Syracuse basketball coach Jim Boeheim made $1.9 million last year. Yet, he doesn’t believe college players should be paid.
The NCAA is a scam, and Boeheim is the recipient of the wealth. He recruits young men to play for him for far less than market value and uses them to make himself money. And in a cartel system where every college team agrees to limit the compensation of its employees, the players have little recourse.
In this type of world, coaches like Boeheim have way too much power. Sometimes, they wield that power to lie to their marginalized underlings.
Boeheim, via ZagsBlog:
[“]I’m not going to be specific about anybody but my experience is guys look and if they see they fall where they’re favorable [they leave]…If you go 15th in the draft, you’re nothing. You might be out of the league in two years. It used to be a first-round draft pick you had a chance. That’s nothing. Those guys are out of the league. Half the guys taken in the first round the last three years are not even in the league.
“You gotta be in the top seven, eight, 10 picks to make sure you’re going to be playing in the NBA.”
Two of Boeheim’s players — freshman point guard Tyler Ennis and sophomore forward Jerami Grant — are projected as first-round picks.
Asked if he’s given them this spiel, Boeheim said, “Well, I talk to them about it. But you gotta be ready physically. Just because you play good in a college game, that doesn’t mean anything. Are you big enough, strong enough, can you shoot?
“It’s not even dominate. You gotta have a skillset. They don’t work with you up there. You’re either ready to play up there or you’re not. You go up there and you can’t shoot, you’re not playing. You up there and you’re not strong enough, you’re not playing. People forget how good the players are in the NBA.
There is so much BS here, I barely know where to begin, but let’s start with the factual claim: “Half the guys taken in the first round the last three years are not even in the league.”
In the last three years, just seven of 90 first-round picks – Livio Jean-Charles, Lucas Nogueira, Jared Cunningham, Fab Melo, Nolan Smith, JaJuan Johnson and Nikola Mirotic – are not in the NBA. That’s fewer than eight percent – nowhere near Boeheim’s 50 percent claim.
Jean-Charles, Mirotic and, to some extent, Nogueira were drafted to be stashed overseas, anyway. They hardly support Boeheim’s point.
How can we turn Boeheim’s statement true, though? Just swap the word “three” with 19. Half the guys taken in the first round the last 19 years are not even in the league. Using fewer years makes the statement false.
But Boeheim is talking more about college players determining whether to leave early. An even lower percentage of first-round picks drafted from American colleges are out of the league (blue line).
Boeheim admits he spews this garbage to Ennis and Grant, two players projected to be taken in the middle of the first round (Ennis on the higher end, Grant on the lower end).
I hope they’re not listening.
I’m in no position to tell either whether or not they should turn pro. I don’t know nearly enough about many relevant factors – how much they need the money, how much they enjoy school, how well they’re doing in school, etc.
But Boeheim – who stands to make even more money if these talented players return and help him win games – is even in worse position to advise these two. He has a huge conflict of interest, and by making up “facts” to get what he wants, he’s exploiting it.
Maybe Boeheim is just too colored by his own experiences. Since Carmelo Anthony, just three of seven Syracuse first-round picks are still in the NBA.
In:
- Michael Carter-Williams (drafted in 2013)
- Dion Waiters (2012)
- Wesley Johnson (2010)
Out:
- Fab Melo (2012)
- Jonny Flynn (2009)
- Donte Greene (2008)
- Hakim Warrick (2005)
I guess if Boeheim does such a poor job preparing his players for the pros, it become self-fulfilling prophecy.
And his more-subjective claim – “They don’t work with you up there. You’re either ready to play up there or you’re not” – is more bunk.
I guess Lance Stephenson, Kendall Marshall and Greivis Vasquez all entered the NBA completely ready for the league. And I guess teams don’t employee player-development coaches. And I guess the D-League doesn’t exist.
C’mon.
Boeheim’s motives are as transparent as can be. I don’t even know what to say anymore.
