… looks like a 30 yr old playing with a bunch of 18-19 yr olds.
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Of course he is, and WE need players like him…not good enough to play in the NBA, but can dominate college basketball.
FWIW, the winner of the natty this year won’t have an NBA all-star on it’s roster.
That is just where we are.
Time to send the kids to the NBA and build college basketball back up.
Please.
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All it takes is for the NBA owners and players association to agree to do that in the collective bargaining agreement. Now… convincing both sides that drafting high school kids would be in their self interest might be tough.
From everything I’ve read, the players are on board with drafting out of HS with one concession: The teams that take the 18-year-old have to keep an extra veteran on their roster to “mentor” him. NBA hasn’t agreed to that yet, but it might happen. I can understand the union not wanting vets to lose their job immediately to some kid who isn’t old enough to shave yet (not that a lot of NBA guys actually shave).
That’s just dumb. Anyways imo allowing 18yo to be drafted won’t change anything at this point. We are only talking about maybe two 17-18yo kids every year in the whole world being good enough for the nba draft. Then everybody else has the same considerations as now, Gleague? Europe? Taking cash from every college team that comes calling until you have to sign your name on that letter, then do it all over again next year with the portal business?
Roster turnover is not caused by one and done nba draft picks. It’s just not. Not for Arkansas not for 99 percent of college teams.
And muss seems pretty adamant that he wants kids who embrace the business side of the basketball profession. I don’t think he’s going to change his philosophy and start only recruiting kids who love school and want a degree from the U of A. He’s not selling that and nobody’s buying it
Wanna bet? I’m looking at last year’s Rivals hoop recruit rankings. If they’d been allowed to enter the draft, my guess is 6-7 of the top 10 would have been drafted. Including Nick,
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Ya I would probably take the bet depending on the exact over under number. I’m curious. I think oftentimes the perception is different from reality with these high school kids. I mean I think people confuse draft projections with draft readiness right now. There’s a big difference in projecting a kid to be a first round pick when they’re eligible in a year or two, and saying that kid is one of the best in the world deserving of an nba contract right now.
I guess the X factor is in teams wanting to roll the dice on youth and raw potential just to own the rights to that player in the future, whereas now you can’t do that. I just think there are so many super talented players around the world that sort of emerge every year and get on the nba radar that teams have plenty of nba ready prospects to pick from every year. I don’t remember back in the day of Kobe and KG that there was 7 or 8 high school kids getting drafted every year.
The second point is even if it’s 7 or 8 drafted and say 20 or 30 who were enticed by the draft to forgo their eligibility but end up in the g league or overseas, that’s not going to make a big impact on college basketball. Kids already have the option to go to g league or overseas to make money and many do choose that route already. I don’t really see how this change impacts the college game. Maybe Brandon Miller and Nick Smith wouldn’t have gone the college route, but I’m not sure those two college teams would’ve looked that much different this year.
Ultimately the money and professional development offered by colleges to recruits now is competive with what almost any professional contract can offer. The most you can make from going to the draft, if you’re lucky, is a couple million. For the very very best in the world. And I’m pretty sure the Alabama and Arkansas and power programs like that who pay their coaches 5 or 6 million a year can afford to drop 1 or 2 mil on a world class nba prospect. There’s even less reason to forgo one year of college now compared to the days of kg and Kobe.
** Heck, NSJ might even come back for a second year! WP$
I know it isn’t going to happen, but I would like the NBA to do the baseball rule. Yes you can draft kids out of high school, but once they enter college, they are not draftable for at least 2 years (3 would be better, the baseball rule is exactly what? I know I think of it as 3 years, but for some players it is 2??)
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I think the actual number of American high schools guys taken each year would probably be plus or minus two. Remember the NBA only has two rounds to draft every player in the world who is draft-eligible. There are lots of foreign players drafted every year, and that’s still going to be the case, though I don’t know if the current collective bargaining agreement prevents an NBA team from drafting “high school” kids from overseas.
It’s cheaper for the NBA to keep letting the colleges act as a big farm system, with the G League as the equivalent of AAA baseball than it would be to start drafting 15-20% of the draft class from American high schools.
If you draft a high school guy you have to be projecting him into being a meaningful part of your rotation within two or three years for it to make sense, and there’s already a pretty high miss rate on that measure for one and done guys.
Don’t know, but before COVID, when I was still playing, I looked like a 60 year old playing with 30 year olds (probably because I was a 60 year old playing with 30 year olds).
I made a post about that exact same thing Greg about 2 or 3 weeks ago. The pros will be getting a much more established player and the college game would get to see these great players more than one season
I believe they still have to be 19, whether they’re US or foreign.
Timme changes pivot foot about six times without dribbling.
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