NIL’s

I Million $, good times to be mediocre
I must be the most naive person in the world. When the concept of NIL was first introduced, I thought that it would allow players to visit a car dealership (or any other business) to sign autographs, pose for pictures with fans and schmooze with them for a couple of hours and make a few hundred dollars for the day.

Never in my wildest dreams could I ever imagine that a mid major forward who averaged around 13 points per game would be offered $1M to play for another college program. This is just absolutely nuts!!!! To ask fans to contribute to a fund to pay athletes this type of money to play ball at their school is absolutely absurd IMO.
 
I must be the most naive person in the world. When the concept of NIL was first introduced, I thought that it would allow players to visit a car dealership (or any other business) to sign autographs, pose for pictures with fans and schmooze with them for a couple of hours and make a few hundred dollars for the day.

Never in my wildest dreams could I ever imagine that a mid major forward who averaged around 13 points per game would be offered $1M to play for another college program. This is just absolutely nuts!!!! To ask fans to contribute to a fund to pay athletes this type of money to play ball at their school is absolutely absurd IMO.
NCAA completely blew it. They were too cheap to let the kids have anything and now it's an out of control disaster.
 
We're very lucky to have Pitino as coach because we can sit here with a straight face and say, if STJ puts in a competitive offer, Pitino is the coach to play for/train with to be on in a slight discount. It can't be non-competitive, but if it's close enough, the skills development + MSG + playing time can be attractive.
 
I know his handlers and to be fair they are doing a good job by him...they are creating a bidding war, waiting out the market to and have already gotten him 50% more than had he jumped in weeks ago. The issue with them is they are not endearing themselves to anybody with brashness but as much as we, myself incl don't like it that's what their job is. The bigger question is what discount is worth development and winning? Honestly not sure if their is enough data or history to support either argument. For now agents job is to get their client highest offer and that's what's been happening here
You know, one thing I really have paid attention to this off-season / portal season is how these handlers and agents are moving. What they are saying. And how many are playing this game, which while may be in the best interest of their client financially, and or themselves because of their %, when do finances on this large of a scale take a small step back to coaching, player development and fit?

Dan Poneman who I've shared here before is one of the leading NIL agents out there. I've listened and read his takes / philosophy a lot this off-season. He has a small team that he works with and every client he gets they first have a meeting and he gives them a questionnaire to fill out. He asks them to rate 1-10 how important each factor is when he will be looking for their next school to play for. Some of those categories are Biggest Money, Academics, Winning, Player development, conference, Location so they can then find a place that fits into their buckets. He's had players who have told him they need a good MBA program / law program at my grad school. Other guys who say I want a grad school where i can take ball room dancing and not take real classes.

And he talks to the kids and if they tell him look this is the only chance I have to cash in, and my pro career may not be this lucrative as it might be for year 4 or 5 of college then find me the biggest bag out there. Or if they have to take care of a parent/family member that's got medical bills. Many factors in play.

But in a lot of these cases the high end kids we're talking about high 6 figures, and I wonder how much is being done by "good" agents / handlers about navigating them through this landscape on fit and coaching and player development rather than finding them a 600k deal because the agent will get their 15% or whatever it is.
 
You know, one thing I really have paid attention to this off-season / portal season is how these handlers and agents are moving. What they are saying. And how many are playing this game, which while may be in the best interest of their client financially, and or themselves because of their %, when do finances on this large of a scale take a small step back to coaching, player development and fit?

Dan Poneman who I've shared here before is one of the leading NIL agents out there. I've listened and read his takes / philosophy a lot this off-season. He has a small team that he works with and every client he gets they first have a meeting and he gives them a questionnaire to fill out. He asks them to rate 1-10 how important each factor is when he will be looking for their next school to play for. Some of those categories are Biggest Money, Academics, Winning, Player development, conference, Location so they can then find a place that fits into their buckets. He's had players who have told him they need a good MBA program / law program at my grad school. Other guys who say I want a grad school where i can take ball room dancing and not take real classes.

And he talks to the kids and if they tell him look this is the only chance I have to cash in, and my pro career may not be this lucrative as it might be for year 4 or 5 of college then find me the biggest bag out there. Or if they have to take care of a parent/family member that's got medical bills. Many factors in play.

But in a lot of these cases the high end kids we're talking about high 6 figures, and I wonder how much is being done by "good" agents / handlers about navigating them through this landscape on fit and coaching and player development rather than finding them a 600k deal because the agent will get their 15% or whatever it is.
In his really informative/interesting AMA on the Trilly discord, he said: "Id say 60% of my clients DONT take the largest monetary offer. I had a kid this year turn down 650k for 225k because of fit. Last year i had a kid turn down 1m for 400k. I know the knock on these kids is that it's all about the money. But for most, fit really does matter!!!"
 
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