Matt Moore from Ridiculous Upside talked to David Fredman, current Jazz scout who recently finished a stint as general manager of the D-League's Utah Flash, which is affiliated with both the Jazz and the Celtics.

Fredman has a number of interesting ideas about the D-League, some of which may come into play with NBA's next collective bargaining agreement. One big point: it is very hard for the D-League to compete with Europe in terms of dollars.

The NBA has set up a very inexpensive model, where players are employed by the league and assigned to teams -- which prevents market forces from driving up salaries.

Fredman seems to feel that model is already outdated.  

Here's part of their conversation:

I think it needs to follow the baseball model. It just makes more sense that way. I don't believe at all that even with the Defenders and the Toros, even though they were owned by their affiliates, I don't think they had the relationship with the affiliate that our team had. Or players were allowed to go watch practice with the Jazz, they practiced at the same facility, we held them right after one another, Coach Sloan bought season tickets.

Even though those other teams are owned by their affiliates, I'm not sure any of their people have worked with their affiliate.

I've worked with the Jazz. Brad Jones was a Jazz scout before he joined us. It's like baseball, where the parent team controls it. Now, obviously, we're independently owned. And that's the best thing about Brandt Anderson, where he was a Jazz season ticket holder, and while we're independent, we still hold that philosophy of having a relationship with the affiliate.

Now with our attendance, our people have done a great job with generating attendance, but also, in Utah, if you've ever been there you know, the Jazz is king. And I think it was our affiliation with the Jazz that led to our attendance.

Was it difficult going from the NBA where the concern is the max amount of money you can spend to the D-League, where salaries are a huge concern and players are always leaving for Europe in pursuit of more money? How frustrating was that from a management standpoint?
It was very frustrating.

First of all, I've known a lot of these agents from my work in the NBA. And to try and convince them to tell their clients not to take the Europe money, and come to the D-League for a shot at the NBA. Now with some players, if they were close to getting called up, I could do that. But the salaries definitely have to come up.

The per diem is ridiculous. You tell a player to be professional, take care of himself and eat right, and then you give him $30 a day to eat on, that's a little embarrassment. Guys getting paid $1,000, $2,000 a month for six months, that's a little embarrassing.

Now, to the D-League's credit, and I'm talking about Dan Reed and Chris Alpert here, they know this has to change, and I think they'll do what needs to be done to make that change.

What do you feel is the best way to change the situation? Do you feel it's through exposure and brand marketing? Or do you feel the best way is to get the teams involved on a financial end, since they are the ones directly involved?
You know, I also had a conversation with David Stern, who I know from my years in the NBA. And he agrees that we can do more with an affiliation system, but it's limited by the Collective Bargaining Agreement [CBA].

So until we get a new CBA, it's going to be very difficult to make a lot of changes, right now. When the new CBA comes out, you have to say, there are some critical issues. Both sides need changes for this to be a more effective minor league system, but those changes can't come overnight. They have to be incorporated into the new CBA.