Rumors have been circulating for weeks that the NBA has been considering raising the minimum age in which players can declare themselves eligible for the NBA draft. Well, it appears that in the next couple of days NBA commish David Stern and NCAA president Myles Brand are going to announce that the minimum age, set at 19 (or after one year of college) in the collective bargaining agreement of 2006, will be raised to 20 (or two years of college). A seeming victory for those protecting the integrity of the game (and certainly a victory for college basketball, who can now hold on to their stars another year). But I have to say, while Stern might have the best interest of the NBA at heart, this really is unfair to all those young, talented athletes who are forced to enter college.
Forced to enter college? Unfair? Well, yes. Consider the fact that the only people this is affecting go to college as a springboard to the NBA. Why go to college? The only reason president Brand cares about this issue is because the NCAA markets and makes money off of these athletes. He does not care about the well-being or education (scoff!) of these athletes. These athletes have to sacrifice millions of dollars for the benefit of the NCAA. Considering the risk of injury, you might potentially cost these athletes their career.
For those talking about the sanctity of the NBA, what about the sanctity of college? Since when did college become a place you go to for a year, just to leave for your professional ambition afterwards? These kids are training for the NBA, not for graduate school. There is no incentive to go to class, or be a productive member of the college community at all (sans the sports program). It is a waste of space and resources for these athletes to be forced to attend college.
How is it fair (or even legal) to deny someone who is clearly qualified for the professional level and millions of dollars in salary (not to mention endorsements) their opportunity? These people stand to make millions, and the NBA is telling them no? If a team is willing to take a chance on them, I do not see how an organization can deny them the ability to declare themselves for the draft.
People always bring up the issues of the sanctity of the game, how the integrity was being ruined by the influx of high school players. This is a way overstated excuse. Look at the drafts of the last five years. 2003-2005 were the last drafts in which high school seniors were eligible for the draft. The number of high school seniors taken in these drafts was 3, 7, and 9 respectively. Out of 60 picks each year. Less than 11% of all NBA draft picks. And 6 of these players were taken within the first 10 picks, meaning these were superstars without the need of a year in college (which only could have served to hurt their draft status). This is who the NCAA is targeting to get to stay in college. These are the superstars they want to exploit for an extra season.
In the two years post-collective bargaining (and the implementation of the 19 year old minimum), 6 freshman have been selected in the top 10 (1 in 2006, and 5 last year). This is a marked increase from the 4 freshman selected top 10 from 2003-2005. No one can deny that Oden and Durant were NBA ready after their freshman year (in the case of Oden, even more so.) All the NCAA is trying to do is take these freshman (some of whom would have left after high school), and force them to be poster boys for two years (in which these athletes could be making millions).
Finally, the attention that NBA draft receives for whisking away younger and younger athletes is greatly disproportionate to other sports. This is the breakdown of draft picks for the four largest sports:
NBA - 60
NHL – 211
NFL – 265
MLB – 1,453
Yeah. The NBA does not come within a 1/3 of hockey in terms of drafting young people. And let’s not mention MLB, which drafts 16 year olds from Curacao and high school seniors by the truck load. Like the NBA, the NFL has an age policy. The NFL is also full of 340 lb linemen who try and kill each other every day. The NBA is a finesse game where an 18 year old can dominate (hello, Lebron James). The NFL is too physical and big for high school seniors to come close to even competing, let alone dominate.
Instead of worrying about something more pertinent (like rearranging playoffs so we don’t have disproportionate talent in one conference, or teams slacking so they actually get lower seeds), David Stern is fixing a problem that does not exist. The number of people this affects is minimal… a handful of 18 year olds a year. For the NCAA and Brand this means millions (you saw the hype for Michael Beasley during tournament time… imagine if he could be in the tournament twice?). For the kids this rule is denying, it also means millions.
—How about that Xavier game? Thirteen lead changes in the last 10 minutes. Four more in overtime. Twenty-Three straight minutes of seemingly do-or-die possessions. This Xavier team has played more high intensity minutes than any team in the tournament. I was at their first round game against Georgia and the atmosphere was extremely tense for almost the entire 2nd half. Their 2nd round game was close throughout. And then you have this game. Who knows whether it will end up being good or bad for them. There is a chance it will lead to one of those “we can’t lose” mentalities and I think those are generally a good things (see: Wildcats, Davidson or Hiltoppers, Western Kentucky).
