04/19/24
April 26, 2002
NCAA rule changes favor high-schoolers.: They're going to let high school players enter the NBA draft and retain their eligibility. Which makes a little more sense than the old "Gotcha" rules they used to have. Even more interesting proposals were tabled.
posted by pastepotpete to basketball at 09:23 AM - 4 comments
Ah, well, there's a catch.
posted by pastepotpete at 09:36 AM on April 26, 2002
Couple of thoughts on the "catch" ... If a HS player decided to go through with college after being drafted, (a) why would he be resistant to joining one of the NBA's top teams -- usually picking at the end of the first round; and (b) if he is, what's the problem with spending that dead year overseas?
posted by jackhererra at 10:18 AM on April 26, 2002
money, money, money is the problem, the difference between the top of the first round and the bottom is about 6-7 million over three years if I remember correctly. And with the contracts only about 3 million over 3 years at the bottom of the 1st round, that's a concern. I agree with you about spending the dead year overseas, but it certainly seems most players don't want to do that, and it's easy to imagine if you've been waiting patiently to graduate from college before you enter the draft that you don't want to wait another season.
posted by pastepotpete at 11:42 AM on April 28, 2002
Play a year professionally and return to college makes a lot of sense, unfortunately that didn't fly. I guess that would pronounce amatuerism dead, but the "amatuer" concept has always reeked of class snobbery anyway.