Post by mrode363 on Mar 14, 2016 16:30:53 GMT
After the 2005 NBA Draft, the league decided to stop allowing teams to draft players straight out of high school. That year, nine different players were selected in the draft that had never played college basketball.
Since then, players have had to play at least one season of college basketball to be eligible for the NBA Draft. That rule has created the “one-and-done” players that we so often hear about. The question I ask today is, should the rule still be in place since so many players declare for the draft after just one season?
Ben Simmons was a polarizing player coming out of high school. So was Andrew Wiggins, who ended up playing a season at Kansas before making the transition to the NBA. Don’t forget about John Wall, Kyrie Irving, Anthony Davis and Karl-Anthony Towns… Did you know that the last time the top overall pick in the NBA Draft wasn’t a freshmen was in 2009 when Blake Griffin was taken after his sophomore year?
That’s a crazy thought to wrap my mind around considering that only one of them actually won the Player of the Year honors (Davis). Now that doesn’t mean that the Player of the Year trophies went to the wrong players or that the top overall pick in the NBA draft shouldn’t have been drafted at that slot. My point is that a lot of those guys were highly-rated recruits coming out of high school and could have easily made the jump to the NBA.
Looking back on the ESPN ‘Recruiting Database’ from the years those players were coming out of high school, here is where they ranked in the Top 100: Wall was the fifth-rated recruit in the 09’ class. Irving was the third overall recruit in 2010. Davis was the top-ranked recruit in 2011. Wiggins was tops in the 2013 class. Towns was the lowest-rated of the top recruits at a lowly-rated ninth spot (sarcasm at its finest). Then there is Simmons, who is projected to be the top pick in the 2016 NBA Draft. Want to guess where he ranked among the Top 100 for this recruiting class??? You guessed it, the top spot.
All of those players could and probably would have been drafted into the NBA out of high school if the rule were not in place. Instead, the players had to be forced into a year of college to ‘develop’ more… How many of them would have actually wanted to be drafted into the NBA right away? That might be a question you would have to ask them personally, but if I had to guess, I’m sure each one of them would have enjoyed making millions of dollars in the NBA over studying for tests and not being paid any money to play the game they love.
The reason I bring this issue up is because of the recent ESPN report that Simmons was ineligible for the Wooden Award (Player of the Year) due to academic issues. One of the qualifications that is required to be eligible for the award is to own at least a 2.00 grade point average.
I’m not going to make fun of Simmons or insult him (Kentucky fans chanted “GPA” while Simmons shot free throws in a recent game) for struggling in school as much as focus on the fact that he has been a ‘for-sure’ ‘one-and-done’ player since he stepped on the court at LSU.
The priority for Simmons is to play in the NBA, meaning school takes a back-seat to the young superstar. Grades are irrelevant and all he is trying to do is get his freshman year over with so he can declare for the draft. Doesn’t that seem like a problem to people?
Simmons might just be a one-time example of a student that gets less than qualifying grades, but the question is still, ‘should high school seniors be forced into a year of college when they are more focused on playing in the NBA?
If the ball was in my court and I had the power to enforce some kind of new rule, here is what I might recommend (not saying I’m the only one who has thought up these scenarios).
The NBA could change the one-year rule and turn it into a two-year option. All NBA Draft eligible players would need at least two years of schooling before entering the draft. After two years of schooling, any player could declare for the NBA Draft, meaning that a player who just finished his sophomore, junior or senior season could declare.
Another option would be to have all draft-eligible players attend four years of college or finish their senior seasons, in which many athletes would get their degrees in case the NBA career didn’t pan out as planned. This idea is a little far-fetched in my mind but setting this kind of standard could really clear up any decisions of when a player could actually declare.
Finally, here is my preferred plan: allow NBA players to be drafted straight out of high school again. The rule used to be in place and I don’t recall anyone having a problem with it. If a NBA franchise wanted to take the chance on a high school senior instead of a college player at any grade, then the choice was up to them. High schoolers would have the choice whether they wanted to be eligible to be drafted and if they didn’t like their draft slot or were not drafted, they could simply attend the college that they had already declared too.
