated recruit. So yea, he and his agent used Syracuse to further themselves.
 
Newhouser said:
Maybe because the FBI hadn't been involved in discovering illegal payments being made to players going to college?
Expand...
Ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding!
 
DoctorBombay said:
All due respect, but this is extremely shortsighted thinking, IMO.
Attendance figures notwithstanding, the ball has to start rolling somewhere and with someone. Bazley may or may not be the catalyst, but at least he's willing to put his immediate future on the line and try this new, relatively untested path. Again, it sucks for us as SU fans, but I hope it works out and he's successful.
The full-blown hypocrisy of the NCAA parasites and their "student athlete" model, needs to be eliminated. JMHO
Expand...
We will see if any balls start rolling. I think this was just one really bad decision. I don't see anyone in their right mind thinking this is a good idea.
 
Flacusian said:
I suppose it's not cool to say anything negative about a teenage kid who wants to play the cards the way he sees as best to make his dream of playing in the NBA come true. BUT. To do so at the detriment of a particular College Basketball program is BS. I hope the best for him an al that crappy pseudo "wish him the best" narrative... but there are consequences that are born upon the University and the program you COMMITTED to as well.
It's nice in this current 21'st century of " I'll do everything that suits me best" mentality. BUT

You COMMITTED to a program... that is made up of other kids just like yourself for the most part... and those kids made decisions about their future based on the assumption that your COMMITTMENT meant that you were COMMITTEDED to coming to Syracuse for …… let's be honest... 1 YEAR.

You let a lot of people down... and , make no mistake about it... It's your own prerogative. But... you screwed over a lot of people and kids that would have been your TEAMMATES... by OPTING OUT AT THE LAST MINUTE...

Therein lies the problem I have with all of this. The way you conducted yourself PREMPETED what Syracuse could have done on the recruiting front. That's not cool. PERIOD. I don't contest that it is well within your rights... but if you had that notion anywhere inside that brainpan of yours and didn't let on to it at the expense of Syracuse University Basketball... It's not cool.

In an effort to be pragmatic on my end as a Syracuse basketball fan... I will say this. I concede wholly that you are entitled to make a decision such as you did to go to the G league and forego one year of College basketball... but in doing so you have essentially done a disservice to Syracuse University Basketball and it's fanbase by co=opting a scholarship for a team that may have had a chance to achieve great things in the coming year. Now.… you leave a program in disarray and one which may feel the effects of your decision reflected in the decisions made by players currently on the team and also of those who are considering committing to Syracuse during the next recruiting period.

Frankly... that sucks. the fact is this... We all among the Syracuse fanbase acknowledge the fact that you are a special talent... and that is why we all have been so excited since you made your Pseudo commitment to Syracuse. In the timeline that is Syracuse Basketball you represented the hope of tens of thousands of fans that we could, on the heels of a difficult era of the program, return to the top of the college basketball world and have a team with a palpable chance at pursuing a national title.

Your decision had all but extinguished such hopes for all of those who would have idolized you. Again... I get it... in the current era … it's not about winning a NC... its' about the individual player realizing his dream of playing in the NBA, So although I cannot fault you for doing what's best for BAZE... in doing so you have crystalized for all of us who have loved college basketball for all of their adult lives... the fact that the days of latching onto a player who goes out on the floor on any given night and leaves everything he has out there because of love of the Game and the college logo he wears on his uniform...… ARE DEAD AND GONE>

I get it... I really do…. but I must say... there is a sense of emptiness that I doubt you would ever have the capacity to understand... that people like myself have experienced as a result of the decision you made... and the manner in which you made it... And that, my young cager…… is a wonderful and magical thing which you and all that come after you will never have the gift of recognizing what I am even alluding to.

