Is anyone familiar with this? Telander wrote about it last week. If the guy markets it properly the prize might be up to $20 million within several years. Then the NBA might get a little nervous.

http://www.thetournament.com/

My son got me to watching a game that I think was on ESPN or one their channels and was talking about this. I didn't completely understand the whole thing, but there were some former college players that I recognized playing that game.

Is anyone familiar with this? Telander wrote about it last week. If the guy markets it properly the prize might be up to $20 million within several years. Then the NBA might get a little nervous.

http://www.thetournament.com/

How long before a guy like Jordan or Shaq gets recruited to play a few games for a big chunk of the prize moeny?

I'm familiar with it. I know a few of the guts that participated. I was supposed to go to a few of the games but I didn't make it.

Aren't there stipulations in the contracts of the players that state what they can and can't play in?

Yeah Michael Sweetney (former Bull) is one of the remaining teams.

It's a great concept. Like the NBA but without the shitty regular season.

He must take up a lot of room to be a team by himself.

How long before a guy like Jordan or Shaq gets recruited to play a few games for a big chunk of the prize moeny?

Done....

https://www.thetournament.com/players/brian-scalabrine

There are a number of these leagues in the country and I agree with JORR if marketed correctly could do better, but they arent touching the NBA level of talent.

if any of those guys could play in the NBA, or even sit on a bench they would.

Being in the league is an amazing lifestyle that isnt close to duplicated by any other league or tourney. Thus no player with the ability to be in the NBA would ever leave.

Doesnt mean games cant still be entertaining to watch.

I didn't mean the NBA would be nervous about losing players. I meant that the potential for its product to get its ass kicked as a TV show is there. This has the potential to be like the NCAA tournament with a higher level of player and guys going balls to the fucking wall for millions of dollars. After watching that, who is going to want to watch NBA guys go through the motions on a Tuesday night in January?

The NBA regular season is far more competitive than it gets credit for.

There are a number of these leagues in the country and I agree with JORR if marketed correctly could do better, but they arent touching the NBA level of talent.

if any of those guys could play in the NBA, or even sit on a bench they would.

Being in the league is an amazing lifestyle that isnt close to duplicated by any other league or tourney. Thus no player with the ability to be in the NBA would ever leave.

Doesnt mean games cant still be entertaining to watch.

I can remember a guy that made that NBA by taking this route. He'd played college ball at Northern but his career was over at the time he made the NBA. His name was Donald Whiteside. He had been playing in the IIT summer league at the time. He was dominating everyone. Isaiah Thomas got word of it and gave him a tryout with the Toronto Raptors. This was in the mid 90's and Stoudemire was running the point then.

Once he got to the league he was thoroughly dominated by NBA caliber point guards. He quickly found out the difference in intensity and skill between NBA level players and guys participating in a Summer Pro-Am.

It doesn't have that reputation and it's certainly not as competitive as a bunch of broke guys going for 10 or 20 million bucks. Like I said, this thing has the potential to be awesome.

Interesting seeing some guys who were big time high school players around the time I was in high school. Haven't event thought of these names in years.

Reo Logan
Kyle Hill
Rico Hill

Those Chicago summer leagues were great. My good friend's cousin played on the first North Park championship team and had a huge summer one year and nearly made the Lakers, last guy cut. He ate Norm Nixon alive in camp but they weren't dumping him.

There was also a shooter from Augustana named Ice Heiden who could just drain it from anywhere.

Perception is not always reality. There are some dog NBA games but I don't think it has to do with activity as much as it may have to do with talent. The better teams will get after it, even during the regular season. Every game is not a masterpiece but it may not be for lack of effort.

It will be a novelty for a short period of but then the novelty will quickly where off. The thinking will be that these are simply just a bunch of guys that make the league. I have watched these guys play around the city for yrs and it really is an inferior product. The money will draw viewers for awhile but I think interest will quickly fade.

The style of play is terrible in those leagues. A lot of iso ball and two man games. There are clear outs on every play. It won't last. As a reality TV event it may work but I don't think it will.

I never went to Chicago State during early 80's but I'd heard about it. I used to go to IIT to watch the Pro Am. I remember watching a Jordan Terry Cummings Craig Hodges and Liberty as a high school player all on the same team. This was 1986. In that league was the best talent this city had to offer. It also was the league in which I'd first heard of Tim Hardaway. It was at UTEP at the time and the talk of the neighborhood was him giving Jordan like 50-60 in that league. I remember Jordan talking about this on a nationally televised game yrs later.

We'll see. Sports really are just a TV show now. And if you get the right money and the right promotion, this thing could be huge.

The beauty is that there are going to be wildly differing styles of play. The NBA is built on iso and the 2 man game. In this thing there are mid major college teams playing as a group and they might be going up against a bunch of And 1 guys.

I think even the most diehard NBA fans believe the regular season is too long and that guys often give hal-ass efforts. There are actually sports radios hosts who believe that giving a full effort is the wrong thing to do. I's rather watch a bunch of Division II guys playing their balls off to avoid bankruptcy than LeBron shrinking in the last minutes of a big game.