Is it Time to Abolish the NBA Age Limit?
As we head towards the NBA draft we are starting to hear the yearly chatter about how the NBA needs to abolish its age limit for entry into the draft. The main argument against the age limit is that guys like Kobe, LeBron, and Kevin Garnett did not need college ball to succeed at the NBA level. If these players have the talent to play in the NBA then we should let them. But, the problem being and a key argument for the age restriction, is that an overwhelming majority of these kids are not ready to play in the NBA straight out of high school.
Let us take a look at the last draft, 2005, to allow high school players as an example. Martell Webster was the top high school player taken in that draft going to Portland at number six. Webster started 18 games his rookie season averaging 6.6 points and shooting .399 from the field for a team that won 21 games that year. During his first three years in the league Webster has developed into a quality 3-point shooter who even started 70 games his third year in the season. To-date his best season has seen him score 10.7 points per game. The player taken immediatly after Webster, Charlie Villanueva, played college ball and enjoyed the best season of his career last year posting career highs in scoring, 16.7 points per game, and rebounding, 6.7 rebounds per game.
The next high school player taken in that draft, Andrew Bynum, has shown flashes of being an all star center but he has struggled mightily with injuries and maturity. He averaged a career high 14.3 points per game this past season but he also missed 30 games and was merely a big body taking up space on the floor during the playoffs. It was not until his third season in the league that Bynum was any kind of a siginificant contributer to the success of the Lakers.
Gerald Green, the third high school player taken in the ’05 draft going to Boston at number 18 looked like he was going to be the next big thing his first couple of years in Boston. He won the dunk contest and averaged 10.4 points a game by the end of his second year in the league and it seemed the sky was the limit for this young budding star in Boston. Sadly, it was not to be for the young Green and he has wallowed away on the bench in Minnesota, Houston, and Dallas the past two seasons managing to appear in only 68 games over that time span.
Of the 14 players from the 2006 draft who have career scoring averages of 10 or more points per game only one player entered the NBA directly of high school and that was Monta Ellis who lasted all the way until the 40th pick of the draft. Ellis was not ready to play straight away when he got to Golden State, he struggled to adapt quite a bit to the NBA game averaging just 6.8 points per game and shooting .415 from the field.
Out of the 8 high school players to be taken in that draft only Monta Ellis has established himself as a potential all star while Bynum looks like a stud in the middle, and Martell Webster, Andray Blatche, Lou Williams, C. J. Miles and Amir Johnson have carved out niches as role players in the league. None of these players contributed immediately while several of the college players taken in that draft like Chris Paul, Deron Williams, and Danny Granger are budding all stars and in Paul’s case superstars.
The 2004 draft had slightly different results but the trends are still hold fairly true. The first player taken in that draft was indeed a high school star in Dwight Howard and he has gone on to become one of the best young big men in the game today. He was ready to play in the NBA averaging 12 points and 10 rebounds per game during his rookie season. But, Shaun Livingston, Robert Swift, and Sebastian Telfair were not. Livingston has suffered through numerous knee injuries during his career and has never been able to get his career on track. Swift has battled through injuries as well but even when healthy has only ever managed to average little more than 6 points per game. Telfair, the much ballyhooed New York playground legend has never managed to average more than 10 points or 6 assists per game.
After that there was a string of successful picks with Al Jefferson, Josh Smith, and J. R. Smith who have gone on to have solid careers. Jefferson has developed into a 20/10 player but it took three years until he was a starter in the NBA and four years until he was consistently scoring 20 points and pulling down 10 boards a game. Josh Smith was able to contribute right away to the Hawks scoring 9.7 points and grabbing 6.2 rebounds per game. J. R. Smith played a lot early in his career but he really did not find any consistency in his game or jumper until his third season in the league. Of the top 13 scorers in that draft 9 of them went to college with Dwight Howard being the only player without college experience of the five from that draft who currently own scoring averages of better than 15 per game.
