Superjudge

It's a tough call.

Why can you tell a player he cannot play because of his age? he is 18, he can vote, he can work any other job legally, and he can go to war for his country and die. He just can't play basketball professionally because he might get paid too much and end up being a bad gamble for teams?

Why are potential employee's being shackled and discriminated against for a potential employers desire to have full on greed with no worry of a failed gamble. Its ridiculous.

If a player stays in college long enough he may learn the game better, likely gain more fundamental skill, maturity, experience. Basically he will be a better player. His development will also be picked up on the College's dime. Not a bad deal for the NBA huh... now they can get players who have been put through a few years of "rookie contract" like time, then get um signed to a real rookie contract, and actually have them playing at a higher/ peak level, while only being limited to paying them a few million. Actually, it's a great idea for the NBA. Better players, better product, less loss due to gambling Management.

Except for one thing. They are telling people who are ready to work, able to work, and legally allowed to work that they cannot work. It's tricky really. As they already seem to have won the battle once as far as it being a human rights issue, the NBA can likely do it again, legally, but is this something that the players association will agree to? With a vote? hahaha. no. And why should they?

I'm all for better ball, but if a guy wants to apply for a job, it's legal right to do so, if those teams don't want to hire him. then they should pass on him for an older more reliable model but telling him he does not have the right to try..... thats pretty sketchy.

Dario

+1 just respect people and what you do, all is fine.

Windex

I'm all for players going pro whenever they get to legal working age. their choice. it's the norm in soccer and europe is not dumber as a continent because pro players didn't go to college or graduate with a degree.

thought

it's true...the only thing that makes less sense is the drinking age being at 21. what is that shit.

Superjudge

minimal prohibition. Its doesnt hurt...or does it? I dunno, lots of kids in the US die every year from drinking binges in HS and first year Uni.

thought

not to thread hijack...but how do you legally consider someone an adult if you don't even trust them to hold their own alcohol? it'd make more sense to me if you were legally an adult at 21...okay NOW you can drink. but whatever.

i think it needs to come down to specific teams and their assessments of players, regardless of age. scouting players is an inexact science sure, but if you're doing it for a living, and there's enough analysis leading up to the draft, big busts should rarely happen (barring unpredictable injuries, occurrences, etc.). How Darko was projected as a top-5 pick I will never know. He always had hands of stone, and never put up dominating numbers even in the Serbian league...where was the due diligence? He never should have been projected as a lottery pick, let alone picked in the top-5 in one of the most stacked drafts of all time.

Dario

I think their is a huge gap from 18 to 21. It should either be, your an adult at 21 and can drink, or you can drink at 18 and your adult. Govt has to make up their minds

Grizz

The problem is potential. GM's will always fall in love with potential over track record. This only gets worse when you go down to the high school level. The physical and mental transformation can be huge at 17-20, either negatively or positively. No matter how much homework you do, you're still guessing at what extent that potential will be realized.

I believe this happens in soccer all the time (correct me if I'm wrong, not a huge soccer guy) where players are signed young at 16-17 and don't develop and end up off the team within a few years.

Ligeia

What do you guys think about employers that will only hire people with a certain amount of experience or a certain type of experience?

Imagine a job posting:

"Must have 1 year's experience in [blank]."

In this case, 1 year's experience playing basketball outside of high school. Or more.

I don't think it's that unreasonable. Although the view changes perhaps if you consider the NBA to be a monopoly.

RaptorsandBuckeye FaN

I always wish they went with what they did in college baseball/MLB. You can enter the draft after HS but if you don't then you're stuck in college for at least 3 years. Much better for college basketball.

JoeyJoJo Shabbadu

Helps parity if you can better see what the player is after another year.