Recruiting and Nike
- Thread starter Bowfreak.
- Start date
I agree, Chapel Hill is definitely better. I never said Durham was great. It’s not. The SCHOOL is though. It just is. I’ve also been to Kansas. Both my boys made it to Nationals in USATF At Rock Chalk Park. I went into Fogg and the museum there as well. I’m sorry, I respectfully disagree that it blows Duke out of the water. Maybe it’s bias. Make no mistake. KU was awesome.
I did but you ignored it, there’s far more evidence to support my theories than yours. But here’s the biggest question of all, why would you quote me to begin with when you didn’t even suggest a reason to answer my question. Instead you tried to answer a question by asking a question, so you had no reasonable answer.
If the FBI sting and Adidas doing it didn’t convince you it’s likely then nothing will, ask yourself why they did it if you want an answer to your question. Nobody else that I’ve met on here or elsewhere is doubting shoe company involvement by questioning their motives in light of recent events.
Do you realize that’s aggregate and we’ve whiffed on top five guys for years, care to explain that or why it’s of no concern? Unless you think missing on the best players means nothing, oh yeah we haven’t been to the final four since we started missing. Given that I think it’s relevant and the very reason we have fallen short in recent years. Cal would have translated some of those players into banners but we aren’t paying for recruits.
Look at my post. I said earlier that Nike was doing it too. My question is why would Nike only funnel them to Duke?
Since shoe companies are willing to pay for recruits, what would happen if a highly ranked HS kid has a list of all Adidas schools and only one Nike school like Kentucky? Would Nike risk losing that kid to Adidas and not pay him to come to UK, if even the school knows nothing about their involvement?
They don’t only funnel them to Duke and I never said they did, given that I don’t know why you would ask me that question. Maybe someone else said that, you should ask them. Nike sends players to Oregon too, players that are commensurate with Oregon’s standing. Did Jalen Green or another top guy we are after just add Oregon late in the game, they are trying to slowly turn Oregon into a big player.
This vast Nike buying players for only Duke conspiracy theory is borderline fanatic. Nike has nothing to gain by making only Duke good. Funneling kids to different schools means more team$, more conference$, more region$, more channel$, more time slot$, and more tournament team$. All that equals to more money. What did you tell Duke fans when Cal was killing K on the trail and they said Cal was cheating? Cal was on a hot streak for a few years, and now K is on one. And it's not like we aren't getting great talent. Sure, Nike pulls some strings, but if money is involved, who says most of it isn't coming from Duke. There's actual evidence of that.
Kentucky’s campus is better. The facilities are better. It’s statewide, much better in the way of connections. Half of North Carolina doesn’t even like Duke. Dukes campus is neat, still think it’s behind Vanderbilt. But as far as facilities, the town, the university ect UK, UNC, and Kansas are way better than Duke.
When I was at Duke they weren’t even selling out the gym. It’s mostly media driven. Sorry.
I think means something, and after hearing the wiretaps, I believe Duke likely paid for Zion. But how of these OAD elite recruits did K attempt to bring to Duke before 2014? I think K offered Wall but did he recruit offer out other top ten recruits like AD, Cousins, MKG, Knight, Kanter, Teague Noel, Poythress and Goodwin?
I also believe the constant media push that the Duke receives from ESPN has helped them immensely when it comes to recruiting. You can't turn on ESPNU without seeing a Duke BB marathon these days.
Agreed. I think SOS makes a good point; that any elite player that wants the easier road has a better chance of getting it at Duke. But I keep coming back to what one of the shoe a-holes said at the big trial; something like “if I have a kid and he goes to Kentucky, I know I’m not getting him back.” So it seems Cal is taking these kids and helping them NOT to need these people that obviously want to keep them in their pockets. And those guys don’t like that one bit.
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If you understand the power dynamics of the basketball business, it's quite clear what's going on.
Lebron James is THE power broker when it comes to Nike basketball, and by extension that makes his "associates" the most powerful men in the business. Just think for a second: When was the last time you heard World Wide Wes referred to as a basketball power broker? It's been a while.
Like many great power struggles, it's often the protege who pulls the coup on the mentor. Years ago, WWW (and probably to a larger degree, Leon Rose) helped mentor a young guy named Rich Paul. Surely you recognize the name. He's the agent for guys like John Wall, Anthony Davis and Eric Bledsoe; all of whom he made relationships with while attached to Rose and WWW at CAA sports (who represents Cal). That's quite a collection of UK players, but all of them are 2015 or prior.
Guess how many UK guys that have come out since 2015 have signed with Paul? Zero. He went from signing a who's who of UK players to none. Coincidence? Or perhaps it has to do with the fact that Paul engineered Lebron's exit from CAA and Leon Rose, and ultimately replaced WWW as the main voice in Lebron's ear. Cal is a loyal guy. In fact, it's what his whole value system is built on. It doesn't take a giant leap to assume he was turned off by seeing his longtime friend essentially kicked to curb by a guy he had helped get his start. When was the last time you heard Cal talk about Lebron? (Hint, it was probably around 3 or 4 years ago). So Lebron/Nike turned to the other college coach he had a relationship with through USA basketball.
