I vote for that one.

but I wouldn’t be against signing 12 year olds. I think for the good of our democracy that a high school education should be mandatory. But lots of talented kids act in movies and commercials or pop bands or dedicate themselves to gymnastics or figure skating. I don’t see why junior NBA would be apocalyptic. And as far as how it would affect college basketball I could not care less. It’s like asking how teen movie stars affect college theater programs. Not my problem.

All ages can participate at a pro level in every other sport (football is unique as it requires physical maturity… although they do have a dumb rule, too).

I really don’t like the way David Stern has dealt with this (and several other things, such as Seattle, Donaghey, etc.), and I think it’s a stupid rule.

It’s anti-American to ban someone from capitalizing on a skill they have.

the free market solution!

Can’t the MLB draft someone out of High School, then the player can go to college, but when he comes out he plays for the team that drafted them, or one of that team’s farm teams?

Drafting kids out of high school is the coolest. The problem is that some of the kids are not that educated in basketball and in most areas of life. They can sail through high school, because they they do not need to have the grades to get into college. Why study pre-algebra when you’re going to be a millionaire in the NBA?

To put it bluntly, drafting kids out of high school was dumbing down the NBA.

If the one and done thing hurts the college game; what does it do to the high school game?

...ideally I would like to see the NBA have a farm system similar to MLB.

I’m not sure I’d let persons under 18 into the NBA; pro team sports are a different beast than professional golf or tennis (where under-18-year-olds do compete as pros). The one team sport that includes non-adults as a matter of course-hockey-sequesters ‘em into a separate program (junior hockey—i.e. our beloved Winterhawks).

Freddie Adu is a special case; were he to have come of age in Europe he would have played for a pro youth club until reaching maturity, before being allowed to play for a top-division men’s club.

The NCAA is a big ripoff for most men’s basketball and football players. They all know it, that’s why one-and-done is so common now. (A minority of athletes, especially those who are there for the education and have little professional prospects in sports, do benefit from the NCAAs; many of these are not found playing NCAA football or hoops however).

Having kids who have played some college ball make the draft more interesting because there’s some name recognition and it makes the incoming players more interesting because they are more known quantitites. And I think that a year’s expereince against division 1 players is HUGE for kids coming into the league when compared to highschool kids.

That said, I’d be fine with a real developmentla league where they could play for a year or two instead of college, or going to Europe for a year or two instead of college.

I don’t think kids getting out of high school shoul dbe denied the right to earn a living, but I don’t think going right from high school to the nba is good for the game.

so I’ll put down some of the things rolling through my head as I wrote.

First, would a year of college made a difference to Travis, Martell, and Bassy? Maybe, yes, and no. How about four years? Yes, yes, maybe.

Going to Europe instead of college a good thing? Probably not. Culture shock on top of everything else might do in some of the kids. I don’t know enough about Euro ball clubs to know if they are equal to the NBA and colleges in taking care of their bodies. (Training, workouts, etc.) Also the NBA does counsel draftees on eating, finances, etc., do the Euro teams? It certainly would put more pressure on a high school senior – all the college recruiters, the military (do they still call kids at home?), and now European clubs. Might as well cancel out learning anything that year.

My poll option of signing 12 year olds wasn’t to eliminate high school ball, but just to say that an arbitrary age isn’t really the answer. If an NBA team wants to take a risk that a 12 yr old will mature into a contributor, let them sign him but require him to finish school. (Lots of rules need to be made to keep the richer teams from locking up all the best prospects.) Maybe there could be provisions for helping the poorest families with rent and insurance and whatever else they need, but nothing going directly to the kid or into discretionary spending. (only X dollars allowed so they wouldn’t be signing with just the highest bidder) Or is this akin to selling your soul? Sell your 12 yr old to the Knicks so they pay your rent and buy you a reliable car?

I’ve said for years that if I were a college president I would hate to hear one of the pro athletes from my school speak in public. Sure, some are well spoken, but others sound like they may have completed 8th grade. I don’t think they do anything positive for the college’s image – that is, IF the college’s mission is education. I know that sports are a huge fund raiser and that would have to be taken into account, but one and done isn’t helping. Greg Oden going to Ohio State for a year doesn’t help recruiting and now that he’s done it doesn’t bring in revenue. Why do you want to recruit a guy who will stay with you maybe a year? Maybe we need to rethink not allowing players to return to their college teams. Supposedly their amateur status is a sham anyway, so if someone is not under contract to an NBA team why shouldn’t he be able to play for a college team?

I agree with those who advocate a real minor league, based on baseball’s model. It would give a kid the chance to play pro ball, but not inflate his expectations. Now when they sign they think they are going to play in the NBA – they are one of the 60 best players in the USA in their age group, there has to be room for them (they think.) Welcome to reality kid. So what’s left? Europe for some, NDBL for others, but I’m sure for some it’s probably the NBA or nothing. But if the team that drafts them has a farm club or two then the dream is still alive. You’re growing your players at THEIR pace – they’re playing with others who are at the same level regardless of age or years of school. No sitting on the bench watching others play. No being just a “practice player”. (Can you say Von Wafer? I’m sure he would rather have been somewhere playing, even if it was only an A league.)

Pardon my ramblings, but this is something that really interests me.

And I mean that in the fullest. I already got into a knock-down drag-out fight about the role of athletes in our society, so I’m not going to go whole-hog this time or a bunch of people are going to get their feelings hurt again.

Still, here’s how it boils down. Either:

1) The NBA needs to do away with the age limit. Asking 18 year olds who have spent their lives preparing themselves to make money in an extremely tenuous field do not need to absorb the risk of injury in an amateur arena just to keep alive ancient racist rivalries. If any other eighteen year olds were asked to do dangerous work for no compensation when so much money was being made directly off their “work” and “brand name” any rational person would call it a dictatorship. Or we would call it an internship. But never mind that for now.

2) The NCAA needs to recognize athletics as a field of study. Yes, I mean it. Yes, I’ve thought it through. Eric Gordon should be able to get a BA in Basketball from IU. Before anyone can nay-say me I ask you: what is the holier image in our society? MJ’s winning j for UNC or Matthew Barney’s Drawing Restraint videos for Yale? With your answer to that question in mind, what is the difference between fine arts and athletics?

How long before some guy can’t even make grades to graduate high school and he just drops out of high school and trains for the NBA draft?