Boynton not fond of new G League contracts
STILLWATER — Thursday, the NBA G League announced the “select contract,” which will allow top prospects not yet eligible for the NBA Draft to be paid $125,000 to spend a year in the league rather than go to college beginning in 2019-20. It’s a move that Oklahoma State coach Mike Boynton expressed displeasure over during his team’s media day.
The move is expected to impact college basketball as a whole, with top prospects who have been “one-anddone” players instead spending that year professionally, but Boynton’s concerns were mainly for the players themselves.
“I don’t like it,” he said. “I just ... what we’re doing, in general, is we’re sending a poor message. We’re deincentivizing education.
“We should be trying to do everything we can to get these kids as much college education as possible, and we shouldn’t be shunning them off and pushing them off to a professional league.”
Boynton said there are certain exceptions to that, mentioning players who would be “just hanging on” professionally rather than the LeBron Jameses of the world. He was unsure of a fix to the situation, but he would welcome being part of the conversation to find what he believes would be a better solution.
“I don’t love that we’re trying to make this all about paying these kids a few dollars,” Boynton said. “We’re pacifying a problem that’s much bigger than what we have an opportunity to do in terms of impacting their lives.”
Waters, Dziagwa, McGriff embracing captaincy
With juniors Lindy Waters, Thomas Dziagwa and Cam McGriff as his captains, Boynton believes he has three different types of leaders.
McGriff, often stoic, leads by example. Dziagwa is talkative and confident, often more than willing to speak his mind. Waters, Boynton said, is a balance of the two.
“I expect them to lead,” Boynton said. “I don’t necessarily expect them to score all the points, but I expect them to help the other guys figure out how to help us win.”
The title was awarded by teammates, not assigned by Boynton, who said it was important for players to be able to govern themselves to an extent.
Waters, Dziagwa and McGriff, the Cowboys’ only scholarship players returning from Boynton’s first season as coach, were thankful for the title.
“I’m still gonna work just as hard as I did before,” Waters said. “Still gonna lead to the best of my ability, but with Thomas and Cam by my side, sometimes they can take the weight off my shoulders as I can do that for them, too.”
Cowboys scrimmaging Wichita State this weekend
OSU will head north to face Wichita State in a closed scrimmage Sunday. With the season three weeks away, Boynton is excited for the challenge the matchup will provide.
“It may be a pretty physical game, and I think our guys need that,” he said. “They need to have their eyes opened before we turn the lights on and put some butts in the stands.”
The Cowboys and Shockers have faced each other the past two seasons, splitting the meetings. McGriff, Waters, Dziagwa and Wichita State’s Samajae Haynes-Jones are the only players who appeared in last year’s matchup still on the teams this season.
“We’re probably two of the top five ‘newest’ teams,” Boynton said.