BTW, this isn't speculation. Brian Windhorst reported in 2015 that the relationship between Cal and Lebron was essentially over. They didn't have personal beef, necessarily, but the Lebron/UK connection was ending. It's like when your friends get a divorce. You pick sides and sometimes you lose friends even though you don't have an issue with that person. You probably know Windhorst as ESPN's "second insider" (behind Woj). But prior to going to ESPN, he was the Cleveland Cavs beat writer for the Akron Beacon-Journal (Lebron's hometown newspaper) and he went to the same high school as Lebron. Nobody was/is more tied into what's going on with the Cavs and, by extension, Lebron, than Windhorst.
Since 2015 Duke has signed: Jayson Tatum, Harry Giles, Frank Jackson, Marvin Bagley, Wendell Carter, Trevon Duval, Gary Trent Jr., Zion Williamson, R.J. Barrett, Cam Reddish, along with incoming Vernon Carey, Matthew Hurt, Wendell Moore, Jalen Johnson, and Jeremy Roach. That's 10 one-and-dones, with the potential for several more.
Prior to that, in the 6 seasons between 2010 (when Cal arrived at UK) and 2015 they had 6 one-and-dones: Kyrie Irving, Jabari Parker, Austin Rivers, Jahlil Okafor, Justice Winslow and Brandon Ingram. That's one star and multiple busts; not exactly the type of track record that leads to a huge surge in recruiting.
Kentucky, on the other hand, had Wall, Bledsoe, Demarcus Cousins, Brandon Knight, Anthony Davis, MKG, Marquis Teague, Nerlens Noel, Enes Kanter, Julius Randle, James Young, KAT, Devin Booker and Trey Lyles as one-and-dones in that period. There's no comparison in the success level of those groups. Yet, it was Duke that went on a run in recruiting that has rarely been witnessed and Kentucky didn't land ONE top 5 recruit. Put all of this together with the wiretaps about Zion, the "lunch" meeting with Reddish, and what is known about the Bagley-run AAU team, and it's just amazing that some people think this is about simple recruiting pitches.
Lebron James is THE power broker when it comes to Nike basketball, and by extension that makes his "associates" the most powerful men in the business. Just think for a second: When was the last time you heard World Wide Wes referred to as a basketball power broker? It's been a while.
Like many great power struggles, it's often the protege who pulls the coup on the mentor. Years ago, WWW (and probably to a larger degree, Leon Rose) helped mentor a young guy named Rich Paul. Surely you recognize the name. He's the agent for guys like John Wall, Anthony Davis and Eric Bledsoe; all of whom he made relationships with while attached to Rose and WWW at CAA sports (who represents Cal). That's quite a collection of UK players, but all of them are 2015 or prior.
Guess how many UK guys that have come out since 2015 have signed with Paul? Zero. He went from signing a who's who of UK players to none. Coincidence? Or perhaps it has to do with the fact that Paul engineered Lebron's exit from CAA and Leon Rose, and ultimately replaced WWW as the main voice in Lebron's ear. Cal is a loyal guy. In fact, it's what his whole value system is built on. It doesn't take a giant leap to assume he was turned off by seeing his longtime friend essentially kicked to curb by a guy he had helped get his start. When was the last time you heard Cal talk about Lebron? (Hint, it was probably around 3 or 4 years ago). So Lebron/Nike turned to the other college coach he had a relationship with through USA basketball.
BTW, this isn't speculation. Brian Windhorst reported in 2015 that the relationship between Cal and Lebron was essentially over. They didn't have personal beef, necessarily, but the Lebron/UK connection was ending. It's like when your friends get a divorce. You pick sides and sometimes you lose friends even though you don't have an issue with that person. You probably know Windhorst as ESPN's "second insider" (behind Woj). But prior to going to ESPN, he was the Cleveland Cavs beat writer for the Akron Beacon-Journal (Lebron's hometown newspaper) and he went to the same high school as Lebron. Nobody was/is more tied into what's going on with the Cavs and, by extension, Lebron, than Windhorst.
Since 2015 Duke has signed: Jayson Tatum, Harry Giles, Frank Jackson, Marvin Bagley, Wendell Carter, Trevon Duval, Gary Trent Jr., Zion Williamson, R.J. Barrett, Cam Reddish, along with incoming Vernon Carey, Matthew Hurt, Wendell Moore, Jalen Johnson, and Jeremy Roach. That's 10 one-and-dones, with the potential for several more.
Prior to that, in the 6 seasons between 2010 (when Cal arrived at UK) and 2015 they had 6 one-and-dones: Kyrie Irving, Jabari Parker, Austin Rivers, Jahlil Okafor, Justice Winslow and Brandon Ingram. That's one star and multiple busts; not exactly the type of track record that leads to a huge surge in recruiting.
Kentucky, on the other hand, had Wall, Bledsoe, Demarcus Cousins, Brandon Knight, Anthony Davis, MKG, Marquis Teague, Nerlens Noel, Enes Kanter, Julius Randle, James Young, KAT, Devin Booker and Trey Lyles as one-and-dones in that period. There's no comparison in the success level of those groups. Yet, it was Duke that went on a run in recruiting that has rarely been witnessed and Kentucky didn't land ONE top 5 recruit. Put all of this together with the wiretaps about Zion, the "lunch" meeting with Reddish, and what is known about the Bagley-run AAU team, and it's just amazing that some people think this is about simple recruiting pitches.
But, by doing that they keep control of the recruit and who they sign a shoe deal with! At UK they don’t! Cal won’t allow it! He’s a players first Coach who wants them to choose which deal is better for them! Like John Wall went with Reebok and now Adidas!