This is part two of a series, looking at ways to “fix” the NBA. Since the involved parties won’t look at the issues or the solutions, we at RobertoGato.com might as well. Yesterday we took a look at player transactions on the EPL model.
The English Premier League isn’t a stand-alone body. It is then again it isn’t. That is also decidedly English in that logic and things that make sense aren’t always easily explained. There is “The Football League” which covers England and Wales. There are a total of 72 teams in the npower Football League, and they are broken up into 3 divisions. There is the Championship, League One and League Two. Then there is the Premier league. The Premier League is separate from the Football League but however is affiliated. The whole thing works together sort of in a sliding scale sort of way and all have the same rules and regulations. It starts to feel like a shell game if you don’t understand it completely and don’t care enough to either.
The basic concept is with the 4 divisions, there is promotion and relegation. Every year, at the end of the year, depending on the league, top teams will automatically be promoted and one team will win the right to be promoted in a playoff. It’d be like the Charlotte Knights being put up to the majors if they’re the first or second best team in AAA baseball, or if they win the playoff and they’re seeded below the two automatic qualifiers. The bottom 3 teams in the Premier League are relegated, or sent down (for readers in Gaston and Cleveland Counties) to the Championship. The bottom 3 of the Championship are sent to League One; the bottom 4 of League One are sent to League Two; the worst two in League Two are sent out of “the Football League” entirely.
Unlike in baseball, the teams from one division to the other are not affiliated. It’s not like Manchester United has a League Two, a League One and a Championship team going at the same time as their Premier League squad. If it’s a fluke that your team ends up relegated, say a staph infection rampant in the locker room or something, you’d have the year in the Championship to gain some momentum, beat up on the little guys and feel really good about yourselves before being boosted to the Premier League again the following year. If you’re a shister owner who doesn’t care so much about competing with the big boys like Aresenal, Manchester City or Manchester United but you like the money and prestige that comes with being in the Premier League (they get to negotiate their own TV deal where the Championship and the other leagues don’t), you can hover at the bottom and put some money in to make a late charge out of the relegation zone. Or say, you’re in the Championship and not in the top 2 spots, you can put some money into a playoff run and hope it goes your way in the tournament after finishing say, 7th.
It’s endless possibilities. Think a team starting out in League Two is only 3 years away, if they could ever do it, from being in the Premier League. You go from playing in front of 5,000 fans to playing in stadiums that have seats for 75,500 in 3 years. It’s possible, I don’t think it’s ever happened but it could.
Why can’t the NBA work this way? There is a slightly tiered system in place already. In years past, the NBA has had competition coming from all angles, for example the old ABA which merged back in 1976, bringing superstars like Doctor J and Artis Gilmore to the national stage. There was (is?) the CBA, which is unaffiliated with the NBA but has seen stars rise through their ranks to make it to the NBA such as Raja Bell, Ronny Turiaf, most recently and way back Tim Legler, John Starks and Anthony Mason.
My point is, there have always been other leagues beside the NBA. Then the NBA tried to corner the market and develop (pun intended) its own players in a minor league. In 2001, the NBDL or D-League was started and has been going ever since. Teams have always had affiliate programs with D-League teams, sending rookies down for some game-experience or drawing from the talent pool to fill roster spots on 10-day contracts or full contract basis. The Charlotte Bobcats are affiliated with the Maine Red Claws, along with the Boston Celtics and the Philadelphia 76ers. So at some point next year you could see Kemba Walker playing with Nikola Vučević and E’Twaun Moore for the Red Claws. Not likely, but it’s possible.
The D-League has had that team-affiliation since inception but in 2006, the Lakers bought a team. Currently, there are 5 teams owned by NBA teams and three teams are single-affiliate partners with NBA teams. I see that trend continuing, possibly with the process outlined yesterday of a player coming up through a youth league and a reserve team in the way the EPL teams often have structured possibly being future processes that the NBA would adopt. But definitely, teams are looking to have structure benieth their NBA or Premier level.
My point in all of the outlining of the various ancillary leagues surrounding the NBA is that there is a stucture in place. Whether it’s D-League, CBA, ABA, Globe Trotters, Summer Leagues or Street Ball Leagues, there are so many various teams all playing the same game at all different levels across the country. The entertainment industry is the way of the world, with people more concerned about their fantasy draft than whether their 10 year old understands math or knows how to read. Why not capitalize on this and set up an overseeing body, the way “The Football League” and Premier League (which branched off from the Football League) have in England?
Tomorrow, we’ll continue this series looking at how I think the NBA would look if they went by the EPL Model.
Andrew Barraclough is Senior Editor for RobertoGato.com, a Charlotte Bobcats Blog on theFansided Network. Follow him on Twitter @therobertogato and Like the site on Facebook.