📡 Goodbye one-and-done: With scandals rocking youth basketball, NBA readying to step in

[TUSKtimes]

First off, LeBron James is one guy, and there has never been another like him. Let's not get carried away, because he is not the one making the investment decisions that has him making more than his contract. As a matter of fact, I'm willing to bet my house there is someone with a great education making these decisions, presenting them, and investing his money for him. There is not enough time in his schedule for him to make those kind of decisions so that's just using evidence to build a case. He fronts the money, and may offer a pointer, but I'm guessing that's about about as deep as it gets. His political and social power comes from underage kids, not grown adults that have life experience. The guy commands and army of underage and impressionable teens and children. Never seen a grown ass man living on the words of LeBron James, and as a matter of fact most adults don't care for him. The NBA wants to use the most popular player in the world to utilize his name to build their credibility to fix an issue? Wooooooow, that was a tough call. Him being vice president of the players union is nothing of intellectual note. All that means is that he is a mouthpiece for what the players want, and they have a union representative that actually speaks on their behalf. LeBron James has never been used because of his intelligence. I have no doubt he has gained a lot of basketball and basketball business knowledge in his fifteen years in the league as he has been mentored by some great coaches and players before him. I just find it funny you use LeBron James as a staple in your argument here, because he is the best to ever play, and has had a career already ten years longer than the average player. Using him does not speak to the reality of the situation.

I agree that not everyone is college material, and I find it repulsive they lower standards for athletes over common students and give preferential treatment. This is why I say go overseas and allow that option. We could have that in this country, but it defeats the purpose of having them go to college and keeping the agents out of high schools. I agree, the agent deal is a freaking mess, and these guys need to face prison time. Fines are BS and will not stop folks, but locking these assholes up may curb it some more.

The entire purpose of me continuing to comment is that we need to set these guys up for their futures. Work with them on making the right decisions and helping their families. Develop boys into men. We hear it all the time from Coach Saban, Money doesn't solve everything, but an athletic, educated and financially sound individual can be very powerful.

All noble things you speak of. I haven't heard you say one selfish thing about the athlete, whether I agree in substance or not about the theory of how to fix it. I don't believe Lebron's success financially is a reality either. However, he is still the poster child for the one and done and what an 18 year hopes to accomplish in his basketball life. They don't hang those posters on the wall and call them idols for nothing. What 18-year-olds aspire too has never had anything to do with reality. Most dreams don't.

The fact that Lebron has advisors is wisdom on his part. "The wise man will listen and take in more instruction. The stupid man hears what he wants and suffers the consequences." That didn't say that the stupid man didn't have the knowledge, just that the stupid man hears what he wants. Lots of college graduates go to financial advisors and aren't rich. Doesn't mean they didn't graduate with honors either. I'm not discussing Lebron's philosophy in life just his "success" financially. And you can rest assured that most one and done basketball players are doing the same.

As far as scheming agents, hang him all. They are a sorry lot.

 

[BamaFan334]

As far as scheming agents, hang him all. They are a sorry lot.

That's one thing we can all agree on.

 

[Destiny's Child]

I see kids all of the time in my profession that see themselves as the next Lebron. Being an old coach and working with kids for 24 years, they see a kid make the jump from HS to pros and now the one and dones to millionaires and they think that is in their cards. I have had to be their reality check. Hell! Even my own son once thought he was going pro out of HS in baseball. Great to have dreams but you need to be realistic when that dream doesn't come true.
Like @BamaFan334 said, most of the guys making money far and above their contracts are doing so because of someone with a better education. It helps to have the right people around you. Different sport, but look no further than Trent Richardson. Wrong people coupled with bad advice equals broke!!
I think the NFL model would give these kids more time to develop mentally, as well as physically. We've seen Sexton hit that wall on both ends. How good would he be in the NBA next year over the course of 82 games when he played 29 games for us and struggled. How much better would he be after 2 more seasons? How much closer to a degree would he be should he suffer a career ending injury?

We are thinking the same way here 93. My sons play AAU basketball, my oldest on an incredibly competitive team. He recently had to try out again for the team and while he and 11 of the guys on there had an advantage of knowing the coaches they still had to try out and make the team. There was over 300 kids there trying out for a 12 man team.. great players from all over the state. If you asked the top 100 kids there if they thought they could play in the NBA one day I would bet 50% would say yes and realistically that number maybe 1 and probably zero could make a career out of it. This g league or NBA academy would give the kids an excuse to not finish high school or try hard to keep their grades up which would damage them long after their career is over.

If a kid can go to college even for 2 or 3 years he can get a degree or close enough that he can easily come back and finish. Bama lets the football guys who go early come back and finish there education as a part of the original scholarship.

Point being, they need to encourage these guys to come to college unless they are just unable to qualify and then I think they need to look at Europe. Terry.. I know it is the wild west over there but they send enough players to the NBA now that the NBA front office should be able to come to some type of standard for kids coming directly out of high school and also help give them some guidance with European leagues blessing.

 

[TheChief]

Most of society is going to work, or war, somewhere at 18. What I'm suggesting, it will eliminate the one and done blue chippers. And they are the biggest problem we have. When the NBA refused 18-year olds from entering the league, it created the dynamics of what we see today.

As for your first question: How can anyone be sure that MLB offers an honest appraisal to high schoolers? Because they want to eventually draft them. It's the NBA investment that is on full display. Everything they do is to try to advance their talent level. Even tanking ball games are attempts at getting the next big thing. Why would they be anything less than painfully honest when they represent pretty much all their working assets? I think the best way to assure that is a high school draft that allows them to see how they are valued. If they then chose a college, it's that much more of an educated decision. It's what other 18-year-old people do every day.

