Durant = 1 & Done.

[yh]

i don't think the NBA should offer to high school kids.

They've discontinued this practice already.

[Jigga]

Will, I'd like to welcome you to Realityville, population everyone else...I sincerely hope you enjoy your time here.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

If I could play basketball like Kevin Durant I wouldn't post on Internet message boards, and I'd jump from college to the NBA as soon as possible.

If your college major is basketball (and really, that's what ALL of these guys are majoring in), why not parlay that education into a paying job as soon as you can? You think Durant -- given the commitments of UT sports -- has time for study groups and high level poli sci courses? Please. He's on campus in Austin to make money for the school, and he has done so. Now it's time for him to make money for himself. I don't see why that's a bad thing.

It's like any kind of "selling out." I'm pretty that sure that in most cases, we would all do it.

[whitedawg22]

I agree that the players are crazy if they take a college education over guaranteed MILLIONS of dollars, but I just don't like seeing kids come out of high school. out of the growing number of kids who come out of high school i can think of three off the top of my head who were great. kobe, lebron, and garnett...now that may be because i don't watch the nba anymore, but where is sebastian telfair and darius miles and the other big name high school kids that were supposed to revolutionize the game?

so yes, they'd be crazy to turn down an NBA offer, but i don't think the NBA should offer to high school kids. it hasn't made the game exciting, it has made the game mediocre IMO.

Where are Marcus Fizer, Mike Dunleavy, Rafael Araujo, and all the other highly drafted big name college kids that were supposed to revolutionize the game?

You can pick and choose players all you like. Plenty of high schoolers have been successful besides those three - Jermaine O'Neal, Dwight Howard, Eddy Curry, and Tracy McGrady, just to name a few. Considering both the fact that many more college players than high school players enter the draft, and the overall bust rate of highly drafted players, I would make the case that if anything, high school players are MORE successful than college players in the NBA.

High schoolers jumping to the NBA have certainly hurt college basketball, but you'd be hard-pressed to present an argument that they have substantially helped or hurt the NBA in any tangible way.

[Jigga]

Where are Marcus Fizer, Mike Dunleavy, Rafael Araujo, and all the other highly drafted big name college kids that were supposed to revolutionize the game?

I don't know wher they are at the moment, but they are certainly enjoying the millions of dollars they earned as a result of those 1st round NBA draft pick guaranteed contracts.

[Fred T. Jane]

Where are Marcus Fizer, Mike Dunleavy, Rafael Araujo, and all the other highly drafted big name college kids that were supposed to revolutionize the game?

I dunno, but how many of those had TV documentaries and books written pumping up their potential?

[BaltimoreFan]

As far as players hurting their status by staying in college, how about Terrence Morris, the former Maryland player? He was projected to be a top-10 draft pick if he came out after his freshman year, but he stayed, and his draft stock slipped every year. He was finally drafted by the Hawks in the second round in 2001, and has been a fringe NBA player.

Morris is a good example. There's also John Gilchrist, who almost single handedly won the ACC tournament for Maryland. With that one good weekend, he was projected to be a lottery pick. He decided to stay an extra year and wasn't even drafted the next season. Now he's struggling in the development league.

As I stated earlier, I'd love to see more top prospects play college for multiple years. However it makes absolutely no sense. If your draft status is high, you've got to take advantage of it. Who knows if this rule was intact a couple years ago, a bust like Kwame Brown may have been exposed. He'd have gone from #1 pick to possibly much lower. The college education argument is also very weak, as dsgitlin mentioned a huge majority of them a majoring in basketball. I went to high school with a current NBA player (i won't mention who) and his high school education was a joke. There's no way he could have handled college classes, yet he was never ineligible during his college years. Most of them aren't gaining anything from college. It won't really matter if they blow out a knee, because they still won't be prepared for a good job.

I love seeing this players in college (and want the rule to stick for a little while). But it makes no sense. The only real advantage it has is to help NBA team's weed out some high school busts.

[leedsunited]

Thank god Sebastian Telfair never stepped foot on a college campus. He'd have kissed his NBA dreams bye bye if his deficiencies were exposed like that.

[The_Admiral]

I wish they'd go from high school to minor leagues so we could end this farce of "student-athletes."

[SEMOSTLfan]

I realize that the NBA had good intentions by requiring one year of college before entering the draft but my fear is that this is going to make a mockery of college basketball. Coaches spend all this time and money recruiting the top players for one season. If they are going to college just for one year of basketball I would prefer them just go straight from high school because the education they receive in that one year certainly isn't going to amount to much.

[yh]

I realize that the NBA had good intentions by requiring one year of college before entering the draft but my fear is that this is going to make a mockery of college basketball.

