Friday, June 21, 2013

Why the NBA Needs to Change Draft Age Rules


The NBA would be wise to start looking at ways they can change the age limit for hopeful prospects. It was not long ago when the NBA allowed players to come out of high school, this led to mixed results. There are great stories of NBA players coming out of high school like Kevin Garnett, Lebron James, Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard. Then there are some horror stories such as Kwame Brown, Eddie Curry and Sebastian Telfair. Not every player coming out of college can be Lebron James although they all think they can. This leads to players who were clearly not ready leaving for the pros one year after college. This has lead to the destruction of the college game because teams are not able to build dynasties because players will be leaving after one year.


 That brings me to my point that NBA prospects should spend at least three years in college before being eligible for the draft. Players like John Wall, Demarcus Cousins, Anthony Davis and Bradley Beal will or have had success in the NBA, but there are many players who will follow in their footsteps who won't. There are others that simply aren't ready and two more years in college would do them well. Players like Brandan Wright could have put on more muscles, a bigger frame would have helped his NBA career tremendously. Derrick Rose has turned into a sensation after becoming a pro after only one year in college, but the 2nd pick in that draft, Michael Beasley, has not been as prosperous. Besides those two 8 other freshmen were taken in the 1st round, only Kevin Love is a star. OJ Mayo and Eric Gordon were also taken, but I need to see more from both of them before I call them stars. There is always bust potential for any NBA player, but at least if a senior bust he will have something to fall back on, while if a freshman or even sophomore bust they lose their scholarship and most likely will not be able to pay for more school.

If the NBA moved the limit up to completing three years of college the players could be more adept to making his own decision, whether to stay in school or not. If a player has completed three years of college the player will know whether or not it is worth the risk to go into the NBA draft. If they don't have what it takes to be a first rounder they can stay in school because the 2nd round in the NBA draft is normally a sign that the player will not make it.

Besides that fact that it could potentially save the players from themselves it would ultimately put a better product on the court in the NBA and in college ball. In college, players would develop better chemistry and freshmen would not be thrusted on to the court when they aren't ready. In the NBA it raises the talent level available in the lottery. The players would have honed their skills and found what works best for them before they come to the NBA. Kwame Brown could have been a very good player had he went to college for 3 years.

My message to potential NBA players is to stay in school unless you are a sure fire lottery pick because there is a big chance that you won't make it so you better have a good back up plan, college degree is normally the best, or the very thing that brought you up can tear you down.

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