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Walt Frazier Helps Launch Basketball’s Very Own Senior Tour
By ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS/ Wall Street Journal
Feb. 4, 2016
It’s been a while since Knicks fans heard the names Steve Francis and Rasheed Wallace. Both arrived in New York at the tail ends of successful careers, shells of their former All-Star selves seeking one more lap in the NBA limelight.
Their stints in the city were fleeting, but neither player was ready to hang up his sneakers. Francis tried his luck, to no avail, in the Chinese Basketball Association, while Wallace signed on as a coach with the Detroit Pistons.
“You’ve been programmed since you were 8 years old to do the same thing,” said Francis, who is 38. “So it’s kind of hard to turn that switch off in a year after 30 years of trying to do the same thing.”
To this point, the only options for players who didn’t want to retire was a trip abroad to a lower-tier league, or a downgrade to the NBA’s youth-focused Development League. But this summer, Francis, Wallace and a host of other ex-NBA vets will get the chance to suit up once again as members of the Champions League, a professional summer circuit comprising 16 teams based around the country.
“We’re an active source of opportunity for the player, and that’s one of the reasons were building the league,” said Champions League CEO Carl George. “To give them an opportunity to play the game they’ve given so much to.”
But if the league’s purpose for its players seems clear, its purpose for basketball fans and the game itself is less so. Where preparatory leagues such as the D-League (and in football, the new FXFL) exist strictly to prepare young players for the big time, the Champions League is essentially doing the opposite: offering older players a chance at the small time.
The league is set to kick off April 10 with a charity game at Saint Louis University’s Chaifetz Arena.
According to George, players and coaches will make between $3,000 and $5,000 a game, with a $50,000 bonus for a division title and a $100,000 bonus for a league championship—a veritable gold mine compared with the D-League. George, who said the league has raised $32 million in investment capital, believes the business model can be sustainable by holding games in college arenas, charging around $25 for tickets, and making the players available to meet fans before and after games.
If that sounds more like an entertainment tour than a basketball league, George knows that it all hinges on the level of play. “Fans will remain connected to the players they love, to the game they love—so long as it’s competitive,” he said.
Jalen Rose, a former NBA star and current analyst for ABC, said the celebrity element could be enough to attract fans. Basically, he said, the Champions League is to basketball what reality television is to reality.
“In today’s landscape what I’ve learned is I may not like reality shows, but they’re popular,” he said, adding, “The best analogy I can use is music. We go see our favorite artists time and time again. They continue to get older, they continue to miss a step, but they continue to sell shows.”
But does assembling a group of has-beens (also including Antoine Walker, Al Harrington, Sebastian Telfair and Keyon Dooling) and never-weres trying to claw their way back to the NBA make for watchable basketball? Francis, who has yet to sign a contract but has agreed to play for the league’s Houston team, said he is approaching the summer league the same way he approached the NBA.
“You want to win, you don’t want to go out there and be sideshow,” he said.
But he also said that he is looking forward to committing more technical fouls than Wallace, something both players were known for in their NBA careers.
“Of course I’m a shell of what I was,” said Francis. “If that’s what they want to discuss, let them discuss it because I know I’m confident in myself and everything I can do.”
Champions League players and coaches alike say they expect it to be taken seriously. George, who also wants to launch a similar league for football players, said the bonuses were created to keep the players hungry.
Legendary Knick Walt Frazier, who will serve as the president of the league’s New York franchise, said plenty of ex-NBA players are looking for a job.
“You don’t do your job, somebody else is waiting in the line,” said Frazier, who added that Kobe Bryant “might be here next year” and “might want to own a team in L.A.”
For many of the players, it’s as much for the money as the love of the game. Frazier said he got involved in the league because it can provide support for younger players who washed out of the NBA and were forced to settle for minimal D-League or foreign salaries.
“They have families to support so they got to go where the money is,” Frazier said. “But if you could play here, why would you go to Russia or Istanbul?”
Tyshawn Taylor, a 25-year-old former Brooklyn Net, said he signed up for Frazier’s New York team because the D-League demanded too much of his body for too little pay.
“It’s something that I think people do because they feel like they kind of have to,” Taylor said of the D-League. “If guys had other alternate routes and people actually paid attention to it and thought it was competitive… I think guys would do it.”
Both the NBA and its players’ association declined to comment about the Champions League.
Taylor acknowledged that Champions League games will feature plenty of flash and not much defense, at least until crunch time. “I’m hoping we have some close games, some guys getting after each other,” he said. “I wouldn’t say Globetrotters, but maybe All-Star Game.”
But are retired players like the 41-year-old Rasheed Wallace and 39-year-old Antoine Walker capable of that? Walker, for one, admitted he could be setting himself up to be embarrassed.
“I got to start working out,” said Walker, who will serve as the player-coach of the league’s Boston team. “You never want to embarrass yourself, especially if you’re an ex-player. You got pride in yourself, so just trying to get into some shape—obviously not optimum shape—but get in some shape where you’re not going to embarrass yourself.”
By ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS/ Wall Street Journal
Feb. 4, 2016
It’s been a while since Knicks fans heard the names Steve Francis and Rasheed Wallace. Both arrived in New York at the tail ends of successful careers, shells of their former All-Star selves seeking one more lap in the NBA limelight.
Their stints in the city were fleeting, but neither player was ready to hang up his sneakers. Francis tried his luck, to no avail, in the Chinese Basketball Association, while Wallace signed on as a coach with the Detroit Pistons.
“You’ve been programmed since you were 8 years old to do the same thing,” said Francis, who is 38. “So it’s kind of hard to turn that switch off in a year after 30 years of trying to do the same thing.”
To this point, the only options for players who didn’t want to retire was a trip abroad to a lower-tier league, or a downgrade to the NBA’s youth-focused Development League. But this summer, Francis, Wallace and a host of other ex-NBA vets will get the chance to suit up once again as members of the Champions League, a professional summer circuit comprising 16 teams based around the country.
“We’re an active source of opportunity for the player, and that’s one of the reasons were building the league,” said Champions League CEO Carl George. “To give them an opportunity to play the game they’ve given so much to.”
But if the league’s purpose for its players seems clear, its purpose for basketball fans and the game itself is less so. Where preparatory leagues such as the D-League (and in football, the new FXFL) exist strictly to prepare young players for the big time, the Champions League is essentially doing the opposite: offering older players a chance at the small time.
The league is set to kick off April 10 with a charity game at Saint Louis University’s Chaifetz Arena.
According to George, players and coaches will make between $3,000 and $5,000 a game, with a $50,000 bonus for a division title and a $100,000 bonus for a league championship—a veritable gold mine compared with the D-League. George, who said the league has raised $32 million in investment capital, believes the business model can be sustainable by holding games in college arenas, charging around $25 for tickets, and making the players available to meet fans before and after games.
If that sounds more like an entertainment tour than a basketball league, George knows that it all hinges on the level of play. “Fans will remain connected to the players they love, to the game they love—so long as it’s competitive,” he said.
Jalen Rose, a former NBA star and current analyst for ABC, said the celebrity element could be enough to attract fans. Basically, he said, the Champions League is to basketball what reality television is to reality.
“In today’s landscape what I’ve learned is I may not like reality shows, but they’re popular,” he said, adding, “The best analogy I can use is music. We go see our favorite artists time and time again. They continue to get older, they continue to miss a step, but they continue to sell shows.”
But does assembling a group of has-beens (also including Antoine Walker, Al Harrington, Sebastian Telfair and Keyon Dooling) and never-weres trying to claw their way back to the NBA make for watchable basketball? Francis, who has yet to sign a contract but has agreed to play for the league’s Houston team, said he is approaching the summer league the same way he approached the NBA.
“You want to win, you don’t want to go out there and be sideshow,” he said.
But he also said that he is looking forward to committing more technical fouls than Wallace, something both players were known for in their NBA careers.
“Of course I’m a shell of what I was,” said Francis. “If that’s what they want to discuss, let them discuss it because I know I’m confident in myself and everything I can do.”
Champions League players and coaches alike say they expect it to be taken seriously. George, who also wants to launch a similar league for football players, said the bonuses were created to keep the players hungry.
Legendary Knick Walt Frazier, who will serve as the president of the league’s New York franchise, said plenty of ex-NBA players are looking for a job.
“You don’t do your job, somebody else is waiting in the line,” said Frazier, who added that Kobe Bryant “might be here next year” and “might want to own a team in L.A.”
For many of the players, it’s as much for the money as the love of the game. Frazier said he got involved in the league because it can provide support for younger players who washed out of the NBA and were forced to settle for minimal D-League or foreign salaries.
“They have families to support so they got to go where the money is,” Frazier said. “But if you could play here, why would you go to Russia or Istanbul?”
Tyshawn Taylor, a 25-year-old former Brooklyn Net, said he signed up for Frazier’s New York team because the D-League demanded too much of his body for too little pay.
“It’s something that I think people do because they feel like they kind of have to,” Taylor said of the D-League. “If guys had other alternate routes and people actually paid attention to it and thought it was competitive… I think guys would do it.”
Both the NBA and its players’ association declined to comment about the Champions League.
Taylor acknowledged that Champions League games will feature plenty of flash and not much defense, at least until crunch time. “I’m hoping we have some close games, some guys getting after each other,” he said. “I wouldn’t say Globetrotters, but maybe All-Star Game.”
But are retired players like the 41-year-old Rasheed Wallace and 39-year-old Antoine Walker capable of that? Walker, for one, admitted he could be setting himself up to be embarrassed.
“I got to start working out,” said Walker, who will serve as the player-coach of the league’s Boston team. “You never want to embarrass yourself, especially if you’re an ex-player. You got pride in yourself, so just trying to get into some shape—obviously not optimum shape—but get in some shape where you’re not going to embarrass yourself.”