Looks like in addition to the previous stuff swirling around the recruitment of Javonte Smart, Wade also may have purchased Naz Reid.

Wade's new contract with LSU seemed to simplify the situation allowing them to more easily cut bait 'with cause'. But what a mess.

Quote:

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A third inference of LSU coach Will Wade attempting to pay for a player in recruiting emerged in federal court on Monday.

In a surreptitiously recorded conversation, an Arizona assistant coach, Emanuel "Book" Richardson, said that Wade told him in relation to Tiger star freshman Naz Reid: "Look, there's a deal in place, I got $300,000 for him."

According to the recording, Richardson said he told Wade in response: "Give me half and I'll make sure the kid goes there."

Reid, a 6-foot-10 forward, was regarded as the best player in the state of New Jersey in the class of 2018 and has declared for the NBA draft after averaging 13.6 points and 7.2 rebounds for LSU last season.

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LawHall88 said:

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So Reid was approximately 28 times more valuable that Robert Williams, who went for a paltry $11k.

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Totally different situation I think. Williams thing was not being paid to come to A&M. Or is Wade saying he himself got $300,000? If so he's in big big trouble.

Quote:

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LSU is aware of the situation, but is declining to comment at this time.

"We are continuing to monitor the situation. Due to the fluid nature of this matter, LSU will refrain from commenting until further notice," said Jason Droddy, LSU's interim vice president for strategic communications in a statement to NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune.

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Need to hurry up and fire him while Pitino is still available.

Hop said:

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MarcAg said:

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LawHall88 said:

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So Reid was approximately 28 times more valuable that Robert Williams, who went for a paltry $11k.

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Totally different situation I think. Williams thing was not being paid to come to A&M. Or is Wade saying he himself got $300,000? If so he's in big big trouble.

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FYI, Williams was a nice recruit for A&M, but he wasn't a national prospect pursued by the blue bloods. Michigan State sniffed around very late in the process, but A&M had him locked up much earlier. I went to his signing ceremony in North Caddo, and I was the only media member at his signing ceremony.

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Right. Robert Williams stock blew up after coming to A&M. His family was allegedly sent that 11K shoe box money in July 2017 during a summer tournament thing in Las Vegas. Which was actually even after he had already returned to A&M for a sophomore season. NCAA violation type of thing and Rahim allegedly forwarded the request, but the motivation of that particular payment would have had nothing to do with getting Williams to play at A&M, but rather to encourage Williams to later sign with that agent.

There is no way Naz Reid was worth more than Cam Newton...

Inflation

Am I understanding that correctly? Book Richardson while an assistant at Arizona was offering to steer a kid to LSU in return for a kick back?

mdanyc03 said:

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Am I understanding that correctly? Book Richardson while an assistant at Arizona was offering to steer a kid to LSU in return for a kick back?

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Yes, that seemed to be the testimony.

Wow

The market drives the price.

https://sports.yahoo.com/how-christian-dawkins-exposed-college-amateurism-231944769.html


Wow. Color me shocked. Feds way over-extended their authority to try and force crimes in an unnatural way.

The entire thing is a mess.

Bunk Moreland said:

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https://sports.yahoo.com/how-christian-dawkins-exposed-college-amateurism-231944769.html


Wow. Color me shocked. Feds way over-extended their authority to try and force crimes in an unnatural way.

The entire thing is a mess.

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That article doesn't mention at all one of the organizations which is a big player in the current state of college basketball, which is the NBA.

The NBA is the organization that put the 'one and done' rule in place for its own self-interests, and is the only organization that can remove it.

If the NBA removed the one-and-done rule and then continued to further develop its G-League as an attractive option for talented high schoolers/collegiate players, that would at least reduce some the size of the problem.

Agree. I hate 1 and done. I think they should mirror baseball rules. Declare out of HS for draft/g league/overseas, or go to college for 3 years (with draft-eligible sophomores if they're old enough). I've been against 1 and done for forever.

But even still...the NBA isn't funding entire AAU leagues/teams/tournaments flying kids around, showering them in swag, making them feel like a million bucks, then funneling money through every possible back-channel and half-cocked relationship they have with someone to influence them to go to a school that also has a contract to wear their apparel.

All that aside, it's hilarious that the FBI went about it the way they did. More and more you see that while intentions may start out good(we have to do something about college basketball being dirty), they over-extend their power to ridiculous levels...be it this or what they're currently doing to Kraft. That entire story started out as human trafficking, imprisonment of sex slaves, etc...and within 2 weeks we find out there was no trafficking, women come and go as they please, and everything sounded pretty much like it was a normal rub & tug joint you see in sleazy areas of town. Still not right, but not near what they tried to make the case out to be and now they're struggling to put anything together other than submit the receipts for months of investigating.

