When folx talk age limit they ALWAYS talk about the black americans No one mentions Dirk Pega or Tony Parker EVER Maybe because they EUROs no one ever mentions the Euros being PROS at 15??????? Rocket River
I'm a big Jermaine Oneal fan, but I am disappointed he is pulling the race card on this one. If he wants to not agree with the Age limit because he thinks people 18 years or older should get in then that is cool, I can accept that argument without a doubt. But to say that RACE is a factor is ridiculous. And to be frank, it is the liberal (not politically speaking) use of the "race card" that undermines the legitamate situations where race IS an issue. Just because a black person/group doesnt get their way does not mean it is racism.
I'm against the age limit, if it carries across to the NBDL. From what I've seen, it sounds as if it would, and I think that's both unneccessary and shortsighted. My major problem centers with the HS athletes who either don't have the academic qualifications or desire to attend college. The one-and-done guys have no place at a university. A college should not be bending its acceptance standards simply to be a minor league system. But if the age limit locks out HS graduates, where else are they going to go? If they are that gifted, and this is going to be their career, let them go to the minors to get legitimate training. Let the education system have the student athletes. Let the minor league take the guys almost ready for the pros. I'm not against an NBA age limit, if only because too many HS players (European guys too) come in way too raw to play. On top of that, even more come in with an immaturity that's galling to most (Amare, Curry, Kwame, etc). First reply to this thread helps make that point. Thirdly, look at the high number of guys that throw themselves away by trying to come out too early, drafted or not (Leon Smith, Lenny Cook, etc). One-and-done college guys, too. Evan
Exactly. Also, My ideal minor league (not realistic in the slightest): The NBA owners buy out perennially financially shaky franchises Milwaukee, Orlando, New Orleans, And Memphis (NBA moves back to a 4 division format). NBML (Minors)(each team shared by two NBA squads): Baltimore (Was, Phi) Buffalo (Det, Tor) Albany (NJN, Bos) Orlando (Mia, NYK) Memphis (Cha, Dal) New Orleans (Hou, Atl) Columbus (Cle, Ind) Milwaukee (Chi, Min) Kansas City (SAS, Den) Albuquerque (Pho, Uta) Las Vegas (LAC, Sac) San Diego (GSW, LAL) Vancouver (Sea, Por) -->Yes, NYK would be far removed, but on the flipside, I didn't think pairing them with Boston (or LAL with LAC or Sac, or any TX squads together) would be ideal. -->All drafted players are to start in the minors until called up. Players may be called up as soon as training camp but may not stay in the minors for more than 3 years (must be called up or released). -->Drafted Minor League players are to have half of their wages (or have wages paid be capped out at $500,000) kept in escrow until they are called up to the NBA, at which time the witheld salaries are rewarded as a bonus of sorts. You don't need guys trying to live the life in the minors - that's one of the biggest bad habits you'd like to steer them clear of. The NBDL would also still exist for projects and other raw undrafted talent. Evan
{offtopic} And drink alcohol. I still think it weird that at 18 an american can vote and go to war, but not indulge in a beer. Stupid laws...
The age limit comes with a minor league. High school draftees would get paid as much as their draft slot says they should get paid, but they will be forced to go into the minor leagues until they get called up. I believe one of the yahoo NBA writers had an article about this. A few questions. Why require players who have no intentions of getting a degree to go to college for two years? Why should anyone use "improving the college game" as an excuse to push an age limit? How does anyone expect high school players to get better playing against inferior competition? Also, everyone please stop saying it's about an EDUCATION, it's about MONEY.
I really don't think a minor league system would work in the NBA. Guys would try to show themselves to get "called up" and wouldn't play team ball. Guys would be going one-on-one all the time to pump their stats, and nobody would get developed. I think baseball works as a minor league sport because its a series of one-on-one matchup, pitcher vs. hitter. There are occasions where you need to move a guy over, or sacrafice bunt, but those are rare.
Setting aside the vast majority of high school busts, this is pretty funny, considering the source. I have a feeling O'neal would have been much better sooner if he had gone to college for a year or two, instead of basically rotting on the Blazers bench for those years. Does this dumbass really think David Stern would hold out players that were great and exciting to watch because he's racist? The guy who oversees a league that rides the jock of guys like Kobe Bryant? come on. Just an idiotic statement- the ignorance he shows is actually a pretty good argument for an age limit.
