Stern wants NBA age limit raised to 20 ESPN.com news services Indiana Pacers forward Jermaine O'Neal said he thinks racism might have something to do with the NBA's desire to put an age limit in the next collective bargaining agreement. "In the last two or three years, the rookie of the year has been a high school player. There were seven high school players in the All-Star Game, so why we even talking an age limit?" O'Neal said. The past two rookies of the year were drafted out of high school: The Cavaliers' LeBron James was the 2003-04 rookie of the year, while the Suns' Amare Stoudemire won the award after the 2002-03 season. Players currently have to be at least 18 to be drafted, but NBA commissioner David Stern would like to see the age raised to 20. "We are seeking to raise that to 20 or two years out of high school. The NFL's minimum age is 3 years after high school. I'm optimistic the union will agree to some raise in the minimum age in the current collective bargaining," Stern said in a recent ESPN.com chat. O'Neal doesn't agree with Stern's agenda, however. "As a black guy, you kind of think [race is] the reason why it's coming up. "You don't hear about it in baseball or hockey. To say you have to be 20, 21 to get in the league, it's unconstitutional. If I can go to the U.S. Army and fight the war at 18 why can't you play basketball for 48 minutes?" O'Neal said. If the NBA had the age limit Stern is proposing in 1996, O'Neal would have had to postpone the start of his NBA career. O'Neal went to the NBA straight out of high school in 1996 and was drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers, who made him the 17th overall selection. O'Neal didn't blossom into the star he is today until he was dealt to the Pacers during the 2000 offseason. He has made the past three Eastern Conference All-Star teams. Link Why does somebody always have to play the freakin race card?! He mentions baseball and hockey as not having age limits.... but neglets to mention the min age limit in football. Then fails to mention that while neither baseball or hockey have age limits they both have minor league systems to develop their young talent. Plus, (don't know bout hockey cause I'm not a fan) for baseball in particular, there is like zero chance of a high school grad jumping up to the big leagues right away cause they wouldn't be able to handle major league pitching, among other things. And did he ever consider the current age limit could be a factor for a decreasing lack of fundamental skills in the league today.
The guy has a highschool degree..give him some leeway I'm for the age limit..LeBron would be owning the college competition..that would be great to watch
And it shows "In the last two or three years, the rookie of the year has been a high school player. There were seven high school players in the All-Star Game, so why we even talking an age limit ?" O'Neal said. And it's not like I'm trying to rip into him or anything...I just think it's silly to suggest racism is a driving force to raising the age limit.
I read somewhere one provision in the new CBA may stipulate all players below a certain age can only be drafted if they are picked in the top 10.
Because the majority of hockey players and baseball players are white. Just look at the Astros. Also, most major league baseball players go straight to the minors after highschool. The NFL, the players are mostly black. Tennis, all players are mostly white and you kids turning pro at 14. I don't think this is race thing but to put an age limit on the NBA is stupid. I would say most of the highschool players have more skills than the ones that went to four years of college.
Have you not paid attention to the growing number of kids sitting on the end of NBA benches because they aren't any good and have no fundamentals at all? LeBron is a very very exceptional player. Most high school players are -much- worse than your 4 year nba draft-pick college players.
Baseball and Hockey have no age restrictions but have have minor leauge systems. Football has no such minor league but has age restrictions. Basketball has neither. Basketball is the only sport where its seemingly possible to jump from high school to the starting lineup right away. Yet more times than not (lebron, amare), these high schoolers take years to develop into NBA caliber talent...to live up to their potential (Garnett, Kobe, J. O'neal). And in some cases, the pressures of the league become too great to handle (Kwame). Plus, while it may not be the sole reason, you cannot discount their being some correlation between the influx of high schoolers to the NBA and the decline in fundamental basketball. And tennis is a whole other beast altogether...because most tennis players hit their prime in their early twenties and rarely make it past 30 (which is why you have teenagers on the ATP tour). Plus, tennis still has junior tournaments.
I don't know about it be race issue. But I agree with him if you can fight at war at 18 than you should be able to enter the NBA if you got the talent.
