Woj nails it (NBA draft age requirements)

Isn't it obvious that the only reason the Magic are up 2 games to none and Dwight Howard is averaging 27 and 21 is because JJ Redick spent four years at Duke.

 

Who is guarding him, and how many years did he play at Tech?

Like I have typed before, if Kobe or LeBron or TMac or Garnett or Howard can win a title, then everything I have typed is moot.

But until then, it is, IMHO, a glaring weakness of the high school player or the one-semester college player.

 

Kobe did win a title. Three of them. And everything you've typed on this thread is moot.

 

Not only is this true, but if you look past recent drafts it quickly becomes apparent that the bust to success ratio is immensely higher for 4-year college players that are drafted than it is for the one and dones and straight from high schools. And its not even close. The J.J. Redick experience is closer to the rule than the exception for the NBA's 4-year college draftees. Of course, 93Devil conveniently neglects to mention that little tidbit.

 

But that's to be expected.

If someone stays four years . . . it's almost by definition because they are not a franchise-type player.

The only way to statistically compare would be to see if drafts had a lower bust ratio if NOBODY could leave early. But that will not --- nor should not --- ever happen.

 

Kobe did not win a playoff series for three years after Shaq left. In fact, I think the Lakers were a sub-.500 team with Kobe if you combine the three seasons.

Sure he helped Shaq, and he is an all-star player, but is he a guy to take your team to the title? I'm guessing no, but he could prove me wrong this season.

As for Redick, I don't remember anyone saying the Magic was so lucky he fell to the 11th pick. In fact, most people said they were crazy for drafting him that high.

There are going to be busts like Law for the Hawks and just like Redick, but the goal of an NBA team is to win it all. Does a franchise want a success history like the Suns or the Pistons?

I hope this point is coming across when I type, but the high school and the one-and-done kids might make you good, but to this point, they are not going to win you a title.

And like I have typed before, that could change this season.

 

Are you aware of some of the dreck Kobe had to work with, post-Shaq? That he even got them to the playoffs in a loaded Western Conference says plenty.

But that's a nice, easy, comfortable argument you've set up for yourself. No high school or one-and-done player can win a title. Oh, sure those guys did, but they didn't do it single-handedly, therefore it doesn't count. :

 

The high school player and the one and done has been around on a consitent basis for about 12 years. In those 12 years Kobe has won 3 championships.
The first few years were dominated by Jordan. So post Jordan a high school player has been an integral part of33% of the post Jordan championships. Now to me, it would only go to reason that the number will go up.
By the way what college did Tony Parker and Manu Ginobli go to?
What age were they playing pro ball in Europe and South America?
Why is it OK that they went pro at a young age?

 

Doesn't the NBA, or any company, have the right to set its own parameters for employment.

Most of us learned how to write in the first grade. Yet most journalism jobs require a college degree. How is that different from the NBA requiring players to be 20 or 21 or 25 or whatever. Are papers that require college degrees discriminating against those who decided to not go to college?

It's a privilege to play in the NBA, not a right. If they want to play pro so badly, why don't they go join the d-league for two years (which dropped its age minimum to 18 when the NBA went up to 19 or one year out of HS).

 

Wow, 93, your reasoning keeps getting more ridiculous. Kobe was a major part of three NBA title teams, stop discounting that because it doesn't fit into your argument. And what about LeBron single-handedly leading his team to the finals last year. I bet he wishes he could have gone to college for a few years to hone his skills.

You're just mad because you want these players to stay around and entertain you at the college level. Fuck that. That's not their job.

 

Apologies because I haven't read further than this post yet. I'm not trying to make any kind of argument to your post, BTExpress - frankly, I agree with all of it. Just wanted to point out that there are sports leagues that fill these requirements exactly: European soccer leagues (hell, any soccer league outside the US, as far as I know). No draft, sign whoever you want to - and for that matter, you can just buy a player from any other team at certain points in the year.

Just to play devil's advocate, you can look at these leagues as what would happen in a true free market. In any of the big leagues, the same teams win nearly every year because they have more money and can buy the best players. The English champ is nearly always Arsenal, Chelsea, Man U or Liverpool; same for Real Madrid and Barcelona in Spain or Juventus, AC Milan, Inter and Roma in Italy. It's most likely the same in the smaller leagues, too - I just don't know much about them.

Not that anyone here was really arguing for the total free-market system per se. But it is interesting to look at the soccer leagues as what would happen under those circumstances. While I think those leagues use some very cool concepts - such as promotion/relegation, which would never fly in American leagues - I think the draft system keeps things much more interesting than the alternative.

 

I'll admit that a player coming straight from high school is probably going to be more raw than a player who has gone to college a year or two. However, at some point, that difference disappears.

KG has been in the league, what, 12 years? He might have been missing something at first by not developing in college ... but now? I don't think we'd see much difference in his game today had he gone to college a year or two. Eventually, you catch up.

The reason none of these players you mentioned haven't won a title (sans Kobe, of course) is that they've pretty much been on dreadful teams. And dreadful teams don't win NBA titles.