@chicken_faced_killa said in [Signing Suggestions & Rumours](/post/1498138) said:
What’s the point of a draft of players aren’t tied to the team for their career like in other leagues. You’d just have the best rookies going to the lower clubs and getting experience before moving on at the first opportunity
The reason for the long contracts , is the enormous difference between extending with your existing club , and going on the open market .
Eg. the rookie max extension was 5 years 200 mil for nba recently.
And I think the max ,you could offer in free agency for that player was 4 years 150 or something like that.
That’s 50 mil being left on the table .
In baseball , the draft places have slot value , so you can only pay them between that threshold . So if for example sake , a top player doesn’t want to go to a team with the first pick they can negotiate the absolute max of that draft slot . Most teams will balk at the price and shift to whoever is the number 2 on their board , as much like the NRL , it’s really no given that that player will be worth it at any point .
For reference the best player in baseball Mike Trout went 24th in his draft , and it was pretty immediate that he was going to be a stud . the moment he played in the minors.
That’s how up in the air it all is. In the NBA , unless you’re an absolute moron/ have the worst draft crop imaginable , if your picking at the top you’ll more often than not have a key piece to your team .
My point is , the NRL would be closer to the MLB system , than any other system . Maybe the NFL . John Elway , and The Manning brothers all infamously refused to workout and go to certain teams .