The concept of the minor leagues is not one that is agreed upon across the different major sporting leagues. The NFL simply drafts from college teams to the professional teams, the MLB has an intricate (possibly unnecessarily so) hierarchy of clubs underneath the professional organizations, and the NHL has semi-professional leagues like the AHL to handle its unready talent. So what about the NBA?
Technically, it has the NBDL which is supposed to be a place where players whose skills are not quite as refined as others can continue to play competitively and work their way up to the pros. Due to sports teams and leagues not embracing mission statements, it’s tough to say any goal they have beyond that. There are currently 16 D-League teams in contrast to the 30 NBA teams. Some pro teams have their own D-League team such as the OKC Thunder with the Tulsa 66ers, while others such as the Maine Red Claws represent several teams. (Celtics, Bobcats, and 76ers)
How does this logistically make sense? Some of the D-League teams are hundreds of miles away from their pro team, therefore making a rare call-up even more difficult than it needs to be. And if a player gets demoted to the D-League, it’s essentially a death sentence on their career. Teams have struggled with attendance with the highest ever being a shade over 6,000 and the average hovering around 1,500. Keep in mind that teams always inflate their gate numbers, so this average is probably closer to 900. This has led to creative but unethical marketing practices including lying to fans.
In my mind, the process of fixing it starts with one decision – to have one D-League team for every pro team, or to scrap the league. If you scrap the league, pour that money into making the WNBA more profitable. If you keep it, start with establishing teams close to every pro team. This way teams won’t be sharing talent, and can evaluate their own players working together with one another. With a place to put additional talent, the draft will have to be expanded to approximately 6 rounds. Presumably, the top 2 draft picks will stay up with the professional team, while the other four will earn their way up through the D-League.
With the additional draft picks, as well as the existing free agent pool and walk-ons, each team should have enough to field a team. The additional draft picks being there will allow for a few more late bloomers to eventually land in the NBA, as long as the proper scouting and resources are provided. Hopefully once the D-League had a full league of talent, a temporary demotion would move closer to what the MLB AAA team means and less like the current career death sentence. Over time, the D-League teams could mirror the success of the best minor league baseball teams sales practices and could have some decent attendance numbers, which would earn extra revenue.
If the league is not providing revenue or a useable farm system, then it should be scrapped. Hopefully the decision is made soon so that the money can be either redistributed or used more effectively. Let me know what comments or thoughts you guys have on this.
