Bazley Decommits

[sufandu]

Maybe so, but don't act like he was forced to do anything. He chose to sign the LOI and he chose not to honor it

He has played his cards with the power he had. He backed out the same way countless adults have accepted a job offer to suddenly back out when a better one presented itself. The difference is he closed a door to a really good back up plan by doing what he did. If it turned out he wasn't as good as he thought, he could've rode the free tuition wave to a top private school education. Now, if it doesn't turn out the way he wants, he can play in the g-league and go to school part time where ever he is living on his own dime. He has placed a big bet on himself. A year from now he'll find out if it paid off.

 

[br801]

tricking GM's into drafting you is what sucks about the current draft process

Nobody "tricks" an NBA team into drafting them. Assessing these players is an inexact science, and teams take calculated risks with all of their selections. If a team's approach to drafting proves inefficient over time, they will change it. Right now, most teams seem to favor drafting young players on potential rather than taking older players with more fully formed games. All the players can do is take this into account when deciding when to enter the draft.

 

[cuse10]

tricking GM's into drafting you is what sucks about the current draft process

If a GM and scouting staff can't identify a player's flaws and strengths from the hours upon hours of game tape available to them, they are not good at their job. There's a lot of nepotism and cronyism in NBA front office ranks, but that's a discussion for another thread.

 

[kuethstheman]

He's also going to be playing on a team with guys gunning for a spot in the NBA. His flaws will be exposed quickly and can damage his stock whereas he could feast on college players in the zone, hide his flaws and fool a GM into taking him into the lottery.

Good point. The players on his team may view him as a competitor for an NBA roster spot moreso than as a teammate.

 

[HakAttack]

Great movie. I wish we had a QB called Johnny Utah

 

[Townie72]

Maybe so, but don't act like he was forced to do anything. He chose to sign the LOI and he chose not to honor it

But he did honor it. Right down to the absolute terms of the contract. He is not going to enroll at or play for any other school.

The LOI is not like one of those ancient Indentured Servant contracts.

 

[MikeDamone]

But he did honor it. Right down to the absolute terms of the contract. He is not going to enroll at or play for any other school.

The LOI is not like one of those ancient Indentured Servant contracts.

So he'll be playing for Syracuse next year then. Ok great. Lock thread

 

[Townie72]

So he'll be playing for Syracuse next year then. Ok great. Lock thread

It seems pretty obvious to me that you have absolutely no bloody idea what a LOI contains or involves.

What you do have is an opinion of what it ought to be or what you wish it was.

Let me give you an somewhat analogous situation.

Suppose someone was to knock on your door this weekend and tell you, "We really like your house. If you were to sell it anytime during the next five years, we would like to have the option of matching the offer price. And for that option we will give you $10,000 today.

If at the end of the five years you have not sold your house, the person that has the option does not have the right to force you to sell.

That wasn't the agreement.

Same with Bazely and the LOI he signed. It did not require him to play college basketball.

So he won't be playing college basketball for SU next year or any college, for that matter.

 

[sufandu]

Good point. The players on his team may view him as a competitor for an NBA roster spot moreso than as a teammate.

Isn't that how they should all view each other?

 

[rrlbees]

So he'll be playing for Syracuse next year then. Ok great. Lock thread

Do you know what a LOI is?

 

[Forloveoforange]

So the title of this thread is somewhat wrong then?

 

[Cusesky8214]

 

[OttoMets]

Can we stop this madness that somehow six months at SU will result in him "growing up." You make it sound like he's going to spend 5 years in the Marines or something.

The learning curve is steep at that age. I grew up as much in my first four weeks at college as I did in the four years before that, and I don't think I'm unique in that regard.

 

[PeteCalvin]

I don't think Self sees the G League as a positive outcome either. Kind of supports what JB said. Let em go to the League so those that don't want college don't have to waste anyone's time.

Good luck to the kid, but he's going to see the business side of the game from day one as the hungrier, more mature players eat his lunch. He just put himself in a meat grinder with no guaranteed contract...only the "word" of an agent. We'll see just how good he is...er...well, read about it somewhere since nobody sees G-League games. I once saw the Grand Rapids team in the GRR airport. They flew coach in a really small jet like the rest of us sardines. That's gotta suck for a 6-9 guy. Big risk for a 17 year-old whose family is living on $26G and handouts from a suit who will drop him if he doesn't make the REAL League.

 

[tee1222]

I'm sorry if I missed it if it was said but it's like trying to sift through a Taurean Thompson thread with a 2" monitor - just not gonna happen.

