Max Darling Doesn’t Need Your NCAA Dramas To Get Him To The NBA
You’re seventeen years old, a basketballer. Just earned Rookie of the Year honours in the kiwi NBL and had a great time away with the Junior Tall Blacks at the U-18 Asian champs, already trained with the senior national team in an extended squad. Your dream is to play in the NBA one day and you’re doing everything you can to make it happen. So what do you do next? Head on over to the States and get a college scholarship? Not if you’re Max Darling, you don’t.
Instead he’s signed a multi-year contract with Croatian club KK Vrijednosnice Osijek. It’s a curious move from one of New Zealand’s absolute best basketball prospects right now and it’s a move that deserves a whole lot of applause too.
The idea of chasing college scholarships is that you get closer to the NBA scouts, working with some extremely talented coaches and playing against the best players in the world at your own age. Plus they give you a free education at the same time. It’s the traditional route to the top and these days there are more kiwis than ever getting in on that college basketball action. However the more light that’s cast on the whole NCAA thing, the more you’ve gotta wonder if that’s really the best avenue for a player from Aotearoa with genuine NBA potential.
Like, all goods if you’re one of the many players not really expecting to get drafted, just looking for a great experience studying overseas and playing basketball. That’s its own reward. But the higher up you get in the NCAA, the shadier it gets. It’s an open secret that the whole thing is as corrupt as it gets. Players are supposed to be amateurs yet they make millions for their schools, seeing none of that money themselves.
However those amateur statuses are carefully bypassed with programme endorsements (athletes can’t be sponsored but that doesn’t mean they can’t use the free gear that Adidas/Nike donate to the schools). That’s without even getting into what those top coaches do to recruit players to their team. Can’t pay you but here’s a free car to drive, and how about free tickets for your family? All sorts of dirty deals. Obviously those schools and teams are protected by enormous dollar signs, influential ex-students and a general air of bureaucracy. But, yeah nah, Isaac Fotu got ruled ineligible a couple years back for borrowing a laptop.
That’s one reason to be sceptical about the whole system. Another is that you’re no guarantee to find yourself in the right situation to develop either. Tai Wynyard seemed to be on the right path when he joined Kentucky but was so stunted there that he’s now transferred to Santa Clara. Steven Adams outlined his own college struggles pretty insightfully in his autobiography. Coming out of Pittsburgh, he was considered a raw talent with potential but he didn’t turn any heads at all until he excelled at the Draft Combine. That was when he went surging up the draft boards – but even then there was a scouting doubt hangover from his underwhelming time at Pitt.
But Kiwi Steve laid it all on the table in the book. In his mind, he was given a reduced role at Pitt. They just wanted him to hang around the rim and rebound. He never got to show his range as a shooter, never got to bring the hustle he’s now known for, never got to do much of anything other than hold it down in the paint. Combine that with the natural American scout bias against non-USA players (don’t try argue, it’s real) and it’s just a good thing he finally got the freedom to flex in his pre-draft workouts.
At least he got an education though, right? Well not really. Adams wrote about his struggles early on in school but he’s a clever bugger and someone who tends to get things done when he puts his mind to them. He was quite excited to extend himself intellectually at college only to find out they’d already enrolled him in all the ‘athlete classes’ – the stuff that’s easiest to pass with minimal work, yet another way that they rig the system for the benefit of their sports teams.
Which isn’t to say that it’s not worth having a crack at the college system, there’s heaps to be gained from that too. But it’s not the only way to the NBA. More and more players are being drafted out of foreign leagues, particularly in Europe. New Zealand’s very own Sean Marks drafted Džanan Musa out of Croatia late in the first round a couple months back. There were 11 international players who declared for the 2018 Draft and seven of them were picked up. NBA teams have international scouting teams. They’re paying attention. They’re looking for that next undiscovered gem. This is a legit pathway and Max Darling is ahead of the curve for seeking it out as a New Zealander.
Naturally there are pluses and minuses to the professional game at this age. It’s much harder than college to make in immediate impact, although that can pay off in long term development. You’re in a fully professional environment that more closely mirrors the rigours of the NBA. Also closer in quality but, to be fair, further away in style.
The other thing is that come time to declare for the draft you’ve pretty much got to be Luka Dončić to get picked early on. Most international prospects go in the second round where there’s more team flexibility and less financial risk. Hence why you see a lot of players ‘stashed’ overseas after being drafted. American players have to have a year out of high school before they’re eligible to be drafted. Usually that’s spent at college although Terrence Ferguson recently spent his year at the Adelaide 36ers in what’ll hopefully become a more popular option with prospects in the future.
Internationals don’t need to follow that rule but they can’t commit to the draft until the year they turn 19. For Darling, that’s next year, but he has until he turns 22 before he’s automatically eligible. Spend a couple seasons in Croatia getting better then declare for a draft, see what happens, head back to Europe for a year or two if nothing comes of it and then try again as a free agent. Bingo.
Obviously this isn’t going to be the pathway that suits best for everyone, but it’s pretty awesome to see Max Darling shooting his shot on his own ability. The college system hasn’t always treated kiwi players the best and there are other options out there. The more options, the more the whole process is in the athlete’s control. Shout out to Max Darling.
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