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Over on ESPN's TrueHoop, Henry Abbott discusses my law review article Illegal Defense: The Irrational Economics of Banning High School Players from the NBA Draft. I also respond to Commissioner David Stern's recent comment that he hopes to raise the age floor for entry into the NBA to age 20, and to do so through the next round of collective bargaining with the Players' Association. Hope you have a chance to check out Henry's comments and my comments on these topics.
Also, we know that our posts have been few and far between the last couple of weeks. We're all up against deadlines for scholarly projects or have other work commitments, but we'll soon return to more regular content. We appreciate your readership.
-- Posted by Michael McCann @ 3/24/2008 07:10:00 AM --
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6 Comments:
NBA should propose what baseball does...
Baseball allows players to come out right after high school, or they can go to college--but, if they go to college, they cannot come out until after their junior season.
I think that's a fair approach.
until then, the college game is going to be littered with players that don't want to be there
The baseball system is much better for players and the schools. Of course there is one twist in there that the NCAA members hate.
The MLB can sign a kid right after high school and has to wait until after the junior season to draft the player if they don't sign out of high school. There is a loophole. If the player signs with a junior college the player is eligible to be drafted after completing two years of eligibility at the junior college.
A talented player who isn't drafted quite as highly as they would like can opt to go the juco route and test the draft waters again in two years. If they still don't like the result, they sign with a four year school and become draft eligible once again in a year.
The main reason I like this because there is no burden placed on the player to declare for the draft.
I don't like the declaration systems because it puts a lot of pressure on the players and quite often they end up losing their eligibility by hiring an agent or leaving school to go to pre-draft camps. If an NBA or NFL team wants to take a shot at an underclassman, let them assume the risk rather than the player.
The NBA and the NCAA will never go to the baseball system, unless the NBA has a legitimate minor league system. And why should they, the NCAA is already their minor leagues.
If large numbers of high school players head for the pros, NCAA mens basketball will become ..... college baseball.
I know they usually do not get defended often, but this draft bad protects NBA teams from drafting overhyped high school players. Plus you hear the argument about, what if they guy gets injured in college, ala Bill Walker. So what if he gets injured on an NBA team than they have to waste millions on him. It is not fare for them, which is who Stern should be protecting anyway.
I agree with the statement above- Stern's job is to protect the NBA and its teams. As a fan of the college game, I think the age limit will help to improve the quality of play in the NCAA as well.
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