But I have to ask:
Did Bazley say ANYTHING about Syracuse and how this affects us, timing etc - you know, our best recruit in 15 years or so, removing the centerpiece of a quality recruiting class?
Anything like that? Apologies to teammates, staff? I understand that some might not think he needs to apologize, but still seriously asking. And not for a friend.

You know, the whole "don't burn bridges" school of thought.

 

[Cusesky8214]

I'm sorry if I missed it if it was said but it's like trying to sift through a Taurean Thompson thread with a 2" monitor - just not gonna happen.

But I have to ask:
Did Bazley say ANYTHING about Syracuse and how this affects us, timing etc - you know, our best recruit in 15 years or so, removing the centerpiece of a quality recruiting class?
Anything like that? Apologies to teammates, staff? I understand that some might not think he needs to apologize, but still seriously asking. And not for a friend.

You know, the whole "don't burn bridges" school of thought.

He didn't mention one word about cuse. Nothing of players or coaches etc. Literally a day or so after talking about cuse during interview for the mcdaag. Within minutes of announcing it he had everything syracuse related taken down from his social media. Kid just talked about how mature he was blah blah blah. Really strange

 

[MikeDamone]

It seems pretty obvious to me that you have absolutely no bloody idea what a LOI contains or involves.

What you do have is an opinion of what it ought to be or what you wish it was.

Let me give you an somewhat analogous situation.

Suppose someone was to knock on your door this weekend and tell you, "We really like your house. If you were to sell it anytime during the next five years, we would like to have the option of matching the offer price. And for that option we will give you $10,000 today.

If at the end of the five years you have not sold your house, the person that has the option does not have the right to force you to sell.

That wasn't the agreement.

Same with Bazely and the LOI he signed. It did not require him to play college basketball.

So he won't be playing college basketball for SU next year or any college, for that matter.

Do you think it was disingenous to sign an LOI and then not go play for that school? If not, fine. I don't respect that position.

Not only did he mislead our coaches, he misled those who were going to be his future teammates as well.

do you think our coaches presumed he would be here next year? Of course they did, and IMO he is not honoring his committment to them. I don't care if he didn't technically violate the LOI or not. He certainly violated the spirit of it.

 

[Jeremy L.]

 

[Townie72]

Do you think it was disingenous to sign an LOI and then not go play for that school? If not, fine. I don't respect that position.

Not only did he mislead our coaches, he misled those who were going to be his future teammates as well.

do you think our coaches presumed he would be here next year? Of course they did, and IMO he is not honoring his committment to them. I don't care if he didn't technically violate the LOI or not. He certainly violated the spirit of it.

You seem to Be assuming the kid is guilty of misleading and being disingenuous without any knowledge of what transpired, what was said by whom or anything.

He may have been completely committed in his mind to come to SU when he signed it.

He may have been told, “Sign it and there will be a 1 year scholarship guarantee if you decide you want to go to college”. It is, after all, not a binding agreement. You don’t have to go and the school has no legal recourse if you do not.

There’s risk in this for the recruits and the schools. These are the colleges rules, through their association, the NCAA.

 

[kuethstheman]

Do you think it was disingenous to sign an LOI and then not go play for that school? If not, fine. I don't respect that position.

Not only did he mislead our coaches, he misled those who were going to be his future teammates as well.

do you think our coaches presumed he would be here next year? Of course they did, and IMO he is not honoring his committment to them. I don't care if he didn't technically violate the LOI or not. He certainly violated the spirit of it.

How do you know he misled them? If he meant it when he signed, then he didn't.

If he knew he was going to the g-league well before he announced it, then he did mislead them. I bet that's not the case.

 

[Jeremy L.]

How do you know he misled them? If he meant it when he signed, then he didn't.

If he knew he was going to the g-league well before he announced it, then he did mislead them. I bet that's not the case.

According to some, Baz knew for about a month he was doing this.

 

[kuethstheman]

According to some, Baz knew for about a month he was doing this.

I think that's based on a comment that could mean a range of things.

If he knew he was doing it a month ago, then he should have said so (not that the staff could have done anything about it at that point). However, I don't think the sour grapes on this board would have been any different a month ago, if he announced it then.

 

[Townie72]

According to some, Baz knew for about a month he was doing this.

According to some, the lunar landing was a hoax and the Earth is flat.

 

[albanycuse]

Lmao.

 

[Alsacs]

Tracy McGrady on the Jump said he didn’t like the decision by Bazley as the 21-25 year old men of the G-League will be using this 5 Star kid as motivation in a game.