A solution to the HS problem?

It sounds like a great idea to me, but it wouldn't happen because what about overseas kids, etc? Also I'm sure kids in HS & college could sue for age discrimination still.

 

Although I doubt the players union and the league would have the balls to implement this (or the compromise needed), it is an excellent idea. It may be a little unfair to the foreign kids, but for the most part, I think it's brilliant.

 

That's one of the best ideas I've heard. Needs a little revision to account for the foreign players but the foundation is very well thought out and orginal(atleast I've never seen this suggested).

 

There was a suggestion in the past in which your time to become a free agent would lessen if you remained in school. For instance, the team would have rights to a HS grad for 7 years, Freshman - 6, Sophomore - 5, Junior - 4 and Senior - 3. (The numbers may be wrong but the gist isn't). Thus someone staying in college could be a free agent after 3 years, while a high schooler would not necessarily become a free agent for 7 years. Every first rounder would get the 3 year guarantee but the team option to continue beyond three years would be less with more schooling.

 

You're right. I'm sure there wouldbe a suit but I think the league would be on some fairly firm ground. To me, there's no difference in the system Milos is proposing and any hiring related to experience level. When you have more experience, you get paid a higher salary at any job. It's also a common practice in union contracts.

On the other hand, the idea that has been thrown around in the past which bobrek mentions, probably runs into trouble because the determination on free agency is made after a person is already drafted (hired) and gives greater rights and freedoms to one group of employees versus the others.

 

I've always been of the opinion that an equivalent of the minor leagues in basketball is the best option. Guys who can make the jump directly to the NBA will do so. While those who needs seasoning plays in the minors and see how he does.

After all, HS baseball players go into the draft all the time, and no one complains.

Trying to make players go to college, IMO, is trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. These players are hardly going to college for the education. They get treated like royalty and take almost no classes. So they're hardly getting the benefits of a college scholarship.

With the 'minor league' system, the players who truly want an education will head to college. It will be scholarship money well spent by the colleges, because the boy actually uses it well. And it will still be entertaining. College WS is still a fun event, whether or not you have the top 18-22 year olds in the game.

 

Not sure which owner is going to want to pay for product that wasn't helping him win those four years. I know you are going to say but they are getting a better, more polished product but still nothing is for sure when it comes to drafting players.

It's clear we can not keep the high schoolers out so..... I'm all for a minor league system with each team having a farm team directly developing talent for the big club it shares affiliation with.

The best situation I've heard for handling contracts of these players is to stretch out the length over like five or six years instead of three like it is now.

How much better would Boki be if he was getting to play every day against near NBA quality players in real game situations? Maybe not at all but atleast we will have known what we had instead of as it is now he will probably walk at the end of his deal having never played signifigant minutes here at all.

 

They already do. Was J O'Neal helping the Blazers win? Harrington and Bender with the Pacers their first few years? Kwame Brown? Curry & Chandler?

I like the extended contract idea as well. It typically takes 2-3 years to see any real return on drafting a HS player excluding Lebron and Stoudemire. One or maybe 2 in an exceptional class could make an impact. Another Lebron isn't coming every year or even every 5.

It sounds fair to me on both sides. If an athlete wants money and to develop his game while getting paid but not contributing other than basically on a practice squad , then he should play for that team longer. If a team is going to pay a practice squad player, then they deserve a longer binding contract to see their ROI.

Rocket Addict made a great point on that employers CAN discriminate based on experience rather than age.

A minor league is out of the question right now. There's already the NBDL and you see how that goes. If I was a HS player and wanted money but didn't want to deal with college or the draft, I'd get my ass over to a 1st or 2nd tier team in Italy or Spain. Sort of like Drejer from Florida.

 

While this idea sounds good at first, I too thought it would work, until I realized that it would almost increase the number of high schoolers drafted.

The kids coming out would still be making a LOT of money, so I don't think it would discourage them. Also, owners would jump at getting a HS kid at a discount. Imagine being able to have lebron locked up for 6 yrs at a 25% discount. And even if the guy is a bust did it really cost you anything.

It sounds like a good idea, but when you really look at it, the idea would only make the problem worse.

