Is anyone familiar with the rules governing players initially entering the league? A friend and I were having a discussion, and we are confused about a teams right to draft a player....any player. Does a player have to request or put in some type of application to be in the draft? If so, what if a player never enters his name into the draft pool? Can he still be drafted? For example, if Lebron didn't enter his name into the draft pool, can he just sign with any team as a free agent, or can a team pick him and have his rights anyway? If a team couldn't pick Lebron, then wouldn't it be better for him to sign wherever he wants since he is going to get a huge shoe contract anyway? We aren't aware of how the entire process works, and the fact that all these foreign players are getting drafted in the second round is really throwing us because we are sure they all aren't "applying" to be in the draft pool. For example, did Kukoc apply to be in the draft back in the day? What about Mark Eaton, who didn't even think he would get drafted and was suprised when Utah picked him?
heypartner is the resident CBA geek of the board, so he can answer this question... I'm pretty sure there is a rule somewhere that says a player must make himself draft eligible before he is allowed free agency, therefore the term "undrafted free agent". If not, then any team could pretty much sign any player they want, making the draft ultimately useless...I guess making yourself draft eligible is sort of like the "NBA application for employement".