To serve as devil's advocate, the mission statement for minor league coaches isn't about winning, it's about developing. If a player goes Kobe on his team to try and get himself called up, he's going to get benched by the coach. Run this league with Sloan, Brown, Carlise, and Popovich types, and they'll get the message quick. And isn't that part of the argument for sending young wiz kids to the minors first? To teach them a little humility and team-first attitudes? Evan
If you scroll up a bit from your post, you'll see that someone mentioned avoiding future Darkos. Most foreigners are coming in at an age over 20. And, NBA teams are using overseas leagues as a form of minor league -- pick a young prospect with a second-round pick but leave him in Europe for several years for seasoning before bringing him over (the Rox are doing it right now with Spanoulis and Badiane). So, it mostly applies to American players since they are the ones coming in from high school. The American players are mostly black -- that's the sociology of the sport. Do you think everyone would clamor for an exception if a young white phenom were to crop up? Haven, how does the soccer system work? I don't think you'd have a big problem with stat-padders in the NBDL. NBA scouts are better than armchair coaches. They'll know if a guy with sick statistics is being a team player or not. After some adjustment, guys in the minors will see what approach gets them called up. Anything that's good for the college game, I'm against. Make a real minor league with no age limit and maybe we can kill NCAA basketball for good. They're only exploiting their players anyway.
O'Neal is right. David Stern is a white supremist who is hell bent on keeping down the black man. Under his leadership, the white man has completely taken over the game of basketball. Haven't you noticed? -- droxford
The fact that a black high school kid won the ROY over a Chinese pro is a clear indication that racism is rampant in the NBA.
i like ncaa basketball, but that's why it was ridiculous for someone to say "think how much fun it would be to see lebron in college" as an argument for the age limit. uhh yeah. hey lebron, **** you and your nba dreams. **** you being able to dominate the nba right now. **** financial security for the rest of your life. put that on hold for 2 years and play for free that i may enjoy watching it. an age limit is ridiculous. it's clear there are guys who can play extremely well straight out of high school and another group of guys (like a lot of the guys this year after howard) who can be at least average nba player straight out of high school. why should we wait 2 years for that infusion of talent when we can have it now. and i don't see anything that says going to college for 2 years preps them better than being in the nba for 2 years. even if you barely play, you're working out with nba trainers and practicing against nba players and learning nba systems. even someone like jermaine who people say took forever, that was much more about the team he was on than him. the day he got minutes in indy he started producing. he just happened to get drafted by the deepest team in the league at the time and so he couldn't supplant anyone. a minor league system with no age limit is far better than a strict age limit. there's no reason to not have the lebrons, amares, and dwights of the world in the nba (or even the livingstons, josh smiths and jr smiths) and the rest who aren't ready can go develop. as for whoever mentioned the vast majority of high school busts, how many of them are there really? i'd be willing to bet that high schoolers on whole have performed at least as well as college players and it's fairly obvious that the best high school players have fared better than the guys who go to college considering at least half the top 10 players in the league are from HS and there aren't all that many HSers drafted.
I think it's superior to MLB's minor league system because it's more flexible. Essentially, a major team in Europe (any top flight team in Italy, Germany, Spain, England, and many others) will have (a) a reserve team and (b) a youth team (generall an age limit, such as under 20, or under 19 or 18, depending on the league) team. Major League Soccer in the US has a reserve league for the first time ever this year, but I'm not sure of the specifics of it. The reserve team is for players who are either (a) unable to crack into the first team at the moment, (b) are coming back from injury but aren't going at full steam yet, or (c) guys you want teaching the youngsters how to play the game, but are probably not suited anymore for first team action. A youth team is exactly how it stands. Generally, players join the youth team when they're very young - some players on youth teams are even 14 or 15, though those guys aren't full professionals. They play on the youth team (the bigger clubs have different levels of youth teams, from trainees to the guys who are real prospects. Many of the better youth players get paid. They then graduate to the reserve team, or in some cases, directly to the first team. It gives you more flexibility. For example, a guy can play for the reserve team on Wednesday, then the full team on Saturday, if necessary. Unlike in baseball, the reserve and youth teams are not separate entities from the main club. So you don't have to "option" contracts, etc...and they're based in the same place where your primary team is located. So they can use the same facilities, etc. I think it's a much better way of developing pro prospects...and it would mean the college level would be left to student athletes].
It was probably a white guy who interviewed O'Neal. The guy obviously new that JO's remarks would make him look like an idiot, yet he published it anyway. As a white guy, I can say that the interviewer was racially motivated to make the black man look inferior.
My thoughts exactly. If a young stud was sent to the minors and tried to pad his stats and go all Kobe on his team... chances are he wouldn't be called up till he learned how to play team ball. The Marbury's, Francis', AI's and Kobe's of the NBA lift teams to levels of mediocrity...but not to championships. And I understand the arguments against an age limit... why institute said restriction when you're penalizing guys like Lebron and Amare who are and were ready to play right away. But what about players like Kwame and Darko..or shoot even Kobe and O'neal who rotted on the bench for their first 3-4 yrs...that's where a developmental league would work.
