Sunday, July 19, 2015

The New Boys of Summer: Behind the Scenes of Grassroots Basketball Part 2

By: Raashaan Myers
This is the second in a three part series looking at all aspects of Grassroots basketball both on the court and off the court. This is an in depth look at Summer hoops with one of the most experienced and respected guys on the circuit Mr. Clay Dade architect of the Fab Frosh, Super Sophomore, and JR All American camps.
     In this second stanza of my conversation with Grassroots basketball guru Clay Dade I wanted to dive right into the heart of why we all love Summer and AAU basketball….Recruiting….So we look that all the aspects of recruiting during the summer as well as the ever growing influence of the shoe companies on the basketball recruiting scene. We also discuss how relationships have changed and grown with assistant coaches with recruits, the place that the “runners” have in the recruit game, the NCAA’s relationship with shoe companies and player compensation, and the king of recruiting Kentucky head coach John Calipari.
     When you talk about college basketball recruiting the terms that you hear about more and more these days are “love” and “relationship”. And of course the guy charged with really fostering that relationship has been the job of the assistant coach. For the University of Louisville a guy who has been applauded for his work with these young guys is ace recruiter Kenny Johnson. For the University of Kentucky there have been several guys like former assistants USF head coach Orlando Antigua and now St. John’s assistant “Slice” Rohrssen as well as current assistant Kenny Payne. These guys seem to have an ever growing importance on the recruiting trail, but Clay says that these types of guys have always been key “For years assistant coaches going back 25 or 30 year have always had an integral role in the recruiting process. Any assistant worth his salt will go out and forge a relationship with AAU teams or club teams and utilize those relationships as part of the recruiting process.”  Clay did map out some of the reasons that assistants are so important in this process “Assistant coaches are highly paid and are the bread winners in a lot of ways (for their program), out there beating the pavement out there grinding, and as well all know recruiting is the life’s blood of a program,” said Dade. “I like to call it ‘Always be recruiting’ like the old movie used to say ‘Always be closing’. To be successful in this business you have to always be recruiting. Assistants now more than ever are using social media to create and cultivate even closer relationships with players, family, and AAU coaches.”
     Also moving to the forefront of college basketball recruiting is the influence of the shoe companies like Nike, Adidas, and Under Armor. For Clay he thinks some make too much out of the whole deal but he says there are some times where the shoe company impact is real “For some of the top guys there is some influencing (decisions), but it’s a hard thing to prove. I think it happens and it has always happened.” Dade continued “Under Armor is gaining power, Nike has always been there and they will always be the Big Kahuna if you will. They are a mega power in the sport and let’s face it they have a lot of influence.” And at the end of the day Dade says it comes down to dollars and cents “Let’s face it there is a lot of money on the line when it comes to college basketball. A lot of people don’t want to admit that but I don’t mind saying it. There is a lot of money going in a lot of money going in a lot of different directions and that is the truth of the matter,” said Dade. “When it comes to shoe companies like Nike there is a lot of branding involved in college basketball and that translates to money. Profit sharing, stock prices, and if your mission is to raise the stock prices in your company then you are going to do what you have to do. Nike made 55 billion dollars last year and if they want to make 75 billion this year then when it comes to Nike basketball you need the best talent. So you are going to create camps and leagues like the Nike EYBL  that round up the best talent, who will eventually play at the biggest powers in college basketball, and wind up ultimately as NBA All Stars and are chief endorsers of their product,” said Dade.  “So when you look at it like that there is a lot of money at stake and when you look at it like that there are some nefarious things that go on. Not with all the kids, but with some of the top tier kids there is probably more influence in terms of where they go to school. It is not something happening with all the kids across the board but there is some with the top kids.” Dade continued “This isn’t a case where all kids that play in the Nike EYBL go to only Nike schools because that’s not happening. You will go where it is the best fit for you or maybe where your AAU coach has an unspoken agreement with a particular college program and whenever that agreement fails it fails. That happens and I’m just being real,” said Dade. “The bottom line is that it happens and it is almost impossible to prove, but what we end up getting out of it is great basketball. Not all waters are clean, but from muddy waters have come great music, great sports and basketball, and great policies that greatly improve the cities where we live. It’s not all up to the standard that people would like to see, but at the end of the day you get a great result and a great product. That’s what we like to call college basketball recruiting,” said Dade.