MLB frequently offers by contract to pay for the player's college education if the drafted prospect leaves professional baseball prematurely. Once upon a time, we had a local pitcher who threw left handed, 95 mph fastballs. He played in the Mets organization for two or three years, saw it wasn't going to happen for him (due to him having no initiative, among other things), and attended Ole Miss on New York's dime.

 

[TheChief]

So, Collin Sexton is second team All-SEC and he's an NBA lottery pick?

He's also Co-Freshman of the year.

Is the NBA drafting on performance or potential?

 

[ElephantStomp]

I agree that the one and done thing should be done away with.

I like what I’ve heard so far about the NBA’s plans. It won’t ruin college basketball, it wasn’t ruined when kids could go straight to the NBA from high school before, so now it will?


Forcing a kid to go to college for a year does what?

I also agree with Steve Kerr that if a kid goes out early and doesn’t get drafted then allow them back to college

 

[JoshB]

If you're going to try and sell the virtues of a year of college education compared to the collateral damage it's doing to the game of college basketball and the damage to one and done kids, you lose me. No one wonders what a minor league baseball player has lost once he signs that contract. He wants to play baseball and he wants to be paid for it. I'm sure some of them have regrets later in life, that is life. Especially if you happen to wash out in your career. Some just don't want to go to college and have no regrets. That too is just life.

Knew a kid that was being recruited by Bowden at FSU. He got drafted by the Toronto Bluejays in the 4th round. The bonus money was really good and they put in his contract if it didn't work out in baseball they would pay for his education anywhere he wanted. He went pro. I'm just saying that even 18-year-old people have serious decisions to make with serious consequences, like the rest of us adults.

Trying to make kids go to college when they have the physicality to play the same sport for money is a waste of time. The world is reacting to the FBI probe and the insidious underside of college basketball. It will continue to move the needle to the open arms policy that the NBA used to have for high schoolers. The kids will have to live with life's decisions just like the rest of us.

High school kids that sign MLB contracts also have a scholarship (in a sense) that pays for their college education if they ever decide to go back. The NBA could just as easily implement that system.

 

[JoshB]

So, Collin Sexton is second team All-SEC and he's an NBA lottery pick?

He's also Co-Freshman of the year.

Is the NBA drafting on performance or potential?

Every draft is drafting on potential.

 

[TerryP]

So, Collin Sexton is second team All-SEC and he's an NBA lottery pick?

He's also Co-Freshman of the year.

Is the NBA drafting on performance or potential?

Jayson Tatum was third team All ACC when he left Duke. And, if I remember this correctly it was one of his teammates that won frosh of the year but didn't leave, Ingram? Tatum was a top five pick.

 

[JoshB]

If drafts were based solely on performance Timmy Chang would have been a No. 1 draft pick.

 

[UAgrad93]

If drafts were based solely on performance Timmy Chang would have been a No. 1 draft pick.

Colt Brennan was another of June Jones' gunslingers that would fall in that category.

 

[alabama mike]

You serious? You don't think going to classes for a year, abiding by a schedule, and being forced to learn and pass test is helping these kids intellectually? Go speak to an incoming Freshman and then go speak to them after their Freshman year and you'll see a world of difference in how they've grown up. Sure, they still party their asses off and make dumb decisions, but from a book, school, and maturity standpoint they are a notch above where they were. If they aren't, they're just stupid, because the mind evolves and maturity kicks in. They are also learning to take care of themselves, remind themselves of things coming up, all while training and getting better physically. Anyone can rattle off their opinion on the matter, but these guys are leaving smarter, even after a year. Can't say they aren't better off this day in age.

A freshman that is going to be one and done only has to attend classes the first semester and pass 12 hours. If they turn pro at the end of their freshman season, they do not have to actually attend or pass any class second semester.

 

[BamaFan334]

• Calvin Ridley is still enrolled at the Capstone so he can get his degree in May. He and his family made getting a degree a priority.

Listened to McElroy's interview at Pro Day with Ridley and I came away beyond impressed outside of a football perspective. He said his life will be exponentially better once he reaches his goal of getting his degree in May, and that his family made it an absolute priority. He stayed in Tuscaloosa to train in efforts of graduating. Now that's a man that has his priorities straight and is organized. Look at what three years can do for a guy!!! He said "not many people from where I grew up can say this (graduated college and of course playing at Alabama with a chance to play in the NFL).

 

[Destiny's Child]

I agree that the one and done thing should be done away with.

I like what I’ve heard so far about the NBA’s plans. It won’t ruin college basketball, it wasn’t ruined when kids could go straight to the NBA from high school before, so now it will?


Forcing a kid to go to college for a year does what?

I also agree with Steve Kerr that if a kid goes out early and doesn’t get drafted then allow them back to college

The NBA and the NBA g league are different things and the scale at which they are talking is different than when LeBron or Garnett did it. Back in those days 1 maybe 2 guys would try to go straight to the NBA per year and maybe 1 would make it. They are talking about making it available for a bunch of guys.. talent just isn't there for that.

And no, once they take the money they are no longer allowed to play in college. These kids believe what these handlers tell them and that they are the next Lebron or Kobe and what they don't realize is that the guy at the end of the bench on these NBA teams who don't play... were all Americans or the best players from their country.

These kids have a chance to get a college degree, play on tv in front of millions including all the scouts on a regular basis and improve their game to get prepared. This is the better option for 99.5% of these kids. If they don't have the grades or feel they are pro's already then go to Europe and dominate for 2 years and then come back to be a millionaire.