 

The problem with the minor leagues is that...no one watches their games! The NBDL is not a developmental league, but a last chance purgatory for borderline players looking for a roster spot. I like this idea of a graduated pay scale for rookies based on college experience (just like you make more money in nearly every career field because of more experience), but I doubt the NBA and the Player's Union have enough courage to enact such a proposal.

 

I think you're onto something here.

In my job, if you come in with a college degree, you'll most likely have a higher original starting salary than if you didn't. Why not make it similar in sports?

It'd be easy to do with 1st round (guaranteed) contracts. A first rounder with a college degree gets X amount, otherwise it's X-Y.

Definitely gets complicated when you include players from overseas, though.

But still, you navigate around the age discrimination concern by rewarding players with a college degree.

 

Very clever. I'm against the NBA taking choices away from players, but your idea seems like a pretty fair compromise. Nice job.

 

I think the best way to deter HS draftees is to stop handing out guaranteed contracts to rookies. Make them incentive laden. You are paid by the minutes you are on the game floor. If you don't develop in 3 years, you can be cut without any strings attached. That'll make everybody think twice before they say they are ready for the pro game.

What professions give their employees guaranteed contract BEFORE they have even proven they could do the job?

But I know the player union will never agree with this.

 

Here is a simple solution:

Guaranteed contracts for players > 20 years old or at least sophmore in college experience. Otherwise it's non guaranteed and can be cut without having to pay beyond the rest of the season.

Leave the rookie pay scale the same.

 

First of all, there is no problem. But I won't go into a rant about that.

I posted another solution in a thread about Clarett a couple of months ago.

Instead of the NCAA staying on their high horse and claiming its all about the academics, I think my solution is similar but a lot more workable and and simpler. How about not penalizing the kids for entering the draft. To me, this is the first problem and where the NCAA shoots itself in the foot. If the kid gets drafted, they can be on the professional team's payroll, and still play college ball. I believe NCAA baseball already has a system like this in place.

The kid could go to school, earn money, and play college ball. But instead of opening the Pandora's box of schools paying players, the kids would be working for the teams like on an intern basis. Then the teams could pull the kid up to the professional level when they feel he is ready. If the team feels that the kid isn't ready after four years, they part ways. The kid gets an education, gets paid for the efforts, fans get to enjoy their college sports, and the schools aren't paying the kids. It could be the same exact way an internship works for everyone else, except these guys won't need to graduate. Also, the teams won't be affiliated with the schools and can pick where ever they want. If a team feels a kid should play for a certain college coach, that's fine, as long as there is no connection between certain pro teams and certain college teams.

 

I agree that the fact the contracts are guaranteed is the issue. If I'm a high schooler, it's not the millions of dollars that would make me choose to enter the draft early. It's the fact those millions are guaranteed. It just doesn't make sense to turn down guaranteed money when you could be injured or something and not get the opportunity again. You think TJ Ford would still have entered the draft if he wasn't haunted by the idea that he could lose all that money with a serious injurty?

pgagabriel, I like your idea a lot. However, teams would have to have the rights to players for an obscene length of time like seven years (say, four for college, three in the NBA) so that they can offer a contract based on proven ability instead of potential. This would also cause everyone to enter the draft in high school, since there's no reason not to. Players who can't get into schools could play in the NBDL instead.

 

I second the idea that we should get rid of guranteed contracts for 1st round picks. That way the kids have to take bigger risk for making the jump. That way only the truly gifted ones like Carmelo or LeBron would dare to make the jump. Also, previously many HS players won't make the jump when they know they are 2nd round material.

NFL has no guaranteed money, so it doesn't get flooded by HS people even after the Clarett ruling.

Finally, the good thing about this idea is that I believe it doesn't break any labor laws and it can be easily implemented. Not sure how the player union will see this but why do they let the 2nd round picks non-guaranteed?

 

Yep, absolutely.

Right now you have everyone wanting to draft underclassmen. I don't see how it won't just get worse if guys that stay in school are more expensive than underclassmen.

I don't think the problem is guys wanting to go pro early ... it's with teams willing to draft those guys.