I think we're long past the time when anyone other than a complete Pollyanna believes that top-tier collegiate athletics are anything other than business units for the universities whose colors and names they "license." Does this mean that the majority of college athletes at the D-1 level are not in fact student athletes? Heavens, no. However the notion that big time college sports are pristine and wholly for the athletically gifted scholar are long gone and thus I don't believe there's any concern about the impact on the image of the college game. Even if the entire NBA draft consisted of "outgoing freshmen" from D-1 schools that's only around 60 kids leaving an organization comprised of over 200 schools. I just don't see how this new rule is going to hurt the college game.

And even if it did harm the college game, I don't see where the NBA is going to be concerned. Seems to me that NCAA hoops are significantly more popular than the pro brand anyway, so this could only provide upside to the NBA.

[whitedawg22]

I realize that the NBA had good intentions by requiring one year of college before entering the draft but my fear is that this is going to make a mockery of college basketball. Coaches spend all this time and money recruiting the top players for one season. If they are going to college just for one year of basketball I would prefer them just go straight from high school because the education they receive in that one year certainly isn't going to amount to much.

That rule wasn't put in place for college, it was put in place to develop marketable properties for the NBA. Think about how many people knew Kevin Durant's name at this time last year. Now he's gone from a virtual unknown to a marketable property so desirable that Celtics and Grizzlies fans are hoping their team loses just so they have a better shot at him.

As far as college basketball, that's just the way the game is today. If coaches don't want to repeat the recruiting cycle every year, they could focus on bringing in players like Tyler Hansborough, who are great in college but know they aren't athletic enough to jump to the NBA. Since most coaches aren't doing this, instead chasing after top one-and-done prospects, it seems like people think it's worth it to have them for a year. But be realistic - top college basketball players haven't gotten a decent education in years.

Where are Marcus Fizer, Mike Dunleavy, Rafael Araujo, and all the other highly drafted big name college kids that were supposed to revolutionize the game?

I dunno, but how many of those had TV documentaries and books written pumping up their potential?

...and that's their fault how? I don't think anybody needs convincing that 95% of the media are idiots.

[VitaminD]

I realize that the NBA had good intentions by requiring one year of college before entering the draft but my fear is that this is going to make a mockery of college basketball. Coaches spend all this time and money recruiting the top players for one season.

Not necessarily. Sure, some guys are clearly in the "one & done" category. Durant appears not only to be physically ready, but seems to have a good enough head on his shoulders to survive at the next level. What a lot of these kids don't realize, is that the NBA is a job. It's a job with great perqs - first-class hotels, private jets, millions of dollars, fame, and so on - but it is still a job, especially when you're taking playing time [and thus indirectly, points and boards, and ultimately, more guaranteed money] from grown men who are yearning for one more fat contract to bank on. College is the best 4 years of your life, and it's a vital transitory phase from childhood (living under Mom and Dad's roof, limits on what you can and can't do, minimal responsibility, a chance to be immature) to adulthood (self-sufficiency, responsibility, freedoms). To bypass those 4-5 years carries with it an expectation that you've done the appropriate amount of maturation in less time. Maybe Durant has - the few teen prodigies (Lebron, KG, Kobe) all seemed mature for their ages, and smart enough to handle the demands of adulthood while still a teenager.

But a lot of these guys realize after a year playing big-time college ball that they're not as ready as they think they are. They may have the game to torch high school competition, but a year in the Big XII or ACC against players who all have higher skill levels may force them to reevaluate how good they really are. And exposure to a year on campus can be seductive - being a teenager, hanging with other kids going through the same transition, not having to worry about work.

Many people were saying Ty Lawson could go right to the NBA; a year at UNC revealed to him what his game lacks to make it at the next level. Ditto for Wayne Ellington, and Tyler Hansbrough is coming back for a 3rd year to work on his game. [Ohhhhhhhhh, YEAH!! GO HEELS!] If they're really worried about a catastrophic injury, they can always take out insurance policies on themselves, and learnt o invest it wisely with the free college education they've been offered. Plus - the guys who don't make the NBA at these big D-I programs get hooked up with sweet jobs after college. Investment banking... real estate... PR... work in the athletic office... coaching. They're set for life, even if they're not making the highlights on the 11p SportsCenter every night. Don't worry about them, trust me. The money will be there.

I'd like to see the NBA make the age limit a little higher - like 21. Guys who have no desire to sit in a classroom and want to earn a paycheck can go from high school to the D-League. But the NFL has made it clear that they feel their game is no place for children, even if they have man-sized bodies. The NBA should do the same; their product would be immeasurably better for it in the long run.

[slightly shotgunned]

Guys who have no desire to sit in a classroom and want to earn a paycheck can go from high school to the D-League. But the NFL has made it clear that they feel their game is no place for children, even if they have man-sized bodies. The NBA should do the same; their product would be immeasurably better for it in the long run.

agreed