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Wednesday, March 29
An NBA minor league won't solve any problems

By David Aldridge
Special to ESPN.com

So I'm in Syracuse this week doing the NCAA men's East Regional finals. (Hey, I'm versatile.) And about five seconds after I sit down to watch Seton Hall's practice on Thursday, who should walk by but Billy Packer, King of College Basketball. He says he likes my work. I say thanks.

And then I listen for 20 minutes while Packer slams everything about the NBA. The new arenas. The quality of play. The Commish. Especially the Commish. Boy, does the Pac Man have a thing for the Commish. He holds the Commish responsible, and I am not making this up, for the destruction of American civilization as we know it. Ask the guy next to me if I'm lying. (Well, actually, I don't know who the guy next to me is. I told you -- this is college basketball.)


	Leon Smith was a star last year for his high school team in Chicago.

Anyway, Billy is raving on and on about this new minor league that the NBA is proposing to start in 2001. It will be horrible for basketball, Packer says. It will encourage even younger kids to start thinking about becoming a pro. Now you'll have nine and 10-year-olds seriously plotting how, eight or nine years hence, they can be in The League.

And I'm listening to Packer ramble. I know he's been bashing the pros for a long time, and I've always thought the reason was a wholly self-serving one. If the college game stinks, then Packer loses his sphere of influence. But while I was listening to him, I realized that on this subject, he and I agree on a lot more than we disagree.

This minor league idea is just that. Minor. Not worthy of the best commissioner in the history of sports.

I know the league has been searching for an answer to this whole idea of keeping teenagers out of the NBA. They can't set an age minimum without collectively bargaining it with the union. The 1971 Spencer Haywood case severely limits what they can legally do to keep young players out. They've tried to come to some understanding with the NCAA, but can't seem to get a meeting.

But is this the answer? How can this possibly do anything other than encourage dozens, if not hundreds, of high schoolers from foregoing college altogether? Why on earth would a 12th grader with marginal grades and lousy SATs, who only looked at college as a means to get the NBA, even think about going to State U when there's a $25,000-a-year job waiting for him playing ball?

Maybe you say that's not a bad thing. That it's time for the NCAA to end the hypocrisy of "student-athletes" and stop putting kids in school that a) don't want to go there in the first place, b) struggle mightily with the curriculum and the realities of being in a social environment radically different from their own, and c) are targets of the predatory leeches and hustlers from the moment they walk on campus.

Maybe you're right. But that shouldn't be the NBA's business. The NBA shouldn't be fostering the notion that anybody can play pro ball. That's the problem now -- too many kids who think they have game. Moreover, how will the players in this league be chosen? Will there be a draft separate from the college draft? Will the players simply be those who are cut from NBA training camps? How do CBA players figure in? (My guess is they don't, since that league was purchased by Isiah Thomas -- who hasn't been able to get the league at all interested in his idea of officially affiliating CBA teams with NBA squads.)

I have no doubt that in certain ways, this league could address a lot of issues. There are high schoolers who are hellbent on giving the pros a shot. That genie is out of the bottle. And it would be a great place for the likes of Korleone Young and Jermaine O'Neal to get meaningful playing experience. And maybe learn how to balance a checkbook.

	Aldridge's Rankings
	THE TOP 10 1. L.A. Lakers 2. Indiana 3. Utah 4. Portland 5. San Antonio 6. Minnesota 7. Miami 8. Phoenix 9. Toronto 10. New York THE BOTTOM FIVE 25. Houston 26. Vancouver 27. Golden State 28. Chicago 29. L.A. Clippers

But isn't there the chance it could go the other way? That an 18-year-old may try it, decide he's not ready for life in Spokane or Austin or Rochester, and want to try school? What happens to him? Why would the NCAA possibly cooperate?

I just fear that there is an unspoken reason for trying to start this league that has nothing to do with wanting to help a young man's transition to adult life and work. I fear that ultimately, you'll see teams in this league in "minor league" cities like Montreal and Mexico City; Sao Paulo and Birmingham. (That's Birmingham, England.) That these cities will be test-driven to pump more NBA product around the world.

