Do one and done players hurt college basketball?

The Game Room
1

Now that the tournament is over, every talented freshman will declare for the NBA draft. Is it better to have the talented player for one year? Or would colleges be better off without them? It is obvious that most of these players aren’t there for the academics.

I think I’d prefer to go back to allowing the NBA to draft the players right after high school. I’d rather have a coach build a team that is likely to stick around for 3/4 years as opposed to putting all the eggs in an NBA lottery pick’s basket.

2

Yes, I think the “one year of college” rule is stupid. A decent idea I heard recently is to adopt a version of how baseball determines eligibility for their amateur draft. That is allow high school seniors to declare for the draft, but players at four-year colleges are eligible only after completing their junior years, or after their twenty-first birthdays.

This would eliminate the mockery of having freshmen “student-athletes” who have no intention of staying longer than a year and taking a ridiculously easy bare-minimum to stay eligible course load.

But the NCAA wouldn’t like this, because they’ll miss out on the megatalents. The NBA wouldn’t like it either as it reduces the yearly pool of eligible players, so it’ll probably never happen.

3

Do one and done players hurt college basketball? No, of course not. They make it much better and much more exciting. Consider Durant and Oden last year. Consider Mayo this year. It’s plain they help the sport. And, like some idiot commentator said, they make the NBA draft that much more exciting because now we’ve seen these kids play for one year! Yay! (Sarcasm, for the sarcastic-impaired.)

Now, should they HAVE to go to freaking college for one year and make a mockery of the concept of the student-athlete? Should football players have to wait until their junior year to go into the NFL? Of course not. It’s so wrong it should be criminal.

Pie-in-the-sky-example: If you’re a computer science guru who wrote some killer app your senior year of high school, and Microsoft calls and says, “Hey! You’re a genius! We want to hire you!” Nobody would say, “Well… you need to do a year of college first. Then you can go make millions of dollars.”

It’s silly and completely about keeping the NCAA’s mattresses filled with money. Anyone who says that it’s about protecting the athletes / preparing them / etc. That’s all bullshit. It’s all about money.

Oh, and fiddlesticks, no offense to your idea of adopting a baseball model, but I still think it should be a free market. If a kid is good enough, he should be able to go and get paid for his skills if he can convince a professional team to take him. I don’t like the idea locking some people into college and not locking in others. What if you’re a decent player in high school who goes nuclear in your freshman year? Strike while the iron is hot? Or wait until you blow out your ACL your sophomore year?

MHO, of course.

4

I think it’s funny that this rule was instituted right after LeBron James was drafted and became an instant star. Clearly, once the NBA saw how much he damaged the game, they knew action was needed. :rolleyes: (Seriously, I wonder if this rule was proposed a year or so earlier, and NBA brass said “Are you nuts? Wait 'til that kid gets to the legue, then pretend we’re concerned about education.”)

The one year rule doesn’t make sense from any perspective other than the monetary one. I don’t think it does anything for the quality of the game or gets anyone an education.

5

I’m honestly surprised this is legal. Except that I suppose the courts would say that the NBA is not the only way to go pro. But in reality, the kid will get better practice and publicity by going to one year of college than burning up the CBA.

6

This is amusing, because I’m hearing about the NCAA and NBA getting together to make it a two year minimum between high school and NBA after this season.

7

Why shouldn’t there be a age limit? There’s an age limit to become a cop or a fireman. There’s an age limit to become President. Employers institute all sorts of requirements on jobs such as years of experience, college degrees, MBAs and a litany of other requirements.

The NBA, as a private enterprise, can institute any restriction they want so long as it’s not excluding a protected class. If they believe that having an age requirement improves their product why should we argue with them.

I don’t give a rats ass what effect it has on the college game, that’s essentially a moot point. If the NBA feels that prep-to-pro players are not adequately trained to complete their job that is just as valid as Microsoft deciding that programmers without a BS in Comp Sci are not adequately trained.

8

It seems dicey this will happen because the player’s association has to be on board with it and they probably aren’t. It worked out last time because they were already negotiating the collective bargaining agreement and they made the one year rule concession in return for some other things.

That said, I like the rule and the NBA does too. It gives an extra year to weed out some flash in the pan types that might have been drafted far too high for their true skills. It puts better players in the college game, if even for a short time. It also exposes good players to rabid fan bases that can adopt them before they go pro, thus growing a potential NBA fan base. For example, once Kevin Love is drafted by (hypothetically) the Indiana Pacers, a big chunk of UCLA fans will have a heightened interest in the Pacers that never would have existed previously.

As for making a mockery of the student-athlete label, the goal of college is to improve yourself enough to find a job doing what you enjoy and are good at. If the opportunity to make $3 million per year after one year of college presents itself, anyone would be a fool to pass that up whether it’s in computer programming, early childhood education, or basketball. College will always be there, the opportunity to vastly improve your monetary lot in life will not. And, an idiot that can’t handle the money and lifestyle in the NBA and flames out, is probably just as likely to be an idiot in college and lose out there also.

If my child had the opportunity to have a guaranteed 3 years of income of at least $2.3 million with a high likelihood of ever-growing income in years 4 and beyond, then he and I would both be fools for passing that up.

Worst case, he goes pro. He gets the 3 year contract and absolutely stinks it up. He has earned around $2 million after taxes. Add in minor endorsement money, perks, etc. Tack on 5 years of overseas play at $300,000 per and we’d have a 28 year old with at least a million in the bank, life experience, world travel, some level of fame, and a lot of doors opened to future work just based on playing a game for a few years. Go back to school and get a degree, get a job in basketball somewhere, or go straight to work doing something you enjoy. There are a bunch of kids that get a conventional four year degree, work or piddle around until they are 28 and have no money, work in a dead end job, and start all over with nothing at that point.

I’d choose the road with the much higher upside and the much higher downside.

9

What I’ve seen is that the NBA will make some concession, but isn’t quite sure what at this time. I was under the (perhaps incorrect) impression that the players association is somewhat in favor of this in order to protect borderline older players.

I don’t watch the NBA to any great extent, but I like to see players like Beasley and Durant out there throwing down in college. It sucks when they’re in your conference, but they’re good to watch.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but the overseas leagues are currently an option for the one year that must be spent out of high school, aren’t they?

10

That’s correct. The overseas leagues will also honor any NBA contract (and vice versa) so if you get signed with someone, you couldn’t bolt overseas to earn more money or play more if under contract. No one could sign them.

But yes, the NBA rule basically boils down to not being eligible to play until one year after your high school class graduates high school.

11

Don’t let the NBA sign players until they have a Ph D.