Woj nails it (NBA draft age requirements)

Actually, my point was that since he wasn't starting due to playing behind players worse than him, the Lakers could have won their first title of that era sooner. I should have put honors he received while coming off the bench in there to clarify that.

 

I am outraged -- outraged! -- that Maria Sharapova was not forced to spend a few years playing collegiate tennis before she turned pro. She and the Williams sisters, who are only in it for themselves and the money, have deprived me of some quality collegiate entertainment.

 

I've got to think the age limit has helped both colleges and the NBA in generating more excitement at both levels. You get a chance to see Oden and Durant dominate in college (and maybe learn some basketball skills, or even hit the books) and they come ready to market in the NBA. Too many high schoolers have been swallowed up by the league. How many of these "NBA-ready preps" start as rookies?
If kids really want to jump to the NBA out of high school, couldn't the NBA keep them in the D-League for one or two years?

And tennis does have a similar rule.

 

Of course it has helped colleges but that is not the point. Nobody should be restricted from making a living. If someone is willing to pay you why is that anyone elses business.
What is the age limit in tennis?

 

Yes, it's called: You can only enter so many tournaments until you're 17, but we won't flat out deny you the opportunity to play under some phony attempt at deciding what's best for you.

 

Carmelo Anthony was the main player on a Syracuse team that won a national championship five years ago.

But then, because he didn't do it in the NBA (and he needs to be the main person on that team, according to your standards), that probably doesn't mean anything. And forget that he was one of the best players on this past Olympic team, too. Meaningless.

 

Sure, let's make sure the uppity negroes spend a season or two in Bakersfield or Sioux Falls or Rio Grande Valley.

Once tennis players turn 18, they can do whatever they want.

 

Is anybody under the impression that professional sports leagues care about the players ABOVE the bottom line for the league. If I'm a league and we can sell more tickets keeping players in school, that's what I'd be pushing. If the kids want to come out early and play in Europe or whatever, fine. There are other professional basketball leagues.
And while we're on the subject of age requirements, why don't we allow kids to jump from high school to run for President?

 

This is such a ridiculous line of reasoning anyway, because rarely to NBA teams win championships with just one "main" guy. Duncan is really the only one who comes close, and he has probably the two most underrated guards in the league in Parker and Ginoblli.

If you think that Kobe wasn't a "main" guy during that Laker three peat, you don't know very much about basketball. They never would have won a single series during that initial run without him, when he was, gosh, 21 years old. I watched ever minute of those Laker teams and I can tell you that without Kobe, they would have lost in the final minute every time. So your entire premise is silly. Jordan would not have won six NBA championships without Scottie Pippen, Bird wouldn't have won three without Parish and McHale, and Magic wouldn't have won five without Worthy and Kareem.

Who cares that Daruis Miles didn't spent two years playing firecrackers and swoards at Fresno State? Or that Kwame Brown couldn't get a high enough SAT score to get into Florida, rendering the entire point moot? They burned out of the NBA for a reason -- they weren't dedicated enough to build off their own talent -- and no amount of freshman seminar classes was going to change that.

I can't stand the argument that we need these guys to go to college so that "the NBA draft is more entertaining." Seriously? That's considered a valid point in this discussion?

 

There is an age limit in golf and tennis.

A 14-15-year-old --- no matter how good --- cannot play more than a handful of WTA tournaments.

A 16-17-year-old --- no matter how good --- cannot play more than a handful of LPGA tournaments.

And the comparisons between these sports and NBA are not exact anyway.

Sharapova does not sign a three-year contract with guaranteed money the day she turns pro. If she does not produce, she does not earn. She is her own private contractor. No franchise has to worry about "wasting" a pick on her (and then waiting while 31 other teams pick before being able to select another player).

Same with IBM. They do not have to make a choice between the "safe" pick (MIT graduate) or a 17-year-old phenom. They can sign both. An NBA team cannot. They can draft only one. If this was truly the free-market world you keep talking about, any player should be able to sign with any team at any time --- NO DRAFT.

When you are ready to accept no draft, only then can you argue "free-market!!!" and bring IBM into the equation.

 

Everybody who mentions the NBA "swallowing these kids up" is forgetting one important factor - even high schoolers who are busts can set up their families for life based just on their rookie contract (assuming they are first-round draft picks -- and any high schooler who declares and doesn't get drafted in the first round was getting bad advice from someone).

I rarely buy the argument that a player who goes directly to the NBA and then busts out would have improved so significantly in college for that to have been the right decision. I think more often than not, the high schooler who flames out would've more likely been exposed in college as not being that good and either gone undrafted or at least drafted lower, costing him millions.

I'm also not saying every high schooler should be jumping to the NBA. That's something only the select few should do because they have the talent to merit that first-round draft pick. But they shouldn't be prevented from doing it if they so choose.

 

I totally agree. Every time I hear somebody advocating forcing these kids to stay in school I think of Jonathan Bender. Kid's knees went bad pretty early, but he still managed to walk away from the game with nearly $30 million because some team was willing to roll the dice. Who knows, had he played one year at Mississippi State, that knee problem might have popped up and he wouldn't have made anything. If a kid wants to play, and a team wants to pay him, why the hell should some arbitrary rule make him take an unnecessary risk that could end his chance to make millions?