I know all of the players on my teams bench and have followed them religiously throughout the entire NBA season thusfar.

That doesn’t mean though that I give one happy damn about who’s sitting on the bench for the way too many teams that my team only plays twice or once in a blue moon three times a year though (I agree with Jerry West and would love to see the NBA contract 6 teams this contract go around, but I also realize that would be almost impossible to do because of existing long term arena use agreements, etc.). I don’t!

If you truly care about the makeup and stats of all teams on the NBA’s benches, you probably have way too much time on your hands.

As for your point about a class action suit being filed by good lawyers, ANY labor lawyer worth their shingle will tell you that the one virtually impossible to challenge thing in any labor dispute is a written signed contract.

The NBAPA and the NBA franchises have such an agreement that requires that in order to be eligible for union membership in the NBAPA, you must be at least 19 years of age. That’s a union contracted and bargained for requirement. When was the last time you read anything about any law firm successfully suing a big labor union and winning? Just doesn’t happen.

In fact, the NBA is such a big target with perceived deep pockets that if any labor lawyer even thought that they had a snowballs chance in hell to beat the NBA with a class action suit, these lawyers would be all lined up around the block right now to get the suit filed at their nearest courthouse.

My bad.

Andray Blatche (Washington Wizards)
Monta Ellis (Golden State)
Andrew Bynum (Los Angeles Lakers)
CJ Miles (Utah Jazz)
Louis Williams (Philadelphia 76ers)
Amir Johnson (Toronto Raptors)

At the end of the day the draft is more of a guessing game that depends on a lot factors to pan out for both player and the team. Right system, right coaching/mentoring, right home life, etc… Even established players who come from the NCAA after a complete career find the transition difficult and need time to be a solid contributor. Everyone’s situation is different and lead to different outcomes.

Oh, and the NCAA is complaining about the “one and dones”. They would rather be known as academic institutions than “basketball schools” or “football schools”. But, they would rather the kids who would ruin their academic prestige be weeded out quickly, than last four years that will prove that a lot of student athletes aren’t focusing equally on the academic part. But, it’s a double edge sword for the individual schools, because they get kickbacks from the ton of money from merchandising for and at the gates.

Also, the “One and Done King” Calipari will be on the move again and do you want to know why? His program is going to receive a “F” because of UK’s crappy graduation rate under his watch. The UK fans and boosters have crappy long term memory… when a program’s graduation rate dips to a certain percentage… they lose scholarships… you lose scholarships… you lose games… you lose games, you get canned.

The Players Union was short sighted and caved into pressure to make it seem like they care about the plight of young black players and their development. A high-schooler used to file for the draft out of high-school if their family was a financial hardship case. Which, most black athletes fall under in this country (I am not turning this into a race thing, just pointing out historical facts).

As for Pat Tillman, let’s put this in perspective… first, he went to college to play football before he ever thought about serving his country. He didn’t pass up the leisure of playing sports or potentially earning a living in the NFL to join the military. He did pass up the opportunity to cash in on a lucrative extension to fight for his country after the government started two wars abroad in response to 9/11. Secondly, Pat Tillman was not a financial hardship case, so the early draft prospect doesn’t really apply to him.

Finally, when looking at alternatives for gainful employment in a given discipline/field to mention going overseas is not “an alternative”. And, I am really certain if enough young players filed a class action suit with good lawyers, the NBA would have to get rid of this rule.

The MLB draft high-schoolers all the time, but there are loop holes to help players and teams alike – yes, I do acknowledge their minor league farm system is superior to anything the NBA has in place. Which is another failing of the NBA and it’s “product”. The NFL has an age restriction that is based on the protection of the athlete (though I am sure there will be and have been exceptions of young men who could hang with grown men on the gridiron).

One-and-done is idiotic precisely because they shouldn’t have changed the professional rule in the first place. The four year rule wasn’t fair before and it wouldn’t be now.

And anyway, you completely dodged the question as to why the hell should college presidents be part of the NBA’s cheap labor for billionaires.

In fact, in Chicago Rose is introduced in pre-game introductions as “Derrick Rose from Chicago” (his home town, which obviously in his case works much better for him anyways).

