Darius Bazley’s curious summer decisions have hurt his draft stock, according to Jeremy Woo of Sports Illustrated. The 6’9” Bazley backed out of a commitment with Syracuse in order to play in the G League. He then announced he would simply train on his own until next year’s draft. Other than Bazley’s length and defensive effort, there are a lot of question marks about his game, Woo continues. He’s unpolished with a thin build and needs plenty of work on his offensive game, so he would be better off playing competitively for the next nine months. He now has the look of a second-round flier, Woo adds. Woo takes a closer look at several risers and droppers among 2019 draft prospects.
We have more from around the basketball world:
- Kevin Garnett is filing a federal malpractice lawsuit against accountant Michael Wertheim and his firm, alleging they helped a wealth manager steal $77MM from him, according to Associated Press report. The suit claims the accountant and his firm enabled Charles Banks IV of Atlanta to defraud Garnett through businesses in which Garnett and Banks shared an interest. Banks, who was sentenced last year to four years in federal prison for defrauding retired Spurs star Tim Duncan, was not named in Garnett’s suit.
- The maximum amount a two-way player can earn in training camp with an NBA team is $50K. The G League salary of a two-way player is $77,250, a mild increase from $75K last season. Those are some of the nuggets offered by Adam Johnson of 2Ways10Days in an examination of maximum earning power for players on two-way contracts during the upcoming season.
- Free-agent guard Xavier Munford is mulling a move to the Chinese Basketball Association, according to Amico Hoops. The 6’4” Munford played on a two-way contract with the Bucks last season and appeared in six NBA contests. Munford, who also played 14 games with the Grizzlies during the 2015/16 season, is a restricted free agent within the NBA after receiving a qualifying offer from Milwaukee early this summer.
Chinese league is doing better than the G League.
2-ways (and most likely G-Leagers) got a raise of $250 a year. Someone making $7/hr that gets a 25 cent raise and works full time makes an additional $520 a year for example. So they got like a 12 cent raise. Um….to me that’s a slap in the face. That’s why players are going to China/Europe. They’re making like 5-10 times more money, sometimes even more, than non-NBA players.
They got a 2,250 raise. $77,250-75,000=2,250
Ahh yes reread it now. For some reason I saw $75,250. Still modest but better than a cpl hundred bucks
Clearly playing is always best, but that have to be in the right way, if he went to a college were they do all possible to get him improved in offence & base all their schemes on him, then is OK. But he might have found himself in a position were the team doesn’t get the best of him in offence & then he might look bad anyway.
If he spends the year training, improving his offence with some of the great freelancing coaches around, I think he could be very good for next year. & if teams don’t take a chance till the 2nd round, someone will win the lottery with him, I like what I have seen of this kid so far.
If a guy can’t commit to play for a single year, then why on Earth would you ever think he could commit to a 4-5 year contract? Yes, the money would be nice at first, but after you are accustomed to it, you still need to have a real work ethic. Bazley is either getting bad advice or, even worse, no advice.