The Goat Pen

What does the 2 year minimum get anyone? I don't understand the blockage. It's not for the protective health of the kids (which is a reason one would make for football). If a guy is ready to play in the NBA, then draft him. If you are drafting against your best interests because you think the guy you pass over (TOR, VAN, MIL, Minny, BOS, LAC, NJ, DAL, IND, GSW and CLE ) may turn out to be one of the most prolific 2 guards in NBA history, then live with that decision.

Holding Lebron out for two years so he can make $8 - 12 million dollars for some ACC or SEC school is not helping Lebron and it wouldn't have helped Leon Smith.

right

let me backtrack

make it either 2 or you go pro right away, the one & done thing is kinda silly to me

I like the 2 year rule with the option, of course, of going straight to the NBA out of high school. That would work in Carolina's favor and against UK, b/c nobody really wants to go to UK for the college experience, while we would basically be getting the same guys we always get. UK would be devastated, as their entire talent pool would dry up. Most of the guys currently going to UK (Wall, Cousins, Davis, etc) would go straight to the league, while we'd still get most of the guys that we already get. But really the 2 year rule or even the one year rule doesn't make sense, for the exact reason Bklyn stated. What possible good does it do LeBron James to spend one fucking second on a college campus? Nobody is saying he can't go to college if he wants to, but if he doesn't, nobody should make him. I don't see the military making any rules like that....

I like Mark Cuban's idea of 3 years. But 2 is still better than 1.

http://m.espn.go.com/nba/story?storyId=7778070

3 years is insane, personally.

They don't do it for tennis, hockey, baseball or boxing, for that matter. I understand football...largely because an 18 years old kid is worthless for a pro football team. It's in the interest of the team, the players and the owners to make it a 21 and over league. That's not the case in any other sport, unless your interest is just about wanting to increase the excitement of college athletics.

From my vantage point, placing age minimums on participants impact the following sports:

Football - best interest of all participants (even though you probably could reduce it to 2 years, but 3 is safest)
Basketball - Best interest of team, marginal NBA veterans and owners/management
Baseball - Not in anyone's interest because the farm system is so deep and the anti-trust exemption and no cap allows kids to get big pay checks and then toil in Reading, PA until they're ready to hit a curve ball
Tennis - Not in anyone's interest except for early teen players
Hockey - Who am I kidding? I don't know any of the rules on age requirements, but I don't think there are any
Boxing - Probably should have a restriction, but I know they took Tyson's headgear off and put him in the ring with 30 year olds at the age of 19
Soccer - Not sure here, but I doubt there is a requirement here...shit, it's a European sport and the kids drink wine at 12 there, no way they are putting age minimums on pro footballers

(probably not fair to use individual sports in this, as ownership and roster spots play a large role in the debate)

Again, I think basketball age minimums don't make sense unless you have a deep affinity for college ball...and miss the good old days. Otherwise, holding a player in school for a few years is only serving the interest of one side.

Soccer - Not sure here, but I doubt there is a requirement here...shit, it's a European sport and the kids drink wine at 12 there, no way they are putting age minimums on pro footballers

Depends on the laws and labor rules and league rules of each country. Freddy Adu signed with MLS at age 14 here in the US.

eCat wrote:

Dave23 wrote:Do I really need to explain WWW?

Really?

you didn't feel the need to explain when he was at Memphis doing his thing

I did explain, in great detail, what his deal was while at Memphis. It hasn't changed.

What's the sense in denying the obvious?

one of the reasons the NBA gave for making the one year rule was that it was felt that the NBA game was diminishing because of the influx of a number of young players lacking basketball fundamentals. Since the number per team was much less than other sports, the effect of a few with poor fundamentals has more effect. Whether the 1 year or not solved that issue is a different argument. When asked about making it longer (usually by people who thought it was better for college basketball), Stern would bristle. His point (and probably truth) is that the duty of the NBA is to the NBA and that their decisions should be made only about what's good for the NBA, not college.

I like the MLB model, too. you can go out of HS and if you don't like your draft position and you haven't signed with an agent, you can go to college for 3 years. that means the NBA will have to work harder on its pre-draft assessments since there's only 2-3 picks for each team each year and you don't want to blow it on a kid who says no.

I might just be guessing but I think the shooting percentages were higher in the NBA before the mass high school to NBA and the one and dones started going crazy. Not just that but they had to change rules to give wing players a bigger advantage because of lack of scoring. I wonder what MJ would have done with the joke that has become the NBA. A lot of people are turned off by the ugly play and no doubt some of it has to do with lack of fundamentals. I enjoyed the way it was played in the early 90s-mid 90s before Kevin Garnett changed the league. These stupid GMs draft on potential and a lot of times it doesn't pan out. The quality of play would be a lot better if kids stayed in school 2-3 years. It's better for the NBA to be able to draft more on productivity for 2-3 years than potential. That's why Cuban wants it to be 3 years but that's highly doubtful.

los wrote:I might just be guessing but I think the shooting percentages were higher in the NBA before the mass high school to NBA and the one and dones started going crazy. Not just that but they had to change rules to give wing players a bigger advantage because of lack of scoring. I wonder what MJ would have done with the joke that has become the NBA. A lot of people are turned off by the ugly play and no doubt some of it has to do with lack of fundamentals. I enjoyed the way it was played in the early 90s-mid 90s before Kevin Garnett changed the league. These stupid GMs draft on potential and a lot of times it doesn't pan out. The quality of play would be a lot better if kids stayed in school 2-3 years. It's better for the NBA to be able to draft more on productivity for 2-3 years than potential. That's why Cuban wants it to be 3 years but that's highly doubtful.

EFZ

Yep, that's why I posted the link. It's not Cals problem.

Good news...

Thomas to Return for Junior Season in 2012-13
The 6-7 forward averaged 15.9 points, 5.4 rebounds as a sophomore


Deshaun Thomas scored 96 points in five NCAA tournament games


April 6, 2012



COLUMBUS, Ohio--Deshaun Thomas, a sophomore forward on the Ohio State men's basketball team, will return for his junior season, Thad Matta, head coach of the Buckeyes, announced Friday.

"Deshaun, his family and our coaching staff have spent the last week evaluating his future," Matta said. "Deshaun determined he wants to remain a Buckeye. We are looking forward to building on the success our team enjoyed in 2011-12 with Deshaun playing a significant role next year."

Thomas hopes to help the Buckeyes toward a goal of a fourth-consecutive Big Ten title next season.

"We have a great team returning next season and I want to be a part of another championship run," Thomas said. "My family, my coaches and I looked at my future as a professional but I love being a Buckeye and want to continue my education and development as a player and as a person at Ohio State.

"If I do have an opportunity to play basketball professionally, I want to have an immediate impact," Thomas said. "Working with my teammates and coaches at Ohio State will help me achieve my future goals."

Thomas, a native of Fort Wayne, Ind., is the top returning scorer and rebounder from Ohio State's Final Four team that finished 31-8 in 2011-12. He averaged 15.9 points and 5.4 rebounds.

Must have got a nice "upgrade" in student housing. Probably gets to now eat with the football team.

McAdoo coming back for his sophomore season saved us from another 2010 debacle. Now, if we could only add Oriakhi, we'd be right back in the title hunt.

happy Passover to Rat and eCat, and happy Easter to everyone else...

What exactly is Passover anyway?

you know, when your people were captive in Egypt, lamb's blood on the door and everything? eCat will fill you in.

meanwhile, in hoops news, the rumor is that Lsu's coach is quitting to be the coach at TCU or somesuch...

Do they get to eat cake?