I've heard Leon Smith's name mentioned. That this would be a perfect place for this troubled young man to play ball until his skills and body mature enough to be able to slug it out with grown men.

There's no doubt that Leon Smith didn't belong in college.

But this is no place for him, either.

Piston talk
I know I said last week that the Pistons wouldn't be all that crazy if they went after Bill Laimbeer. But just keep this in mind: Even if the local media is fanning the flames, it is far from unanimous among the Detroit braintrust. The Pistons have been reborn under interim coach George Irvine.

Players love his no-nonsense but quiet way. If they're playing selfishly, he'll tell them in front of the others, but won't scream it. And even if Irvine doesn't want the gig full-time, it'll be difficult to hire his exact opposite in terms of demeanor.

Also, if you think Grant Hill is sold on Laimbeer, think again. Hill will really need to be convinced. He did a commercial with Laimbeer a while back and, according to a source, found the time with His Royal Sneerness quite grueling.

Zo on Timmy
One reason why Alonzo Mourning says he isn't worried about Tim Hardaway's physical condition is he doesn't think the Heat need Tim Bug to get back to his best crossover days in order to win. Even though Mourning concurs that Hardaway may occasionally try too hard to show people he can still play.

"Because of his injuries, it's kind of set him back a little bit, but he's still effective for this team," Zo says. "I don't think we need all his athletic ability for us to be successful. We don't need that. All we need to do is run our offense, 'cause I think he's still able to get into the paint.

"I mean, look at John Stockton. He don't have a whole lot of athletic ability. I mean, look at Jeff Hornacek. He doesn't have a whole lot of athletic ability. But those guys are mentally tough, so when the game gets tight, they execute the hell out of their offense, and they break the best defensive teams down. They've broken us down ...Timmy can still shoot. He hasn't stopped shooting the ball well. He's not able to do the things he used to do, and his leg is slowing him down, but I know he's still effective for us."

Let the Sun shine
The first thing Suns VP Bryan Colangelo did after Jason Kidd's 7 a.m. surgery on Thursday to repair his broken ankle was call league VP of operations Rod Thorn and tell him that Kidd will be back well before the Summer Games commence in Australia in September.

It was only the latest disaster that the Suns have had to face this season. They've had to deal with Danny Ainge's abrupt resignation and Anfernee Hardaway's plantar fascitis; Tom Gugliotta nearly dying after ingesting an herbal supplement in December and then wrecking his knee; Rex Chapman undergoing an emergency appendectomy last week and, now, Kidd breaking his ankle.

"I'm more of a crisis manager than a general manager," Colangelo joked, kind of.

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Around the League

Larry Brown jumped on the Allen Iverson grenade last week, blaming himself for waiting too long before suspending AI for one game. More interesting is if Brown gets the extension he's been looking for.

As the Philadelphia Inquirer first reported, Brown has a five-day window at the end of every season in which he can walk from his contract. The Sixers want to remove that clause before giving Brown a new deal. Brown's agent has been negotiating with team president Pat Croce for three months. Croce originally argued that coaches don't get contract extensions, a notion the Brown camp dismissed as "ridiculous." But word is that the escape clause isn't a deal breaker. Expect Brown back in Philly next season.

Brian Shaw on the difference between Shaquille O'Neal in Orlando, where both played three seasons, and in LaLa: "His acceptance of coaching. He respects Phil (Jackson) a lot more than any coach he played for. He's allowed himself to be more coachable."

Hawks finally ditched Isaiah Rider after he missed or was late for "several" practices every week, according to GM Pete Babcock. "He was probably late more than he was on time," Babcock said. "Children's charities (where fine money is donated) are doing very well in Atlanta." And did anyone notice that while Rider was accusing Dikembe Mutombo and LaPhonso Ellis of turning him in to league security after an alleged marijuana smoking incident in Orlando last January, he never (and still hasn't) denied smoking weed?


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