What I would like to see implemented is that if you haven’t successfully completed at least half or more of your collegiate graduation hours required, you get introduced as Rose is as being from your home town. After all, to simply spend only one and half semesters at any university shouldn’t mean that you get the recognition as being FROM that university.

The NCAA is moving towards a much overdue penalty system that would hit collegiate programs where it hurts (i.e., number of allowed/granted scholarships), to start discouraging schools focusing their recruiting efforts primarily on “one and done-ers”, as Calipari currently shamelessly does. In essence, the NCAA wants to tie the number of full scholarships to graduation rates; about time!

I think that college presidents and the NCAA hate the “one and done” thing even more than many of us do, because in many cases it makes such a total sham out of the very little actual academics required for a mens basketball player to remain eligible through the end of the NCAA tourney (i.e., just a C average and 12 lousy units, half of which are joke classes like “Introduction to Bowling”, and then they can simply drop out, wait for the NBA draft and never attend another class again).

I’ll grant you that anything sounds better than the most absurd “one and done” but the NCAA has its own problems without professional unions and mulit-billionaires in collusion to make them responsible for “developing talent”.

Since so many like to focus on Bynum here (and no reason not to), what Lakers management clearly hated was the fact that they got so little production out of him the first two years in the league, then suddenly at the end of year three they had to give him a huge contract to either retain him as a restricted free agent and/or preventing him from playing his fourth year out and becoming an unrestricted free agent.

Had Bynum been stashed for the first two years on a Euro team, the Lakers then would have been able to retain him for professional years 3-5 at the rookie salary scale (not just years 1-3). It’s a fair argument on the part of management if you ask me. Yes, Bynum is very important to the Lakers right now, but has he really earned the $10M or so he’s getting paid this year based on past performance?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBA_high_school_draftees

It’s a shame that their parents, guardians, coaches or close associates see money bags (that is fleeting), as opposed to gaining quality educations, developing earnest work ethics, and building quality relationships/networks. The qualities I listed, lead to better and lasting opportunities for their family for generations to come – but this is a whole different subject.

The “guys at the end of the bench” are drawing a serious paycheck. They are pulling annual salaries greater than most doctors, lawyers, engineers, and most definitely educators. The only problem with them is that a good majority of them lack sound basketball fundamentals and high basketball IQs, which gives ammunition to old school purist.

How does the name Hasheem Thabeet strike you? Ok, he was a two and through junior when he came out early from Connecticut, but he clearly wasn’t ready to come out early. Despite being the #2 OVERALL PICK in the 2009 draft, he’s currently laboring in obscurity in the D-League.

I believe that the last year hi skoolers were eligible to be drafted was in 2005. That year budding NBA superstar Martell Webster was taken 6th overall by Portland. He played a whopping 1069 minutes for a crappy team that year, and last year he played just 1068 minutes.

That certainly begs the question, could he have developed into a significantly better player had he spent three or four years at a good collegiate program? I say absolutely, because if he didn’t have the talent he still wouldn’t be in the league.

I think that if colleges could find away to provide a greatly increased stipend though for their scholarship athletes, they would, but that just can’t happen because women’s groups and organizations would then all howl like a pack of scalded dogs claiming discrimination, despite not having a sound economically based argument to stand on. No university wants that kind of publicity or exposure.

I’m a Big 10 alum and I can assure you though that no Big 10 university is living high off the hog on the monies being generated by the collectively shared Big 10 athletic programs; all of the monies are scrutinized and carefully channeled into university needs, not for raises to the deans, professors and worker bees that run them.

Did you know that Indiana University, thanks to the crazy success the Big Ten (cable) Network has generated received more money from their football program than Notre Dame did this past season, despite the fact that Notre Dame has their big own personal sweetheart TV deal?

Underage college football players can still go pro in Canada. Underage baseball players can still go pro in Latin, Central, South America or Asia. Underage basketball players can still go pro in Europe and Asia. It’s not the professional, it’s the negotiated labor union rules that keep them out.

In the first place, aside from Pat Tillman, name even just one more top hi skool prospect in any sport who joins the military and passes up a chance at professional sports (excluding of course players who are already committed to the military by accepting one of their scholarships to one of their academies and guys who have religious commitments as many do who attend BYU for example).