The old rule didn’t force any athletes into a situation they didn’t want to be in. It also didn’t force athletes to go get an education (although every athlete should at least take online classes to get a degree in case their playing career doesn’t pan out). The NBA Draft was more exciting and actually gave the first teams picking a tough decision instead of making a clear-cut pick a month before the draft.
Another big argument that I have heard against forcing athletes to go to college is the fact that the athletes are not being paid for playing, but are still helping the school bring in revenue from selling tickets and merchandise. While athletes can earn scholarships and essentially go through college without paying a cent, not everyone attending college earns that scholarship. Some of the four-year players that attend a college aren’t scholarship athletes until their third or fourth years on campus.
My thinking is, any of these ‘one-and-done’ players are going to be on scholarship, meaning they won’t pay for the year of school they attend. Yet, they will bring the school hype and publicity during that single season and will increase the college’s revenue by a decent percentage. While universities won’t ever admit to that or maybe haven’t even thought about that, it is an idea to consider and juggle as these one-and-done players are filtered through the college basketball programs at an increasing rate every few years. Why not just let the one-and-dones go straight to the NBA so that the players who put in the four-year effort earn that scholarship a year earlier?
My ideas may be out there and a bit biased after watching a Wisconsin basketball program that prides itself on developing its players and shying away from any of the ‘one-and-dones’. Rarely will you see a player leave before finishing up his senior season, but at the very least the players usually all finish at least three years in Madison. It’s a luxury I’m sure most college teams wish they had instead of only getting to watch a player for a year and then having them go play in the NBA.
While Kentucky or Kansas are almost always competitive, they are known for having the most one-and-done players since the rule was put in place. I’m sure winning is fun and all but what about getting to know players over the course of a college career and watching them improve their game? By allowing players to be drafted after their high school years, it takes away the point of going to college to further develop and mature. Just let the players avoid college altogether.
Again, my opinion on the issue may be slanted toward letting the future ‘one-and-dones’ avoid playing college ball if they don’t wish too, but my argument can still be of value to anyone that follows the game and knows about the ‘one-and-dones’ and the NBA Draft.
Since then, players have had to play at least one season of college basketball to be eligible for the NBA Draft. That rule has created the “one-and-done” players that we so often hear about. The question I ask today is, should the rule still be in place since so many players declare for the draft after just one season?
Ben Simmons was a polarizing player coming out of high school. So was Andrew Wiggins, who ended up playing a season at Kansas before making the transition to the NBA. Don’t forget about John Wall, Kyrie Irving, Anthony Davis and Karl-Anthony Towns… Did you know that the last time the top overall pick in the NBA Draft wasn’t a freshmen was in 2009 when Blake Griffin was taken after his sophomore year?
That’s a crazy thought to wrap my mind around considering that only one of them actually won the Player of the Year honors (Davis). Now that doesn’t mean that the Player of the Year trophies went to the wrong players or that the top overall pick in the NBA draft shouldn’t have been drafted at that slot. My point is that a lot of those guys were highly-rated recruits coming out of high school and could have easily made the jump to the NBA.
Looking back on the ESPN ‘Recruiting Database’ from the years those players were coming out of high school, here is where they ranked in the Top 100: Wall was the fifth-rated recruit in the 09’ class. Irving was the third overall recruit in 2010. Davis was the top-ranked recruit in 2011. Wiggins was tops in the 2013 class. Towns was the lowest-rated of the top recruits at a lowly-rated ninth spot (sarcasm at its finest). Then there is Simmons, who is projected to be the top pick in the 2016 NBA Draft. Want to guess where he ranked among the Top 100 for this recruiting class??? You guessed it, the top spot.
All of those players could and probably would have been drafted into the NBA out of high school if the rule were not in place. Instead, the players had to be forced into a year of college to ‘develop’ more… How many of them would have actually wanted to be drafted into the NBA right away? That might be a question you would have to ask them personally, but if I had to guess, I’m sure each one of them would have enjoyed making millions of dollars in the NBA over studying for tests and not being paid any money to play the game they love.
