Doug Gottlieb: “Last night I watched the NBA Draft Lottery. How many of those guys do you have any sort of knowledge of? You’ve been taught for the last 30 years that college is ‘BAD!’, coaches are ‘BAD’!, players ‘GOOD!’, and they get ‘used and abused.’ I’m watching parents in the Big Ten protest and go in front of cameras because all they want are their kids to get an opportunity to play. They understand the value of playing for a team, playing for the university, and showing themselves to maybe get a chance to play in the NFL .We operate under this assumption that all these guys would have made the NFL or made the NBA without college and that’s not the way it works, and it’s actually the opposite. The smart players exploit their time in college for their post-college success. The rest of Johnny Manziel’s life he’s not going to be Johnny Manziel who didn’t do well in the NFL and had personal problems, it’s going to be John Manziel, Heisman trophy winner, and beat Alabama at Alabama. The rest of his life is basically mailbox money, and he will be able to make appearances on radio shows all based upon the two seasons of relative success at A&M – that’s it. He’ll actually exploit that time and use Texas A&M’s massive fan base, and massive alumni base to his benefit. The players NEED the promotion and they need the opportunity that is provided… They’re treated like royalty and better than anybody else… You see these names last night on the draft board and you’re like ‘honey, did I not watch basketball this year?? I don’t know anyone on that big board! I haven’t seen a single one of those guys play!’ It’s because there was no NCAA Tournament, which is the only thing the NCAA makes money off of. As much as the NCAA makes money off of it, so do the players because that’s how you build your reputation, that’s how you built your name recognition, and that’s how you build for your first job. And when that’s been taken away, you start to understand the value in the promotion and the opportunity that is provided.” (Full Segment Above)
Listen to Doug Gottlieb discuss the upcoming NBA Draft, and detail why the somewhat anonymous draft class is representative of a college basketball season that didn’t have an NCAA Tournament.
Gottlieb thinks the lack of hoopla from the average fan shows you how important the NCAA’s television exposure is to some of the county’s best players, as Gottlieb expands on why these players who are trying to build up their brands as up-and-coming superstars need the grand stage and exposure that big-time college sports provides them.
Check out the audio above as Gottlieb makes parallels between the unheralded 2020 NBA draft class and Big Ten parents and players who are protesting to put on the fall football season, when it pertains to how important college sports are young athletes' livelihoods, and the opportunities that they will get the rest of their careers beyond basketball.
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