90% of those guys (who aren't foreign) went to College. Howard Eisley, Darrick Martin, Donnell Harvey, Calbert Cheaney, Samaki Walker, Marcus Haislip, Ronald Dupree, Jannero Pargo, Frank Williams, Mamadou N'diaye, Jake Voskuhl, Rafael Araujo, Moochie Norris, etc.,etc., etc., all those guys play in the NBA, all of them went to college, all of them suck, most of them have never been any good. An age limit would be great for college basketball and bad for the NBA. Personally, I don't care much for college basketball, so I'd rather not see an age limit.
This age limit thing is probably an over-reaction towards the Pacers brawl and the battering the NBA's image has taken over the past few years. Just make "life management" classes manadtory for players under 20 and be done with it.
Just a stupid comment by O'Neal. We can't presume race to be a factor in everything. By doing so, it undercuts our credibility when racism or prejudice is the actual motivation for something. Having to deal with prejudice (and I say 'prejudice' because too many people misuse the term 'racism') growing up, I realized the need to be fairly judicious when asserting 'race' into an equation. This is because you can only scream 'fire' so many times before reasonable people start tuning you out. And I never wanted to be tuned out. Kinda like my friends back in the day. We'd get pulled over by a white cop and afterward one of my buddies would immediately attribute his attitude toward us as being racially motivated. How do we know? Without knowing this dude, without seeing how he deals with other races, we really don't know if race is guiding his attitude toward us... or if he just happens to be an all around a-hole toward ALL people, or YOUNG people, or people who kinda sneer at him as he approaches the window, or whatever. You get the idea. The point is many times we just don't know. That being said, sometimes it's pretty damn obvious what's up....so we call THOSE situations for what they are: racially motivated. But other times, people can disagree with us, piss us off, and treat us like dirt....but it's not always because of a difference in skin color. Many times it's because people are just jerks, period. I think Jermaine is way off the mark on this one.
I don't get why you think it would be bad for the nba. Cause we would have to wait for precious Bronbron? There would be negative short term effects of an age limit because it would take 2 years or so for the first crop of blue chippers to turn 20. However, once we start getting a steady stream of young studs with 2 years of college, the NBA will benefit so much more. Guys like Travis Outlaw and Telfair would come into the league more ready to contribute. There would be no more Darkos or skitas warming benches without even sniffing the court. There would be fewer roster spots filled by projects and more players ready to play, resulting in deeper teams. Deeper teams can result in fewer injuries to star players who carry such a heavy burden. In short, it results in there being more prepared players in the league. Sure we'd have to wait two years for the top highschool players, but after those two years, we'd get a constant flow of the same, but more matured players. If anything, the argument is about the right to work. But most would agree that the NBA is definately not hurt by an age limit. And the revitalization of the college game would just be icing on the cake.
The NBA really needs to develop a reserves league like in soccer or a full minor league like in baseball. There are simply too many players who aren't suited for college (they're not student athletes) but aren't ready to compete at the pro level. Rather than demean the college game with players who don't want to be there, there should be a prepatory pro league where teams can farm out their youthful prospects. I'm all for players going pro early. It leaves college for those who want degrees...and pro leagues develop players better (look at how it's done in soccer internationally...the college system is less effective).
The age limit proposal probably made O' Neal get personal since he rode the pine for a good 3 years. The NBA desperately needs a development league or a farming system. They need some system to seperate the players from the cult of personality to allow them to learn the fundamentals. Last time I checked, the Players union was dangling the age limit card for other concessions.
This rule isnt about the one or two brilliant players like that jump straight from high school and become NBA stars.....its about the young man thats thinks he has NBA tallent, he drops out of school, doesnt get drafted, doesnt end up having much of a Basketball career at all and has nothing to fall back on. You can bet that if there was no restrictions and young kids were being picked out of highschool and left on the scrap heap at a high rate....THAT could be seen as being racist in the mind of idiots like O'Neal.
Since the NBA is bringing the NBDL online, supposedly, IMO the is no reason for an age limit except the current 18 yrs. Baseball has done it for decades. So why not?
This is a great idea. i'd love to see relegation/promotion as well. This would give fans of the Clippers and Hawks a reason to watch late season games. But I don't see Stern doing anything that cool.
You guys would rather have Alex English teaching Malick Badiane the ways of the game in the NDBL, instead of the Rockets' coaching staff?
HEHE... good point keep in mind Barkley got a chance to go to college and he couldnt even talk that graceful if he tried
