NBA draft age rule

[mu03eng]

Yes, I can imagine that.  I saw Lew Alcinder do it and he even had to sit his freshman year when they weren't eligible.  Many great players did it time after time after time and they got better, college basketball was better and they became better pros as a result because they were ready .  It is not hard for me to imagine at all.

Yes.  It teaches some levels of responsibility that they do not get today.  These guys are not just one and done, they only go to school for one semester and then coast the second semester knowing they are leaving.  They are missing out on some of the maturation process of having to pursue something for multiple years.  Going to class, earning grades, ramifications for not earning those grades, etc.  The maturity that goes along with it.  These are important lessons.  

Think of our own lives. Freshmen year for many of us - what a crazy time trying to get our bearings.  Parties, first time from home, girls, freedom.  By Junior year, we learned to balance all those things out.  Instead, these kids get indoctrinated into the euphoria of Freshman year, hoops hoops hoops, take one semester of classes and then start a second semester in which they coast.  After the season, someone hands them a check for several million dollars.  What could possibly go wrong?  Many of them aren't ready.  

Hoop you presume these players get the same kind college experience us mere mortals do.  They don't.  They deserve everything they get but they don't have nearly the same experience to teach them those things we learn

[RawdogDX]

I completely agree with you from a physical readiness standpoint but lets not mandate college.  Give players a choice.  Yes it is going to be much more rare for a football player than a basketball player to go straight to the pros but that doesn't mean it couldn't happen or that we should artificially limit a player's option. 

By forcing players into college we are making a mockery of what college can do for you, plus more than likely teach a lot of 18-22 year olds is ok to circumvent rules(not going to class, etc) because you are special.  That is the worst lesson to be teach some of these kids.  You are actually reducing the effectiveness of college.

They can go to europe and get paid 100s of thousands of dollars travel and hook up with girls from the Czech Republic.  No one is mandating college. 

Plenty of private industries require college/work experience.  Why can't/shouldn't/wouldn't the NBA owners do the same thing? 
It is good for them.  They have free scouting and training before paying people millions of dollars to train.  Does your company hire people knowing that they won't do crap for two years but then they have a shot at being good?  Wouldn't you rather have them trained when they got there?  This is how private industry works.

As for 'Artificially limiting his option'.  The problem is that you are forcing the owners to do something they don't want to do.  Take chances on high school kids.  They don't want to have their options inculde those players.  They don't want to pick eddie curry or tyson chandler.  Once it is allowed then your hand is often forced.  It's a bad business decision to let kids walk off high school floors into NY penthouses.

[MU82]

They can go to europe and get paid 100s of thousands of dollars travel and hook up with girls from the Czech Republic.  No one is mandating college. 

Plenty of private industries require college/work experience.  Why can't/shouldn't/wouldn't the NBA owners do the same thing? 

For the gazillionth time, yes, the owners would love this. It has to be collectively bargained! Until the players sign off on it, it simply won't happen.

People need to stop pretending David Stern can unilaterally change the rules or that the owners can do so by a vote. After a long negotiating impasse that threatened to cancel the season, the NBA and its players just signed an extended collective-bargaining agreement. Making young players wait past their 19th birthdays wasn't among the terms.

We are arguing over a moot point here.

[mu03eng]

They can go to europe and get paid 100s of thousands of dollars travel and hook up with girls from the Czech Republic.  No one is mandating college. 

Plenty of private industries require college/work experience.  Why can't/shouldn't/wouldn't the NBA owners do the same thing? 
It is good for them.  They have free scouting and training before paying people millions of dollars to train.  Does your company hire people knowing that they won't do crap for two years but then they have a shot at being good?  Wouldn't you rather have them trained when they got there?  This is how private industry works.

As for 'Artificially limiting his option'.  The problem is that you are forcing the owners to do something they don't want to do.  Take chances on high school kids.  They don't want to have their options inculde those players.  They don't want to pick eddie curry or tyson chandler.  Once it is allowed then your hand is often forced.  It's a bad business decision to let kids walk off high school floors into NY penthouses.

As has been pointed out here before....lots of companies have experience and educational "requirements" but a lot of companies will waive those if the right candidate comes along.

MU82 is right, it is moot because this has to be collectively barginned, but the funny thing is that the rights of future players aren't being negotiated by those same players they are being negotiated by current players who have a vested interest in keeping the younger players out as long as possible.

[MU82]

I disagree that current players have a vested interest in keeping college players out as long as possible.

Maybe borderline or mediocre players do, but any player who is going to have any kind of NBA career at all wants every player earning the most money possible. He wants a kid to enter the league at 18 or 19, get that first contract out of the way and then get the huge bucks.

Aside from the few guys who get maximum contracts, players get paid according to how they compare to other players. If I'm a good 27-year-old in a contract year, I'd much rather be compared to a good 23-year-old who just signed his second contract than a 23-year-old still stuck in his first deal because he didn't enter the league until he was 21.