In terms of that article's discussion of FBI and whether Dawkins can prove entrapment, legal analyst Michael McCann of SI wrote about that as well about a year ago in this article:

https://www.si.com/college-basketball/2018/05/23/fbi-investigation-ncaa-christian-dawkins-college-basketball-sting-operation

Apparently, entrapment is extremely difficult to prove, which is probably why that Yahoo article also mentioned that Dawkins is still likely to be convicted despite 'clowning' the FBI in his testimony. The reason is apparently it isn't enough to show that the undercover FBI agents deceptively groomed him. He would have to show that he was forced/coerced by the FBI to do the things that he did. The FBI opening a cookie jar and putting it in front of his nose to smell some delicious cookies isn't enough. He apparently has to also prove that the FBI grabbed his arm and forced it into the jar to take the cookies out.

What a giant waste of tax dollars. Is it "legal" entrapment? Maybe not as Pumpkin showed, but it's definitely the FBI creating a sandbox for themselves to play in.

The NBA created the 1-and-done rule to protect the Michael Jordans of the NBA from the Kwame Browns of AAU basketball. They don't care about the players' ages.

The whole legal premise of calling this fraud is such a cognitive leap. Nobody is getting defrauded. I hope Dawkins puts on a good show again today, makes a mockery of the NCAA, and then gets pardoned Monday morning by Trump.

Tango_Mike said:

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The NBA created the 1-and-done rule to protect the Michael Jordans of the NBA from the Kwame Browns of AAU basketball. They don't care about the players' ages.

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The team owners created the 1-and-done rule because they found out they weren't very good at draft evaluations and they don't like spending money with poor ROI.

The players union agreed to the 1-and-done rule, as you said, out of a desire to protect the jobs of their eldest members.

wacarnolds said:

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LSU going on a monster recruiting run in football while their basketball coach is in the news for paying recruits. Probably completely unrelated.

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Say It Ain't So

wacarnolds said:

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Tango_Mike said:

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The NBA created the 1-and-done rule to protect the Michael Jordans of the NBA from the Kwame Browns of AAU basketball. They don't care about the players' ages.

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The team owners created the 1-and-done rule because they found out they weren't very good at draft evaluations and they don't like spending money with poor ROI.

The players union agreed to the 1-and-done rule, as you said, out of a desire to protect the jobs of their eldest members.

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Yeah that's what I meant with the MJ-Kwame Brown thing. The NBA (owners) weren't very good at distinguishing Kwame Brown from Kobe Bryant. MJ was a very popular example of a bad GM (MJ) going all-in on a high school kid (Kwame Brown) who turned out to not be all that great

I remember when Jason Jack went on FSSW and completely threw LSU under the bus saying they offered him a car.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/a-few-were-found-guilty-many-looked-bad-but-nothing-has-changed-after-college-basketballs-bribery-trials/

Trial comes to a whimpering end. Pitino will be back in CBB in no time if he wants it.

Scott Woodward a couple of days ago...."Wade has my full support until he does not have it, I hope he is here a long time but things can change"

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/sports/lsu/article_e1220854-7049-11e9-8774-57feb68b7526.amp.html

Bunk Moreland said:

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https://sports.yahoo.com/how-christian-dawkins-exposed-college-amateurism-231944769.html


Wow. Color me shocked. Feds way over-extended their authority to try and force crimes in an unnatural way.

The entire thing is a mess.

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Yup. First, this is one of the many reasons I'm not a college basketball fan. Second, why is this a matter for the feds to be concerned with? Surely the FBI has something more important with which to concern itself.

Are you kidding? Why is the FBI involved? This is exactly what the FBI does.

Nothing will happen to Wade.

Pay the players, and get rid of this OAD bull****.

There will still be corruption if players are paid. Shoe companies and agents will still be doing under the table crap. Schools will probably be secretly be paying money over what they are allowed to pay a player if this ever happens. Paying players won't stop corruption, it will just stop the exploitation.

MarcAg said:

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Are you kidding? Why is the FBI involved? This is exactly what the FBI does.

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Well, I said "the feds." From a policy standpoint, I don't see why college basketball should be a matter of federal concern. Is this a tax evasion issue? If so, I wouldn't expect the FBI to be involved. If not, why is this (or should this be) a matter of federal concern?

This is a major corruption case. That's what the FBI does. I don't see anybody else that should handle that besides the FBI

_mpaul said:

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MarcAg said:

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Are you kidding? Why is the FBI involved? This is exactly what the FBI does.

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Well, I said "the feds." From a policy standpoint, I don't see why college basketball should be a matter of federal concern. Is this a tax evasion issue? If so, I wouldn't expect the FBI to be involved. If not, why is this (or should this be) a matter of federal concern?

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It would help if you knew what the FBI did before commenting on what they shouldn't be involved in.