The reason I bring this issue up is because of the recent ESPN report that Simmons was ineligible for the Wooden Award (Player of the Year) due to academic issues. One of the qualifications that is required to be eligible for the award is to own at least a 2.00 grade point average.
I’m not going to make fun of Simmons or insult him (Kentucky fans chanted “GPA” while Simmons shot free throws in a recent game) for struggling in school as much as focus on the fact that he has been a ‘for-sure’ ‘one-and-done’ player since he stepped on the court at LSU.
The priority for Simmons is to play in the NBA, meaning school takes a back-seat to the young superstar. Grades are irrelevant and all he is trying to do is get his freshman year over with so he can declare for the draft. Doesn’t that seem like a problem to people?
Simmons might just be a one-time example of a student that gets less than qualifying grades, but the question is still, ‘should high school seniors be forced into a year of college when they are more focused on playing in the NBA?
If the ball was in my court and I had the power to enforce some kind of new rule, here is what I might recommend (not saying I’m the only one who has thought up these scenarios).
The NBA could change the one-year rule and turn it into a two-year option. All NBA Draft eligible players would need at least two years of schooling before entering the draft. After two years of schooling, any player could declare for the NBA Draft, meaning that a player who just finished his sophomore, junior or senior season could declare.
Another option would be to have all draft-eligible players attend four years of college or finish their senior seasons, in which many athletes would get their degrees in case the NBA career didn’t pan out as planned. This idea is a little far-fetched in my mind but setting this kind of standard could really clear up any decisions of when a player could actually declare.
Finally, here is my preferred plan: allow NBA players to be drafted straight out of high school again. The rule used to be in place and I don’t recall anyone having a problem with it. If a NBA franchise wanted to take the chance on a high school senior instead of a college player at any grade, then the choice was up to them. High schoolers would have the choice whether they wanted to be eligible to be drafted and if they didn’t like their draft slot or were not drafted, they could simply attend the college that they had already declared too.
The old rule didn’t force any athletes into a situation they didn’t want to be in. It also didn’t force athletes to go get an education (although every athlete should at least take online classes to get a degree in case their playing career doesn’t pan out). The NBA Draft was more exciting and actually gave the first teams picking a tough decision instead of making a clear-cut pick a month before the draft.
Another big argument that I have heard against forcing athletes to go to college is the fact that the athletes are not being paid for playing, but are still helping the school bring in revenue from selling tickets and merchandise. While athletes can earn scholarships and essentially go through college without paying a cent, not everyone attending college earns that scholarship. Some of the four-year players that attend a college aren’t scholarship athletes until their third or fourth years on campus.
My thinking is, any of these ‘one-and-done’ players are going to be on scholarship, meaning they won’t pay for the year of school they attend. Yet, they will bring the school hype and publicity during that single season and will increase the college’s revenue by a decent percentage. While universities won’t ever admit to that or maybe haven’t even thought about that, it is an idea to consider and juggle as these one-and-done players are filtered through the college basketball programs at an increasing rate every few years. Why not just let the one-and-dones go straight to the NBA so that the players who put in the four-year effort earn that scholarship a year earlier?
My ideas may be out there and a bit biased after watching a Wisconsin basketball program that prides itself on developing its players and shying away from any of the ‘one-and-dones’. Rarely will you see a player leave before finishing up his senior season, but at the very least the players usually all finish at least three years in Madison. It’s a luxury I’m sure most college teams wish they had instead of only getting to watch a player for a year and then having them go play in the NBA.
While Kentucky or Kansas are almost always competitive, they are known for having the most one-and-done players since the rule was put in place. I’m sure winning is fun and all but what about getting to know players over the course of a college career and watching them improve their game? By allowing players to be drafted after their high school years, it takes away the point of going to college to further develop and mature. Just let the players avoid college altogether.
Again, my opinion on the issue may be slanted toward letting the future ‘one-and-dones’ avoid playing college ball if they don’t wish too, but my argument can still be of value to anyone that follows the game and knows about the ‘one-and-dones’ and the NBA Draft.