     So with everything Clay had to say about the state of recruiting and the impact that the financial aspect of college basketball has on all involved that took me to my next thought. How does the financial relationship between the mega money earning shoe companies and the NCAA exist with so much “muddy waters” seemingly being a part of business as usual? Could it be that maybe things aren’t being policed as stringently as they should? “Well there is a synergistic relationship between them and the fact that there is some exploitation of the student athletes in both football and basketball,” said Dade. “In a multi-billion dollar industry you could not get away with the bulk of your work force going unpaid with the inordinate amount of money that they help generate. So when you talk about TV contracts, money at the gate, and merchandising there is no right thinking American would line up for that type of arrangement. So I do align myself with Jay Bilas in the fact that in some way these young men need to be compensated as they have been taken advantage of for years.”
     Another group involved in this “muddy” business are the street agents or runners of the game like William Wesley aka World Wide Wes as well as guys like former Marvin Stone handler Mark Komara and others and there role in college basketball recruiting. What did Clay have to say about those individuals and their “business”? “,” said Dade. So then of course my next question is Clay have you seen or been involved in any dealings that would be considered not above board or anything you can confirm happened on the recruiting trail? “I don’t know that I am informed enough to (speak on those guys). You have to really be close to, or be eye witness to those types of dealings or know people who are close enough to those people to speak intelligently and accurately on the subject. There are a lot of accusations that people are flinging at so called individuals so I’m not going to add to that,” said Dade. So of course my next question is Clay have you any eye witness accounts of any shady dealings involving recruits that you can or will speak on? “Well sure there have been things and if you work in this business you will see things that will make your eyes pop, but it is part of the business. But with respect I do work in the business and those relationships are important and frankly you are talking about peoples’ lives. Players, parents, kids, people in the game like me and those relationships have to go on. It’s just part of the business and that’s just the way it goes. We are in a very high pressure business and a very highly paid business and you are talking about multimillion dollar paying business. There is a lot of power; you are talking about highly paid people, executives with a lot of influence. And unfortunately when you have that mix you have some intersection between that and kids and the game. That’s the unfortunate side.”
     And a guy seemingly at the forefront of this recruiting boom in college basketball is of course University of Kentucky head man John Calipari. He seems to wield a ton of power and influence on the recruiting trail so what does Clay have to say about Coach Cal and is he good for the game of college basketball? “Well it’s debatable whether or not Coach Cal is good for the game of college basketball, but what you can’t debate is that he is a winner. He has always been a winner and of course there has always been debate about how he has been able to get it done. Yes there are questions about it but there has not been anything that anyone can prove and I don’t have time to do it either,” said Dade. “But has he improved the lives of players and families that otherwise would have had that trajectory in their lives for generations to come? Sure. In certain neighborhoods he is seen as the ticket (to a better life) for a lot of people. And why not? He was a kid that grew up hard scrambled in Pittsburgh and he came along at a time in basketball when the business when it has become a very lucrative occupation and he has taken a lot of players with him during this very lucrative time in the business. I think that is pretty huge!”
     Coach Cal’s latest mega recruit Skal Labissiere is facing some eligibility questions as the season continues to draw near. Clay is a guy who is close to Skal so I wondered if he could give us an update on if he believes Skal will be eligible. “Skal Labissiere is a kid I am very close to has a great story, is a great young man, and an incredible talent. You don’t know what you are getting in this young man Kentucky fans. He is an immense talent if he is allowed to show it,” said Dade. “I am not familiar with the intricacies of his recruitment, but I am not close enough to the situation to speak on the specifics. All I know is that he came to this country and is living with a family, he started out at Evangelical Christian School then he transferred to Lausanne Collegiate School in Memphis which is a great academic program which proves he can do the work. I don’t know everything going on but I hope it works out for him.” So does Clay think that Big Blue Nation will see Skal on the court this fall? “I do. I think that he will play, but what that means and what it will take to get it done is outside of my purview but I do think he will play,” said Dade.
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