As I’ve posted a couple of times already today, just because the NBA Union negotiated labor agreement rules state that they currently aren’t eligible to join the union until they are 19 years of age doesn’t mean that they can’t play professional basketball in Europe or Asia.

Now, this doesn’t mean I think that most athletes should follow that path. I don’t think it benefits them, in the short or long run… and the same can be said for the franchises that pick them. There are exceptions to the rule, there will occasionally be a Kobe, Amar’e, LeBron, Moses, etc… but more than naught there will be more Greens, Stevensons, etc…

The onus is on the owners to NOT draft these players, not because of a written rule, but because of an unwritten rule. If they made a point to not draft a kid who hasn’t developed in college for a few years, you would see less high school players jumping into the draft. Keep in mind that when Kemp and Bryant jumped into the draft, they KNEW they wouldn’t be high draft picks, but they could more than handle their own once they got it.

Scouts nowadays draft on potential, not on merit or actual skills. They talk teams into drafting raw athletes in the hopes of molding them into complete players. What ends up happening is the team that drafted a draft pick with potential, waste countless hours and some bucks to groom them to take their developed skills to another team via free agency. Bryant is the exception, while LeBron and Amar’e are the norm (they both jumped at going elsewhere).

The owners are crying over spilled milk. They made poor investments by drafting unproven commodities, instead of drafting players who played 3-4 years of high level and productive college ball. Shane Battier isn’t a super-star, but he is a quality player who hasn’t caused stir up, except for being a sound player. Dwayne Wade took his college game to the next level and showed that he could be counted on for taking his game to another level.

But, at the end of the day the draft is a guessing game. Teams don’t draft on need or fit, they draft on hype. When the owners and front offices change their focus, then they will have better chances of finding quality players who become quality employees and the fans will be rewarded by quality competition.

If I’m a GM, do I want my child protoge in big city strip clubs making it rain at 2 AM or getting busted for a DUI? Here in California for example, if you are under 21 even ONE lousy beer gets you a DUI (the legal DUI limit for under age drinking is .01, which is about a half of only one beer).

Sure, the kids are going to likely drink and party on a college campus too, but at least they wouldn’t be in strip clubs at 2 AM surrounded by criminal elements, nor out driving around town.

Another example is Kemba, he was a slightly above average college player until he played against the team that won gold in the World Champions last summer. It wasn’t Calhoun that got him to take the next step, but playing against the top players in the world.

Sometimes, I think Webster and Green and the other busts would still be busts if they went to college. They just have less money.

The problem with not knowing how to play defense usually stems from them being elite players when compared to any one that they’ve played against in the past, so when they hit the NBA it’s a huge wakeup call when a veteran backup player off of an NBA bench can simply shut them down on defense or move the ball easily on offense against them.

That’s why I think giving them a couple of years in a Euro League makes so much sense, where there’s virtually no focus on dunking and all the focus is on shooting and defense.

Now, we’ve hit the nail on the head with the exodus of players and the alignment of good shooters. Look at Boston, Miami, Orlando, San Antonio, and LA. All good shooting teams, all veteran teams. Then look at the young teams, Minn, LAC, Sac, etc. poor shooting teams with a lot of one and dones.

You get a better product with a veteran crew.

Basketball –> Also a contact sport, the sheer speed, style, and understanding of the game at 18 is so far off of the HS level. You’re going from playing teams with 5’6″ pg’s to playing teams with SG’s and SF’s as tall your HS center, sometimes taller.

Just look at John Wall, his aggressive style of play and size have caused him to ride the pine for most of the year.

Hockey –> See message about football

Baseball –> Most of those kids get drafted and end up in a farm league for the next 5 years, about the same as playing college ball…

It’s not just that it’s how it’s always been done, it’s the fact that you have kids playing against grown men. These men workout for a living, have nutritionist, and centralize their lives around sport.

These kids, although dedicated, go to class, joke around with friends, and do stuff that normal kids do. College gives them the opportunity to mature mentally and physically.

And the writer wants to point to Lebron James and Kobe Bryant as prime examples, wellllll… what about The Decision? Was that a mature move made by a grounded individual? And what about Kobe’s trial in Colorado? Was that a mature move made by somebody who understood that their are consequences for those on top?

Point is, they’re getting too much too soon, and it leads to poor judgment on the court and off of it.