LAS VEGAS -- Players say they're more important than their high school seasons. The NCAA says they might be the most concerning events on the calendar. Many coaches think they've grown out of control, but virtually all say they can't afford to ignore them.
Teenage basketball players have flown around the country each July for years, playing in sneaker company-sponsored events that draw criticism from those who feel summer-league coaches possess too much influence. But this month, with Reebok raising a new challenge to Adidas and Nike for summer basketball supremacy, excess has become the norm, and competition among the competing shoe companies has raged hotter than the triple-digit heat here.
Former Oak Hill Academy star Josh Smith says summer camps are more important than high school season because of who gets to see you play.
(Chris Howell -- Bloomington Herald-times Via AP)
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_____Hoops Scoop_____
Every year, there's a story behind the story at summer camps.
2004
Juniors Greg Oden and Derrick Caracter go head-to-head at Reebok ABCD camp, with experts giving Round 1 to Caracter. The two could go 1-2 in the 2006 NBA draft.
2003
Several Adidas players consider the high school-to-NBA jump, most notably Dwight Howard, the eventual No. 1 pick in the 2004 draft, and Dorell Wright, a sleeper who is compared to Tracy McGrady.
2002
Adidas holds a news conference for an injured LeBron James, who cuts his college list to five. One college assistant said, "Yeah, just great," knowing James will never play college basketball.
2001
James, a junior, outplays top senior Lenny Cooke to cement his status as the best player still in high school.
2000
A thin kid who just completed middle school finagles his way into Adidas camp and holds his own against seniors. His name? Sebastian Telfair, the New York guard selected in the first round of the 2004 draft who recently signed a multimillion dollar Adidas shoe contract.
-- Eric Prisbell
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The three shoe companies each spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on summer-league teams, in hope of signing the next NBA superstar or, as current pro standout Baron Davis said, simply "building the brand." While the increased interest has created additional opportunities for high school players, it has also made getting a handle on the summer camps even more untenable for the NCAA.
Over the past week here, some 700 summer-league teams competed in three simultaneous tournaments. Earlier this month, more than 600 of the nation's best high school players competed in summer camps in Atlanta, New Jersey and Indianapolis.
"There is a culture in the South: There was a gas station on every corner and a church on every corner," said Bobby Dodd, the president and CEO of the Amateur Athletic Union. "Now we have a summer basketball camp on every corner."
Dodd wants all of summer basketball to have the same restrictions and accountability as AAU, which stages close to 300 national championships per year. Events sponsored by shoe companies, which are not run under the auspices of AAU, have come under increased scrutiny from the NCAA, which has attempted to restrict contact between unregulated summer-league coaches and college coaches during sanctioned events.
Signs detailing rules for coaches -- "No contact with players" -- are present here, and NCAA representatives roam gymnasiums. Nevertheless, interaction can occur.
"I talked to some coaches today," one summer-league coach said. "We're not supposed to talk to them, but there are ways around it." At one camp headquarters hotel, a college coach with Final Four experience worked the lobby for 30 minutes. One summer-league coach said he told an NCAA representative, "I don't work for you."
As early as April, Thomas Yeager, chairman of the NCAA infractions committee, said the NCAA needs to further examine the "perceived immunity" some summer-league coaches feel they have.
"The NCAA's ability to reach these folks is limited," Yeager said in April, following the ruling on Auburn's case, which centered on a summer-league coach. "For one, they are not employees of NCAA member institutions. They operate outside the high school ranks. It's kind of indicative of what the problem is. They are in between the cracks on some governing organizations."
Setting Targets
Often called the godfather of grass-roots basketball, Reebok power broker Sonny Vaccaro played a pivotal role in Nike's emergence as an industry powerhouse in the 1980s behind the signing of Michael Jordan. Vaccaro did the same for Adidas in the early 1990s, showcasing future stars such as Tracy McGrady, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James through his ABCD camp in July. Nike's George Raveling ran, and still runs, an equally high-profile camp for roughly 200 players at the same time.
Vaccaro left Adidas for Reebok last year because he said he was upset Adidas did not make a satisfactory bid to sign James -- the No. 1 pick in the 2003 NBA draft -- to a shoe contract. James eventually signed with Nike for a reported $90 million.
"That was one of the greatest thrills of my life -- the chase for LeBron," said Vaccaro, calling James the prize of this generation. "That's why [Adidas] won't win. They have no [guts]."
Vaccaro retained the ABCD trademark to his summer camp and was motivated to court a young foundation of future stars for his now-Reebok-sponsored events. His first phone call: Indianapolis, where Vaccaro signed 16-year-old Greg Oden's summer-league team. Soon after, Reebok signed an Ohio-based summer-league team that featured O.J. Mayo, who, along with Oden, is considered among the most talented and marketed high school players nationally.
