Woj nails it (NBA draft age requirements)

Parameters are one thing. A rule written in stone is something else.

Newspapers generally require a degree . . . but I have seen people hired without them. And nothing prevents, say, Pat Riley from saying, "I refuse to take a player coming out of high school." Teams can set their own parameters, just as individual newspapers can.

 

People forget: Moses Malone did not go directly from HS to the NBA.

 

I'll believe that when I see it. Kobe's won three rings already, so for you to say you're waiting for him to win is really asinine. And if KG wins a championship this season, you would probably resort to your Kobe argument, saying he did it with Paul Pierce and Ray Allen.

 

If Magic would have stayed in college four years he would have one less title.

 

Yes, but the "logic" here seems to be it is impossible to succeed in the NBA at any stage of your career without 2 years of college.

And "success" has been defined as winning a championship as the only good player on your team.

 

I also think it's telling that Kobe had the Lakers at the top of the Western Conference before the Gasol trade. The major reason why? The fast development of Andrew Bynum, ANOTHER PREP-TO-PRO ATHLETE!!!

93Devil, I respect your opinion that college basketball suffers from the youngsters going pro so early. That's hard to argue with. I know my enjoyment of college basketball isn't what it used to be.
But leave it at that. I think most of us agree with you on your base point. But it's your arguments that have everyone in an uproar, especially as it pertains to Kobe Bryant and his three titles.

 

I'm pretty sure I don't care if a basketball player eschews college for the NBA. If he is good enough to get drafted, then why should he go to college? So he can make a boatload of money for a system that will not share in the profit?

 

OK, straight to the ABA. C'mon, that's an utterly irrelevant distinction for purposes of this discussion.

The point is he never played in college, and was the first high schooler ever to go straight to the pros. And his multiple league MVPs, world championship ring, and hall of fame career certainly suggest that he didn't miss it much.

 

There isn't a newspaper in this country that wouldn't immediately hire a high school graduate if he or she had somehow shown that he or she could do the job better than the other candidates applying (that, of course, is a pretty rare occurrence). I'd even go so far to say there are probably very few who "require" a college degree. Most, obviously, prefer it, but if you can show you're capable of doing the job well, you'll get hired.

If you can play, you should be allowed to play.

Among the many problems with your argument (including your outright dismissal of Kobe because of Shaq and your failure to acknowledge LeBron taking Cleveland to the Finals last season) is that you're not giving reasons why there should be an age limit, you're making arguments as to why GMs shouldn't draft high schoolers.

A GM could look at your argument and say to himself, "93Devil is right, a 30 percent success rate (which is a bullshit percentage anyway) isn't acceptable, I'm not going to draft any high schoolers." Of course, another could look at it and say, "I believe strongly enough that this high schooler is going to be worth it, I'm going to snatch him up now with the 20th pick rather than waiting for everyone to see him blow up the NCAA and lose him to the No. 1 draft pick."

Both are strategies that should be allowed to be employed by GMs. The ones who employ the wrong strategy won't last long in their jobs. The ones who employ the right one will win championships, like Jerry West who saw his team win three titles thanks in LARGE part to a high school draftee.

And I agree with Someguy. It does hurt the college game, which I greatly prefer to the NBA. But on principle, there should be no age limits.

 

Kobe did drag his team to a victory in a playoff series, btw.

In 2006, against the Suns when he scored 50 points in game 6.

It just didn't happen because Lamar Odom -- who, by the way, signed with UNLV out of high school, then accepted $6,000 from a booster, then got bounced for fraudulent test scores, then was charged with soliciting a prostitute, then had to transfer to Rhode Island and sit out a year (where he stopped going to class), then played a season for the most crooked coach in the country, then stopped going to class again, then signed with an agent, then tried to get his eligibility back, then entered the NBA draft -- didn't box out Shawn Marion on a garbage shot by Leandro Barbosa, and Marion zipped it to Tim Thomas, who hit a game-tying three pointer with five seconds left.

But thank God Lamar Odom went to college, Devil, so that he could entertain you and learn how to box out from a class act like Jim Harrick.

 

What I love about the people on the opposite side of the argument is how they move the line.
If Bynum had come out of college as a top-10 pick averaging 13 points and 10 rebounds, he'd have been labeled a bust. Because he's "only" a HS kid, he's worshipped as a success.
Christian Laettner played in the NBA All-Star game and averaged 12.8 points for his career, and people are still making fun of his pro career.

 

If you don't see the difference in potential between what Andrew Bynum is showing at age 20 and what Christian Laettner showed in his first 3 seasons in the NBA, then ... wow. This thread just isn't for me.