Progression from the bench?

[spacejammer]

After the Eagles league campaign kicked off this season looking at our bench we look like we have enough players but then I remember that 2 or 3 slots are usually taken up by kid players.

Usually if a player stays for one or two seasons or just stand in for one I understand the limited minutes.
But sometimes we have players that stay longer even 4 or 5 seasons but their role never changes and they only get garbage minutes.

When you hear of players from other european countries playing pro at a young age such as Spains Ricky Rubio who made his euroleague debut at 16 and then going on to the NBA.
It got me thinking what is the progression like for kid players in the BBL going from bench to starters and what are the motivations if nothing changes in your role?

I know that some players such as Caledonias Johnny Bunyan went from Bench to starter and the same with Leicesters Connor Washington.
Not to mention Surrey's Cam Hildrith going on to College in the States.

Usually you expect a coach and an organisation to have a plan for every player but sometimes with some teams you do wonder?
Like if your a player who sticks with a team for 4 or 5 seasons but your only get to play the garbage time why doesn't coach give you more?

[Deleted]

Our best young players want to go and play in America so the ones that would be somewhat ready for the BBL at 17/18 I normally playing high school ball in America by then, Even if they do stay the extra year like Hildreth did They are not long-term prospects of playing in the BBL so why would any team invest into it when the vast majority are going to leave before they can contribute anything

There needs to be a big shift in attitude towards keeping these young players to where they want to stay and play over here, obviously we’re always going to lose the Cam Hildreth’s because no one here can compete with wake Forest and high major college basketball, but things need to be done so we can keep the slightly lower prospects, Blake Bowman has obviously ended up on the riders after a wasted year where he signed for a mid-major for pulling out, he is the kind of player that teams should be making a serious run at to keep on multi year deals, But it’s very hard while most teams are struggling to sell 1000 tickets a week and get shirt sponsors

[tallerman]

The difference between the ones you named is that they have progressed year on year. Players such as Isiah Walker in Plymouth or that lad in Newcastle arent making sufficient progress to make an impact in the bbl. Sounds harsh but that's the reality that many players dont get

[D44]

I would assume most of the locally based amateur players that fill out BBL benches are pretty realistic about how good they actually are and are just happy to be part of something and being along for the ride. Theres certainly something to be said for being around and getting incrementally better year on year, Bunyan is a great example, Darius wasn't exactly great at first but peaked in his late 20s/early 30s although his size always helped him get some minutes even when he'd air ball free throws early in his career! I'm sure if the money was around you wouldn't end up with good pro's playing in the NBL and those guys would be in BBL rotations.

[spacejammer]

Oct 3, 2022 22:22:34 GMT D44 said:

I would assume most of the locally based amateur players that fill out BBL benches are pretty realistic about how good they actually are and are just happy to be part of something and being along for the ride. Theres certainly something to be said for being around and getting incrementally better year on year, Bunyan is a great example, Darius wasn't exactly great at first but peaked in his late 20s/early 30s although his size always helped him get some minutes even when he'd air ball free throws early in his career! I'm sure if the money was around you wouldn't end up with good pro's playing in the NBL and those guys would be in BBL rotations.

Difference is Darius has progressed up and if anything gone full circle from being the kid on the bench, to starter and now back to the bench now he's getting towards the end of his career.

And you are right in the sense that some of the better young players are already playing in Europe or College elsewhere.

If the opportunity to study came along I suppose it would make sense to commit alot of seasons for barely any game time. But if your in your 4th or 5th season I would want to be treated like a regular off the bench player but I'm guessing it depends on the individual.

I suppose I just wondered if it is better to play on a strong BBL team where you get limited to no minutes.
Or a weaker BBL team where you might get beaten more regularly but will actually get minutes?

[baldereagle]

So what happened to Eddie Matthew’s ?

[D44]

Oct 4, 2022 6:01:14 GMT spacejammer said:

Oct 3, 2022 22:22:34 GMT D44 said:

I would assume most of the locally based amateur players that fill out BBL benches are pretty realistic about how good they actually are and are just happy to be part of something and being along for the ride. Theres certainly something to be said for being around and getting incrementally better year on year, Bunyan is a great example, Darius wasn't exactly great at first but peaked in his late 20s/early 30s although his size always helped him get some minutes even when he'd air ball free throws early in his career! I'm sure if the money was around you wouldn't end up with good pro's playing in the NBL and those guys would be in BBL rotations.

Difference is Darius has progressed up and if anything gone full circle from being the kid on the bench, to starter and now back to the bench now he's getting towards the end of his career.

And you are right in the sense that some of the better young players are already playing in Europe or College elsewhere.

If the opportunity to study came along I suppose it would make sense to commit alot of seasons for barely any game time. But if your in your 4th or 5th season I would want to be treated like a regular off the bench player but I'm guessing it depends on the individual.

I suppose I just wondered if it is better to play on a strong BBL team where you get limited to no minutes.
Or a weaker BBL team where you might get beaten more regularly but will actually get minutes?

Is there a weaker BBL team than Eagles at the moment 😒 I don't think some of the bench filler guys would even get minutes at NBL D2 level tbh. Newcastle's NBL D1 players last season (Blain, Federici, Moya, Gayle) were far better than our BBL bench fillers.

[tony]

Oct 4, 2022 6:08:32 GMT baldereagle said:

So what happened to Eddie Matthew’s ?

He is playing for Teesside Lions this season

[spacejammer]

Oct 4, 2022 6:08:32 GMT baldereagle said:

So what happened to Eddie Matthew’s ?

I did wonder about Eddie when he didn't return last year.
To be honest he was a player who did eventually leave us and played for Leeds and Plymouth before returning back to the Eagles.

But when he came back to us I felt like his role within the team never changed and some matches he got no minutes at all.
Granted when he did get the minutes I felt that he never had impact or added anything when he came off the bench.

[tallerman]

He was solid in leeds and embarrassment in plymouth and he did have that 1 year averaging 10ppg in Newcastle too

[erj14]

It's a difficult niche to fill with players from the Academy. You've got to hope they aren't too good to get decent offers from America (like Tosan did) and just good enough to play a role in the BBL. Best hope is for a late bloomer to develop really quickly once they're 19/20 years old. I haven't seen that from any Eagles younger players for a long time. Yabantu never made the leap and I'm not sure Kande will either, he played D3 last year and didn't exactly stand out in the games I saw.

Eagles have made huge changes to their academy system over the summer, which essentially means that players are being subjected to more intense training at a younger age. Hopefully we start to see more kids coming through over the next ten years and at that point playing in the BBL might hopefully be a more attractive proposition.