I believe that to be a more than acceptable request. Why let a player go to college, when we know that they aren't looking to stay full-time, anyway.
the nba is a private business. it can allow or disallow anyone it wants. why should the nba think of anyone else's best interest before its own? if anything the age requirement will go up. the nba wanted (wants) to have it at 20. the players union wanted to keep it at 18, which is how they agreed on 19 last time.
true but it's a private business that depends quite a bit on local governments - new arena funding, anti-scalping laws, supplying extra police for big games, so I don't think the NBA can afford to completely piss off the local bigwigs. anyways, one of the reasons I have started watching less and less of college sports is because of these scandals - i would rather these athletes just go ahead and go pro, instead of these fake "student athletes"
If Brandon Jennings goes hi in the draft we wont have to worry about the age limit because you will see more of the top prospects going Europe out of high school. What version of Blake Griffin would have more value, A Blake Griffin who just finished playing against some of the best players in the world not in the nba, or a bunch of 18-23 year old scrubs who will never play pro ball in there life again once there college career is over. I would take the Euro League seasoned Griffin.
I'm surprised he's not asking for a bail out for the grizzlies I agree with the age limit rule, hope they keep it.
He didn't get to play much in Europe. Most of these high school guys aren't good enough to play significant minutes in Europe. They would get way more playing time in college.
How does that make sense? Brandon Jennings didn't do much in Europe. Did you ever see his highlights on ESPN? Blake Griffin went to college for two years and is easily the #1 pick. Ricky Rubio played against "some of the best players in the world not in the nba" and is not even considered when talking about the #1. I hope they raise the age limit to force it to two years in college. It's been awesome seeing Durant, Beasley and Griffin play in college.
That's one brave congressman for speaking to the commissar like that. Stern's response: “I don't know what he's talking about.” =)
Wow that is a ridiculous comparison. Apples and oranges aren't the same mate. You just said that playing in college is better than in europe because blake griffin is considered better than ricky rubio. Just because the better player played at the collegiate level it makes college basketball instantly better than european basketball in terms of developing players? Lets say im a better basketball player than you, does that make New Zealand basketball better at developing talent than USA? And sorry if some players leaving college after their first year renders you unable to watch them on television playing against comparatively weaker competition than the nba, but some people have families to feed and aspirations to fulfill.
The players union doesn't want it at 20. If anyone pushed for an age limit it was the players union! They represent the players, not the non-players. Older veterans want their jobs protected they don't want to lose their role so Ndi Ebi or whatever other project can sit and occupy a roster spot while being considered a project and contributing nothing. The union wants the age limit.
I agree, why don't politicians focus on improving the economy instead of focusing on who cheated in baseball and at what age a player should be eligible for the NBA?
Probably not very long as I'm sure once we win the Championship (probably somewhere between '10-'12) Memphis will once again begin the rebuilding process (not the first time, certainly won't be the last).
You missed the boat on my post. No it doesn't make them better at developing - he was saying how playing in Europe would make an NBA team want to take them over someone who played in college. Blake Griffin v. Rubio is a pretty good example of that not being true. The rest of your post is pretty irrelevant because you misunderstood my point. But to get on that, I will say that a year or two in college would do a heck a lot more for a player's game than any Euro league. Ask Brandon Jennings how much he liked it and how much more he thinks he's "ready" now. To go further, Jennings would've started and gotten big minutes. He would've been in pressure situations in conference and in the tournament. In Europe, he played what, 12min a game off the bench? His coaches preferred to go with the older guys who were there because they trusted them and he had a lot to learn. College gives you the minutes and teaching to turn into a great player. You don't get yanked out for making freshman mistakes; the great players are allowed to just play and develop. That hasn't worked out so well for American players going to Europe before the NBA yet.
i dont like the one year rule. i think the two year rule makes alot more sense. it would be so awesome for the ncaa game too - imagine if we had some year to year continuity for once! just in the past few seasons we would have seen a durant-LMA team as well as rose going for it again.
Exactly. And it's funny he tries to take this stance in light of the Rose allegations.. uhh congressman, without Rose, you don't make it to the championship in the first place.
while i think that makes sense, i'm not sure it's accurate. david stern talked about teams being able to know what they've got in the draft, players being ready to play when they enter the league makes it a stronger league etc... so if both sides agree that it's beneficial, why did the age requirement only increase by one year? shouldn't they both have agreed to make it 20 or 21 as stern wanted it to be? either way i'm sure we are both in agreement that the age requirement is sure to go up in the next round of CBA negotiations.
The point I am trying to make is that a 1st round quality player who plays a year in Europe is going to be more nba ready then a similar first round talent that plays in college. Trust me Brandon is a better player because of his experience in Europe then if he would have been if he stayed at arizona or went to some junior college in the middle of no where. If the age limit goes to 20 and Jennings lands in the first round this year, Mark my words more top flight college prospects will go to Europe.