On the whole the number of players who are truly ready to play in the NBA straight out of high school are so few and far between and the only ones able to accomplish it are typically either players deemed worthy of being one of the top two or three picks like LeBron or Dwight Howard or they are big men like Amare Stoudamire who have the physique to stand up to the NBA game. When one considers some of the poster children for NBA superstars who skipped college some of them were not ready to play in the NBA and likely would have benefited from a year or two of college ball to develop both mentally and physically.
It took Tracy McGrady three seasons until he was ready to play significant minutes and contribute. Kobe Bryant played just 15 minutes a game his rookie season and did not win a starting gig until his third season in the league. Jermaine O’Neal rotted away on Portland’s bench for four seasons before getting an opportunity to start for the Pacers. However that is not to say that playing college ball necessarily translates to being a better pro but, typically speaking, those players that succeed immediately in the NBA played some college basketball before entering the league. The numbers do not bear it out that these kids are able to play and contribute significant minutes at the NBA level.
The most compelling argument for abolishing the the age limit for the NBA comes at the college level. Having the age limit means college coaches are now forced to recruit ‘one-and-done’ players to remain competitive. Meaning they have to spend time, money, and resources on recruiting a player that is likely to stay for one year before bolting for the NBA.
Take O. J. Mayo for example. He was a one-and-done guy who apparently solicited some cash from former USC head coach Tim Floyd. I question whether Mayo was even showing up for classes or really doing any work and one can be rest assured that he stopped doing anything at all once the basketball season ended and he declared for the NBA draft. Or, how about Derrick Rose who reportedly had a grade changed so he would be eligible to play when his transcripts were submitted only to have the grade changed back at a later date? Memphis may now have to vacate its Final Four appearance for using an academically ineligible player.
Not only is it a scholarship management issue for coaches but now they are forced to basically baby sit kids who are likely not going to class or taking that year seriously potentially putting their programs at risk for punishment. It seems to opening the door for more corruption behind the scenes to keep these kids eligible for a season because they really have nowhere else to go. Should college coaches be forced to take on players like Mayo or Rose who clearly have no intentions of contributing anything more than being a star basketball player for those schools?
The question remains why can’t the NBA figure out how to manage this situation aside from throwing it back on the NCAA to do something about it? The NFL gets away with the age limit because everyone knows NFL teams would not touch a kid coming out of high school. The league recognizes the fact that there is such a vast difference in the speed in skill level that a player faces between high school and college and those kids need two or three years of college ball to adjust to playing with and against faster, bigger kids and comparable competition. Think about how many kids we read about who score 100 touchdowns in high school only to flame out in college because they fail to adjust to the speed and level of competition at college. NFL teams have no interest in high school kids and quite frankly probably do not relish spending the time and money scouting these kids.
Whatever the reason may be the NBA has convinced itself that it needs to scout and draft high school talent as opposed to watching college kids play ball. They are worried about losing out on the next LeBron or KG and are willing to spend $10 million on a kid who may never average more than 8 or 9 points a game his first three years in the league. The NBA merely pays lip service to the NBDL rather than trying to maintain it as a legitimate developmental league the way MLB teams subsidize minor league baseball.
I have always felt that Major League Baseball does the best at managing the issue of what to do with high school kids and I just cannot help but wonder why it is this cannot be instituted in basketball. Let them all put their names in the draft if they don’t like where they end up they can still go to college with the caveat that they are ineligible to re-enter the draft until after their junior season at college or sophomore season if you like. This is really the ultimate solution for the NBA and college basketball. This way college coaches are assured of a commitment of more than a year from a kid and on the flipside of that it gives the kid a chance to develop his game and possibly earn some semblence of an education while he is at it.
The current way of doing things is not the optimal way and the notion that a baseball player can get drafted and still retain his scholarship if he does not like his draft status but a basketball player seems ludicrous to me. I have never understood why it is the NCAA feels compelled to have so many different rules and standards for its student athletes depending on what sport they play. It seems like it is about time for the NCAA to sit down with the professional sports leagues and evaluate its standards and draft up a policy that is equitable and fair to every student athlete and not just certain ones.
Related Posts
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...
(4.33 out of 5)