I was looking at some of the players who played 1 yr of college, entered the pro's and had good successful career's. While just breezing through the names, it looks like you have a better chance with high school players than those with 1 yr of college. Granted the jury is still out on some, but check this out: Larry Hughes,Rodney White,DeMarr Johnson, Antonio Wingfield,Shareef,Stephon Marbury,Eddie Griffin,Corey Maggette. Of those players listed, Shareef and Stephon are the only ones with successful career's so far.I know ever case is different, but the risks seem larger than drafting high school players. I and the rest of the Rockets followers hope Griffin can follow the path of Shareef and Marbury instead of the others. Just a thought.
I think most coaches prefer that the high school players go through at least 1 year of college. That way the coaches and scouts get a better look at what a player can do against better competition.
Didn't Mo Taylor come out after only 1 year at Michigan? I remember hearing that somewhere, but can't recall if that's true or not. In any case - throw DaJuan Wagner onto that list. It'll be interesting to see how he turns out, though if all of the hype holds true, he'll be one of the better players from that group.
I think that it is more of a case of the kids that are coming out, CAN come out and still get drafted pretty high. I think they are just flat out better players, and that's why they don't feel the need to spend a year or two in college, compared with guys who go and then leave early, just to try to get their stock to rise. Guys like DaJuan Wagner and EG are exceptions, because they COULD have come out and not lost out too much on their draft position. What would really be interesting is the learning curve comparisons for, say, Jermaine O'Neal and Tim Duncan. What I mean here is, how long does it take an O'Neal to become a real contributor after years of riding pine, compared to the immediate impact of Duncan in his rookie year, after 4 years of college. I know that particular comparison is rather obvious in terms of what worked out better, but what about T-Mac 2.5 years of bench time vs Carter's 3 years at UNC? mfclark -- I'm pretty sure Mo stayed at least 2 years at Michigan --I want to say he came out after his junior year, but if not, it was as a sophomore.
