EARLY ENTRY OR STAY IN SCHOOL
It’s that time of the year where college basketball players decide whether to enter the NBA draft or return to school. A couple of years ago the NBA commissioner David Stern set a rule saying you had to be 19 years old or/and be one year removed from high school to enter the NBA draft. Don’t get me wrong, I think David Stern is the best commissioner there is, he has made the NBA a truly global game. The rule about being 19 years old to enter the draft is unfair and doesn’t make much sense. I have heard the commissioner’s reasons for this, that players need to develop to make the NBA a better game or make the players go to college for the “college experience”. I have a huge problem with this because what other professions have an age limit? Is there an age limit on when you can be in a band and on tour? Is their an age limit on when you can act in movies, be a model, a tennis pro, soccer player? NO, so why put an age limit of 19 for the NBA. The whole college experience line is nonsense because the purpose of college is to get a good job/pick a profession. Is there a better job then the NBA? Minimal salary is over $400,000 a year. Before you think I am telling players not to get an education that’s not what I am saying at all, I am talking about the special players that can go straight from high school to the NBA. As an athlete there is a limited amount of time to make a living before your body can no longer do it anymore. If you can be a first round draft pick go to the NBA your contract is guaranteed for 3 years and the salary will be between 2.5 million to 13 million dollars, would you turn this money down for the college experience? NO WAY, but this is what some fans and media want. The NBA has the best of everything : coaches, facilities, travel, hotels, everything is the best of the best. Players have a better chance of developing into a better NBA player by being in the NBA. Think about this, did Kobe need college? No. Did LeBron or Dwight Howard need college ? No. These guys going to college would only put these players at risk of getting hurt and not making money. I know what some of you are thinking. What about guys like Ndudi Ebi, Kwame Brown, Donnell Harvey, Joe Forte etc. Guys who left college early or straight out of high school to the NBA who turned out to be busts. All these guys were drafted in the first round got guaranteed money before people realized they could not play at the NBA level. All these guys could have stayed in school and guess what ? People would have realized that they could not play at the NBA level and never would have gotten the guaranteed money. For every guy who left early and was a bust there is just as many guys who stayed in/went to college for 4 years and were busts. I say let the players decide when they are ready.