I do wish you the best... Baze… or whatever it is that you will be referred to as... It is not you... you just happen to be the pivot point which represents the final chapter in the complete and utter demarcation between what was once considered " collegiate basketball" And now the abomination which poses to be amateur collegiate basketball. It there be a positive thing I can garner from what, as a lifelong Cuse fan, one could have... it is this. You are in fact truly a trailblazer in that you have opted to do the G league to NBA route. By doing so you do pull back the curtain of pretense as to what the realities are between amateurism and professionalism and may draw focus on all the surrounding issues which are attendant to the phenomenon. Perhaps some good can come of it. God knows that the sport is in need of it.

Go and watch a Utube video which features the likes of Pearl... or Coleman …. or Melo... that my friend... is the kind of magic that you won't find anywhere in the NBA... or in College basketball... and you might have had the opportunity to be the " last guy " who was part of such magic and would be considered the last legacy of what some of us here were blessed enough to have experienced...

But... you will never know...………. but I will always remember.
Expand...

Man a lot of "adults" in the sports world break commitments all the time, do you send them a similar note? Did anyone send a letter on behalf of Ohio State when he dropped them? I think the fan overstates the college experience - the kids just want to play and get to where they can get paid, we live and die every day with the decisions they make.
 
Newhouser said:
Maybe because the FBI hadn't been involved in discovering illegal payments being made to players going to college?
Expand...
Do you really think this investigation is going to change anything? Couple slaps on the wrist and it will be over.
 
Briancuse said:
Do you really think this investigation is going to change anything? Couple slaps on the wrist and it will be over.
Expand...
I'm on the record as saying Pitino will be the only big name brought down, and that this will result in no permanent change (see the baseball steroids issue) - but the little guys are going to get fried, and if I'm a kid who has been paid and is worried his name is going to be linked or leaked - I"m getting out of the college hoops scene ASAP.
 
It's not that he broke the commitment to Syracuse. He was just using that commitment to get into the McDonald's game for the publicity. He wouldn't have been eligible to play in that game if he was under contract as a paid athlete. That game is for players going into college. He lied and he used SU.
 
CousCuse said:
It's not that he broke the commitment to Syracuse. He was just using that commitment to get into the McDonald's game for the publicity. He wouldn't have been eligible to play in that game if he was under contract as a paid athlete. That game is for players going into college. He lied and he used SU.
Expand...
Wait, weren't there players in that game who were declared "undecided", and couldn't he have done the same?
I don't think its that deep..."using the SU commitment" and all. He changed his mind, reconsidered his position, was probably offered a good side deal, and made the choice. No more, no less.
 
DoctorBombay said:
Wait, weren't there players in that game who were declared "undecided", and couldn't he have done the same?
I don't think its that deep..."using the SU commitment" and all. He changed his mind, reconsidered his position, was probably offered a good side deal, and made the choice. No more, no less.
Expand...
He was already committed to the agent. He didn't design all of this, the agent did. But he went along with it. Bait and switch, flim-flammed, bamboozeled.
 
br801 said:
You were right about Moses being the first in 1974 to the ABA. Those were great times to be a fan, with many of the great NBA stars of the 60s still around and the upstart ABA rising up to challenge. I'm still sorry we never got to see the Nets compete in the NBA intact with Dr. J.
Expand...
That's the truth.
And the Nets had some roster besides the Dr.

1973-74 New York Nets Roster and Stats | Basketball-Reference.com

Meanwhile...back to my mentally combining Moses with Darryl Dawkins...what a player...it would be like Frankenstein with post moves and hops.
 
And I'm sure the agent and whoever else cooked this up said you'll have to decommit from Ohio State as your from Cincy and people in Ohio get angry about being used. You can commit to Syracuse, they're a high profile program, and they wont roll over for pay to play so we want to screw with Boeheim.
 
Col. Bleep said:
That's the truth.
And the Nets had some roster besides the Dr.

1973-74 New York Nets Roster and Stats | Basketball-Reference.com

Meanwhile...back to my mentally combining Moses with Darryl Dawkins...what a player...it would be like Frankenstein with post moves and hops.
Expand...
Loved those teams. Larry Kenon was an excellent player. Brian Taylor and John Williamson were a great backcourt. Lots of other nice veterans coming off the bench. If we could put your Malone/Dawkins guy at center, they might win 70 games.
 
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