I would love to see Wiggins, Parker, Embied, etc. decide they could use an extra year in college to learn and improve their game/skills. I think they all need it and would improve the college game, NBA and in the long run each individuals games.
They have everything to lose from staying another year. Injuries, poor performance, controversy. All could lead to a lowering of their draft stocks.
Or they get could better coaching and improve their games. Some of these college coaches are actually pretty good at teaching them how to be better players.
You don't think a NBA franchise worth hundreds of millions of dollars won't have a larger stake in a rookie's development than a college coach that knows said player will only be there for four years or most likely less?
I've said this when the foolishness started, wiggins doesn't possess the special traits to seperate himself from other. As stated before by another poster,the nba has been and will be filled with 6'8 athlete. If he had a kg,durant,dirk,lbj body type,then we could talk,but he doesn't. I've said he's darius miles. He's athletic enough vertically as a 3,but his handles,jumper,and lateral movement is suspect at best. He's not big or skilled enough at the 4 either. Basiically,he's a tweener and not even a good tweener.
i don't pay any attention to college or high school basketball I got the same impression when I finally saw Wiggins for the first time after all the hype of him being the next Lebron. He never struck me as Lebron type of athlete, the speed, explosiveness is not at that level, only maybe his length and vertical is up there, but not particularly any other athletic traits.
Actually, I think the better college coaches are definitely better teachers than NBA coaches. Players still improve in the NBA, but to me it is not a league where you develop players, that's what college is for. The league as a whole would definitely be better if the kids came in more NBA ready. Sorry, didn't mean to derail the thread on this subject. Just seems as good as some of these freshman are, they could all use some for time in college. Both Wiggins and Parker had subpar performances in the big dance.
OK, this going to sound far-fetched but bear with me: Why would a professional league willingly prefer to lose an extra year of a (star) talent to an amateur league? I believe, the NBADL may have a strong role in this debate. Think about it, we have seen teams utilize it successfully in much more innovative ways than in the past. Morey has specifically attributed TJones' leap to the Vipers. Besides us, there are many other examples of the D League being more of a minor league as opposed to a semi-pro joke. Two years in the NCAA translates to it being more saturated with talent. This would mean less opportunities for the younger players to actually develop in the driver's seat. If the D League were to continue to develop and gain respectability, would it be so difficult to imagine a player choosing not to spend two years at an NCAA institution? Could Adam Silver be purposely pushing this agenda so that the D League becomes a tad bit more appealing? In a league where money is the sole propellant of ads and sleeved jerseys? I think so
To the one and done debate, I continue to think the best solution is to make anyone that accepts a college scholarship ineligible to declare for the draft for 3 years. Keep age limit as it is. If someone wants to one-and-done, let them go to the NBDL and get paid and everything else. No guaranteed money, no coddling. Want to go to college? Go to college and stay academically eligible for 3 years. End the student-athlete farce you've got at places like Kentucky. Everyone wins. Quality goes up in all 3 leagues. As for Wiggins.....he's sensational and still has a very high ceiling. Definitely alarming that he struggled so much figuring out how to fit his game into Self's team concept after his HS pseudo And One tour. There have been other incredible individual talents that flopped because they never could learn how to play a game that wasn't all-iso ball (DeJuan Wagner being one example). There's a risk with Wiggins, especially if he doesn't hone his skills (boards, passing, defense, etc) outside of taking guys one on one. Still, I'd believe that his individual workouts will make it near impossible for GMs to let him slid out of the top 5.
3 years is too punitive on choosing college IMO. I'd say 2 and eliminate the age limit. That way, some of the current one-and-done players would still go to college and some would go to the NBA.
Andrew Wiggins reportedly has $180M Adidas offer coming to him Old but hes already set when he gets in the NBA
Wiggins declares for the Draft http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...rew-wiggins-to-declare-for-nba-draft/7110755/
You dont get your fundanmentals in NBA, in a league where 82 games a year is played there is no time to develop lacking issues. Its not because college coaches better in developing players, they have so much time to develop a player considering the NBA coaches timetable.
I like emjohn's idea because it's so clear cut. A compromise could be: you can leave college before 3 years, but only to the NBDL. What I like is making it a clear and real choice: go directly to being a professional, or decide you really want to give college a try. I would love that solution as a fan of both. The Kentucky type of team makes me kind of sick. It's just a very good NBDL team, or a bad NBA team.
Wiggens was never going to be a LBJ, Duncan, or Durant level of player. Just not happening. There is a very small chance he could develop into a TMac, but the chances are very slim. I really despise the hype piled on top of college players. The only obvious once in a generation player over the last 15 years was LBJ. That is it. It is just stupid to put Wiggens in that category.