Welcome to Layup Lines, For the Win’s basketball newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Have feedback for the Layup Lines Crew? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey. Now, here’s Mike Sykes
Happy Friday, folks! Welcome back to Layup Lines. Thanks so much for joining me today. I hope you’ve had an amazing week.
Let’s talk a bit about Thursday’s NBA G League Ignite news. Shortly after it broke, I popped a quick explainer about the league’s decision on the Ignite team and what caused it.
Essentially, Adam Silver and the company decided that the team didn’t have purpose anymore. With NIL deals in college sports and the Overtime Elite league being another option for young hoopers, the NBA decided it didn’t need a team just to pay the players anymore. That’s the rationale behind the closure.
I’d push back a bit on that, though. That was never really the point of the Ignite team. Paying players was part of the impetus, sure. But the NBA wanted to establish its own prep-to-pro pipeline that ensured more players were coming into the league ready to play NBA basketball.
This is still a problem in Adam Silver’s eyes — particularly with American-born players. Ironically enough, when he alluded to canning the G League Ignite squad a few months back, he expounded on that exact point. The next goal for the NBA seems to be improving that process.
Some interesting comments from Adam Silver on the state of basketball, youth development and the NBA's role in that. Is he foreshadowing some type of NBA Academy type program in the US? Clearly, he's not thrilled with the way some Americans are entering the NBA. pic.twitter.com/jMWNVSiFUo
— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) February 18, 2024
“If you’re seeing now, what we’re seeing in terms of that close to 30 percent of the league, players born outside the United States, it’s clear that the development is very different in many of those programs,” Silver said. “More of a focus on practice, less of a focus on games, which seems to be the opposite of many of the youth programs in the United States.”
Silver continued, “I think there’s an opportunity for us to be part of the community that’s developing younger players, elite players.”
To me, this sounds a lot like a pivot. Instead of focusing its resources on players transitioning to pro, Silver seems to want to focus more on ensuring players are prepared for the NBA before they begin to think about that process. At least, that’s how I read that.
The NBA already has its Jr. NBA and WNBA programs. An NBA academy pipeline already exists and has plenty of success stories. But maybe Silver sees a way to improve it that we’re not privy to yet. I’m not totally sure, but I do like where his head seems to be.
As great as the Ignite program was, it didn’t seem to work. It didn’t attract the talent the NBA thought it would. This year’s team isn’t very good either – the team is 2-28 through 30 games. That isn’t very good.
Instead of wasting resources on a failing project, a pivot is more than welcome here.
The Pelicans might be in some trouble
New Orleans was flying high in our latest NBA Power Rankings, climbing all the way to 5th after winning eight of its last 10 games.
But now, that climb is at risk of turning into a slow descent. The injury bug is back in New Orleans after Brandon Ingram hyperextended his knee in Thursday’s loss to the Magic.
READ MORE: The Celtics are still at the top of the NBA, but the Pelicans are soaring with the contenders now
Ingram will be out for at least the next couple of weeks, according to the latest from the team, and will be re-evaluated. There’s a possibility he could miss even more time.
The timing couldn’t be worse. There is only about a month left in the season before the playoffs start, and the Pelicans were just a game behind the Clippers for the No. 4 seed in the West. This drawback could drop them even further in the standings if the team struggles to win without its second-best player.
Maybe Zion Williamson’s play is enough to sustain all this. We’ll have to wait and see. But, regardless, this is a big blow.
Shootaround
— Nikola Jokic is ridiculous, man. This pass doesn’t make any sense. Here’s Bryan Kalbrosky with more.
— Prince Grimes has more on J.B. Bickerstaff’s problems with sports betting. This is becoming a common theme in the NBA these days.
— John Calipari and two of the best NBA prospects are out of March Madness. I wrote about that upset in TMW this morning. Check it out.
— On the women’s side, UConn’s Aaliyah Edwards has declared for the WNBA draft, leaving some fans in shambles. Here’s Meg Hall with more.
That’s all, folks! We’ll chat again next week. Until then! Peace. Have a fantastic weekend.
-Sykes
