The #NBA is ruining young players.

Scoot was in conversations to even be the number one overall pick. Certain people believed he was more ready for the NBA than Wemby. Scoot was able to score over Wemby and ended up winning that game, Victor blew everyone’s minds so when Scoot fell to third in the draft, everyone was shocked and there was outrage.

Scoot Henderson is averaging 12.2 points on 12.1 shots, shooting 36.4% from the field. I understand that the point guard position is the hardest to learn, but even giving leeway for a rookie figuring things out, a third overall pick is supposed to be pretty good right now, especially since he played in the g-league. And it’s not like he’s not getting opportunities. He’s playing 27 minutes per game with a x usage, in line with other rookies.

The NBA is ruining young players before they even get to the league. ****The story is becoming all to familiar and it’s something the NBA wants you to forget so I’m going to go through the 3 key pieces in this absurd story and what you need to pay attention to, to never fall in this trap again.

And that’s piece #1, the NBA made a new product that is failing, but won’t admit it.

These are all the pros that were drafted out of the g-league.

And even though it’s a really small sample size, all of them have been head scratchers.

The G league ignite is a developmental team in the g league that’s sole purpose is to develop talent. They only play exhibition games against mainly other g league teams. These games don’t really have meaning. It’s not like they are fighting for a championship, it’s more like AAU, players are just trying to show off and make a name for themselves. AAU has already been damaging US basketball, by developing bad habits, not winning basketball ****and ignite in theory is a higher level of that.

But instead of reevaluating what the results of this program, the NBA has doubled down, and that’s piece #2, the NBA trying to create hype even when it wasn’t there.

Scoot was also a negative net rating in the G-league, but again, that was his first season in the g league so we sweep that under the rug.

Scoot averaged 16.5 points on 42.5% from the field, 27% from 3. While all the mixtapes were showing some amazing finishes fighting through contact with really good body control, it wasn’t consistent.

In fact in every scouting report, there was one consistency. All mentioned his ability to score against older players.

And if we look at Scoot Henderson, it’s the same thing.

But if you ever watch the g league, it’s a completely different game than the NBA.

And perhaps an underrated missing component of the g league is the lack of environment. How many people are consistently watching the g league? How many sold out arenas are these players having to perform under? Not dealing with that pressure means when you get to the NBA, it’s a massive change and an important metric to know before getting into the league. Again, that’s not to say a player can’t adapt, but if you’re picking a lottery pick, you would want to know that the player can rise to the occasion and have some sample size of high pressure games with thousands of people watching. For all of you that disregard the bubble because there was no crowd, then you might also disregard the g-league.

So in fact, the G-league ignite doesn’t mean you’re the most ready prospect, it means you’re possibly the least ready. It is actually hurting the development of these players.

And that’s piece #3, the NBA has set up Scoot and other prospects from the G-League up for failure.

The concern doesn’t end because what about the next year of talent coming. You have Matas Buzelis and Ron Holland who both projected to be in the lottery along with several other late first rounders from the g league ignite. And that is scary because I don’t know exactly what to believe. I have to dodge the NBA propaganda and hope that these players can succeed in spite of the g league ignite.

So now when Henderson has been a bit awol, we didn’t hear that much. And I’m sure when Scoot does play well, hopefully, the NBA media will push him up. Because Scoot’s success is the NBA’s success.

The ignite program was supposed to be an alternative route to college. Especially after starting see bigger name athletes go abroad to play with professional teams, the NBA wanted a piece of the action, hoping to attract more eyes on the NBA.

The G-league has helped certain players get ready for the NBA, look at Khris Middleton, Pascal Siakam both who had to ball out in the G-league just to get a chance in the NBA.

And that’s the difference, even with the greatest facilities, if you’re not playing competitive basketball, then you’re missing on a key component of what makes a player successful in the NBA.

So let’s stop hurting talent and force the NBA to fix their program. ****Because I don’t know about you but I wanna see the game get better.