“Draft & Stash” – An Evolving Strategy

More NBA Draft picks are choosing to spend time playing overseas instead of going straight into the NBA.

There was a time when only International prospects would forgo signing an NBA contract and go overseas. That time has come to an end, in recent years it has become common place for American Collegiate players to begin their professional careers in Europe or Australia. From 2002 to 2014 there were just 40 US collegiate/high school players who signed their first contract overseas. However, 35 percent of those 40 players have come from the 2013 & 2014 NBA Draft, you can see the upward trend.

As globalisation takes hold, it is becoming significantly easier to find success drafting and stashing players overseas. Simple modern inventions such as Skype, Facebook and Twitter all help to make players, who are often isolated and alone, feel closer to home. Globalisation doesn’t just from a social aspect, it has also made it a lot easier for teams to keep a close eye on players. When speaking about 2013 draft pick Alex Oriakhi, Phoenix Suns assistant general manager Pat Connelly said,

“If I want to see how Alex is doing, all I have to do is log on to the internet and I can basically find out everything he is doing from videos to stats to game reports and anything really”.

Now perhaps Oriakhi isn’t the best example, he went through two teams in two months and then eventually left Europe to return home and play in the D-League with the Erie Bayhawks. But that brings me onto another interesting topic, how hard is it to succeed playing overseas?

Coming from a Brit who frequently travels to the USA, I can understand why some Americans have such a difficult time adjusting to the European style of life. The language barrier can be very difficult to overcome, then other factors such as nothing being on time, lots of traffic, and a severe lack of Lucky Charms and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, life can get pretty tough. Due to the sheer size of the United States, a lot of people (understandably so) don’t leave the country for their vacations. The majority of the time, going to play in Europe is their first dose of the European culture, it can be bitterly hard to swallow. Perhaps this is why we have seen an increasing number of players sign in Australia with the National Basketball League (NBL)?

Australia’s culture is somewhat similar to areas of the USA in terms of its laid back approach, the big positive is it speaks English as a first language. Now, not everything is perfect, it doesn’t pay as much as the top leagues in Europe and Cricket matches get bigger crowds than basketball, but you can understand the appeal. James Ennis was the 50^th pick in the 2013 draft, the Heat wanted Ennis to forgo the team’s training camp and spend the season with their individual D-League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce. However, he wasn’t interested in the notoriously low D-League salary and the Heat weren’t interested in paying him the league minimum.

The Long Beach State grad’s large family (five siblings) had been dealing with financial hardships, his mother is disabled and can’t work and his father works for a painting company. Ennis’ deal with the Perth Wildcats in Australia was worth, “six figures,” according to his agent Scott Nichols. After a successful year in Australia Ennis performed well in the 2014 NBA Summer League, it looks likely he will earn a roster spot for the 2014/15 season.

The one wild card in all of this which could affect the future of going overseas is the D-League. In recent years the D league has achieved a lot of success, and will be boasting a record 18 teams for the 2014/15 season. Attendance was up five percent on last season and CBS sports, YouTube & NBA TV all have network deals in place. The current salary tiers in the D-League are $25,500, $19,000 and $13,000, this is up to 97 percent less than they could earn in the NBA or overseas. Now Oklahoma City Thunder’s Josh Huestis looks set to be the first ever “domestic draft and stash.” Some might say this is the start of a new trend, but I simply don’t see that being the case. I’m not saying it won’t happen again in the future, but until the salaries increase, I see prospects taking the following approach: “Well if I am not playing in the NBA this year then I at least want to earn some money.” I can’t say I blame them.

The draft and stash of American Collegiate players overseas sounds like a win/win for both parties right? The player gets a big pay day after college and the chance to gain experience. The team have the chance to wait until they feel the player can fit onto their team. But all is not as it seems. I looked closely at the results from the past 12 years of the NBA to see how many players successfully returned to the NBA and signed a contract.

From 2002-2014 there have been 242 American collegiate players taken in the second round, like previously mentioned, 40 of these signed to player overseas. Just 15 players out of those 40 have returned to the NBA and signed a contract. When we look closer at these players, we can see that very few have actually had “successful” careers: Darius Songaila, Matt Bonner, Ronny Turiaf, Nick Calathes, Robert Vaden, Jarvis Varnado, Jerome Jordan, Ryan Reid, Kyle Singler, Robbie Hummel, Erick Green, Mike Muscala, James Ennis, Grant Jerrett, and Pierre Jackson are notables.

Now I was not expecting any NBA All Stars to have been stashed in Europe, but half of those players are not even recognized as solid rotation guys. Green, Jackson, Muscala, Ennis and Jerrett were all drafted in 2013 and have returned to the league after one year away. James Ennis was the only player from those five that was selected after the 46^th pick. This suggests teams are stashing much more talented players overseas. Is it just an anomaly having so many return from Europe in a single offseason, or will it become the norm? I think the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

In the future I see Australia thriving as a place for players to sign, Philadelphia 76ers 2014 58^th pick Jordan McRae and the Raptors 37th pick DeAndre Daniels followed James Ennis’s path and signed in the NBL. If Basketball Australia recognizes the opportunity in front of them, I could see the NBL becoming “The Destination” for draft prospects looking to go overseas. Obviously the Chinese CBA has a lot of money and we all know money talks (Unless your name is John Huestis). A number of future (Mudiay) and former (Marbury, McGrady) NBA stars have signed there for some very large paychecks, but I only really see the CBA as being a destination for people finishing their careers to earn one last paycheck rather than a place to develop talent. The only other young player to have gone to the Chinese CBA in the past was Jeremy Tyler who was just released from the Kings. Ultimately, I think a number of NBA teams would steer their players away from there.

As the title suggests, the draft and stash is an ever evolving strategy, what we classed as “Normal” two years ago is now obsolete. The NBA will certainly be pleased with athletes signing around the world, it helps raise the league’s profile, and we all know that the NBA likes helping their business models. It also suits teams, they can stockpile talent and have their very own private “Mini Free Agency” every summer. However, so far the number of players coming back and achieving success has been few and far between. With a greater number of players going overseas the last two years it will be interesting to see if they return and achieve more success than their predecessors.