Woj nails it (NBA draft age requirements)

Once again, Kobe Bryant.
And, if you say he wasn't A (not THE ... one-man teams don't win titles in the NBA in the modern era) central component to those Lakers teams that won three titles, then basketball isn't your sport.

 

I believe it says nothing. Even if it were true, which it's not (see Bryant, Kobe) it wouldn't prove a thing. The modern trend of prep-to-pro NBA players began in '95 with Garnett. In that time, you know how many players fit the vague description of "the central component" on a championship team (leaving Kobe out, for the sake of argument)? Four-- Jordan, Duncan, Shaq and Olajuwon. In other words, hardly anyone is in that very exclusive club, regardless of how many years they spent or didn't spend in college, so why would it be considered particularly meaningful that none of the guys straight out of high school are in it? Only one four-year collegian (Duncan) has been the "central component" on a championship team in that time period, so does that mean guys who stay four years don't have what it takes to lead a team to a title? Pointing to a lack of championships from guys who didn't play American college ball is meaningless, especially when you consider the ones who have made major contributions to championship teams.

 

I just don't see how college would have made LeBron a better player. That's the one the boggles me.

NBA exposed his flaws like college never would have, and instead of having to juggle studying with practice and conforming to NCAA rules regarding practice hours, he could spend all his time in the gym working on his outside shot and his defense.

He hasn't won a title because, quite frankly you can quintuple team him like the Spurs did in the championships because the talent isn't there around him. But, while all we can do is project, it defies all logic that a year of college would have made LeBron James a better player. And there's no valid reason he should have had to play in college for free for one, two, three -- however many -- years before making his millions.

 

And "central component" is such a murky description you can turn it however you want. Of the playoff games I saw, it was Manu or Parker off picks who were taking the crunch-time shots (and don't forget Big-Shot Rob) so that could disqualify Duncan, too, if you wanted to argue that way.

 

Of the 72 players on ABA rosters as of the end of the 1975-76 season, about 60 played in the NBA afterward.

The ABA was not as good as the NBA, but it was not a "minor league."

 

Stoney brought up a good point with Kwame, and there have been some other young players who have played well enough at pre-camp workouts to merit a top-10 pick.

What I noted earlier is that so few of these guys are Kobe or LeBron. Many more seem to be a Miles or a Diop, and I do not think it is from lack of talent.

I know this might be "moving goalposts," but I was thinking about how Kwame fooled the NBA.

I am not moving from my statement that high school kids hurt their overall game by turning pro too soon. I still believe that, but people on here have argued that NBA coaches are just as good and probably better than college coaches. That very well could be true, and maybe playing against pros with less intensity for 82 games is better than playing against lesser motivated players for 35 games. I do not think so, but it could be true.

Does anyone think that handing Kwame tens of millions of dollars when he was 19 or 18 just spoiled him? What reason does Kwame have to practice hard or work hard in the off season? He has made his money, and at 19 he can coast. I am signaling out Kwame, but you can stick many other young players into this example.

Let's now put Kwame in college. He is not rich, and now he is working hard to be the highest draft pick his talent allows him. He does this for two years, so those are two years he is busting his ass in practice. Mind you, trying hard in a practice run by a very good coach and not an AAU guy or possibly a soft high school coach.

Is Kwame better prepared for the rest of career because of those few years? Yes.

Am I saying the LeBron and Kobe don't bust their ass in practice? No, but many pro players do not.

 

I'm not sure where the slight to pro players come from, but whatever. As far as Kwame goes, all we can do is guess. But my guess is he would be what he is now even if he want to college.

People who have seen him more can chime in if they want to and provide a better perspective, but my $.02 on Kwame is college or no, he'd never have the fire in him to be the player people expected him to be. He'd be who he is now.

But whatever the case with Kwame, the guys who made poor choices to come out too soon shouldn't keep the ones like LeBron from being able to come out when they're actually ready to handle it.

And Devil, you can't seriously think that if LeBron had two years of college instead of going straight to the pros he'd be a better player on April 25, 2008 than he is right now, can you? I just can't see any logical reason how he would be.

 

LeBron might turn out to be one that does not follow the rule, but if you look at the overall scope of the 18 and 19-year-olds coming out, I feel college would have done them a lot of good as players and possibly as people.

Would Kemp be where he is today or have the legacy he had if he would have gone to college?

Maybe Kemp is just Kemp?

Maybe two years of college would have just made him more like Washburn?

 

See, now that I can understand. It sure couldn't have hurt a lot of those player's games if they had a little more seasoning (it could theoretically hurt them in the pocketbook), but I don't want to see those who CAN hack it punished because of those who can't.

 

Kemp was going to go to college, at Kentucky. But then he got sticky fingers with Sean Sutton's jewelry or something like that and had to leave. At least, that was the story I seem to remember hearing.

 

If Kwame went to college he may have been exposed as a soft player with a 10 cent head and not gone anywhere near number one when he came out. Then again, he might have made an effort for a year or two and then flopped in the NBA. Either way, he was never going to be a success in the NBA. (He was also helped that Michael Jordan had the number one pick that year, and Jordan can't judge talent for shit). That's the pitfall of taking a high school kid, particularly when you really don't know what you're doing. Real GMs are smarter than that now.

As for Kemp, he was a beast as a player early in his NBA career. Two years of college wouldn't teach him to put down the fork and wear a condom.

 

I know it's crossing sports, but Travis Henry spent four years at Tennessee, and he's in the same boat (if not worse) than Kemp. So I'm not so sure going to school would have made a difference for Kemp. It's certainly not a given that going to school for two years builds character.