Watching Lebron. Thinking of TMac. etc. While I am an ARDENT proponent of allowing the players to go straight from high school. I do wonder. Do you think there is something basketball wise that they could have gotten from the College game? Mental toughness? Leadership? Become more coachable? LEarn how to work on there games? Rocket River
Of course. The benefit of jumping to the pros isn't on the court. It's the money and financial security.
I think if you make them go at least 2 (preferably 3-4 years), then that is a different story. But 1 year is a joke. A big fat joke.
Agreed, should be minimum of 2......if they want to go pro go Euro or NBDL for the first two instead of college if they want. DD
For guys like LeBron or Kobe, no. For guys like Brandon Jennings, the year spent playing in the euroleague with his family made him stronger. It allowed him to mature without as many distractions as the NBA. I believe it made him hungrier.
even if they dont learn anything in college basketball, coming into the nba a year or two later makes a huge difference in ones maturity and responsibility levels. high school kids live at home, obviously. even one year spent living on your own is great experience. you can't go from your mom taking care of you straight to the nba. its very difficult emotionally. honestly, even one year spent living away from the nest helps.
Do you think that shows itself on the court? I look at Rashard Lewis wilting in the playoffs. LeBron's game 5 fiasco. T-Mac's career of wilting. Would college have made them tougher? More Ready? More consistant? Rocket River
What about kobe? Look at all the superstar players before the 1 year rule, a lot of them are high school players.
I don't think Lebron or Kobe would be any better as basketball players. When players have that kind of drive they strive to succeed wherever they go so college would just slow their growth as the competition isn't as good. Kobe in particular, has a much better work ethic and skill set than any of the players his age or younger that went to college. They would be more intelligent and definitely more humble, though. There was never a problem with high school guys coming in too early, it was the stupid GM/owners drafting these guys that weren't ready. They started drafting guys based solely on body, size, and athleticism.
Kobe seems fine coming straight from HS. Same for Lebron. Same for Garnett and Amare. There are lots of guys who went for 4 years of college who weren't "mentally tough".
i think early on it can affect them as they are not ready to live on their own, let alone with unlimited money and women. this can stear them off course and turn them into a bust (kwame, to name just one). the 3 players that you mentioned have never been the most focused on winning. they think their talent should be enough, like it was in high school. i think college (even for a year) serves as an nba boot camp. how to live on your own responsibly, how to handle distractions, how to prepare for a game especially a do or die tournament game, how to put team first in order to win (something that kobe and kg learned after about 10 years). ideally they would spend more time in college. people make the argument "what can one year do?" the goal wasn't one year. the goal was longer, but the players association negotiated it down to just one year during the last CBA negotiations. i dont think college helps in player development more than the nba can... i think more time in college helps in human development.
I understand this too. Just wonder if it would have helped. Even Amare could do with some more fundamentals. [esp on DEFENSE!!!!] Garnett could have a better back to the basket game. Rocket River
I think College prepares you better for defense. If you look at the list of guys who came strait out of high school... Kobe KG LeBron Monta Ellis Al Harrington Dwight Howard Tracy McGrady Amare Kwame Brown Bynum Those guys were not too bad...but i honestly dont think college would have improved much of their game.
For great players like LeBron, KG, Kobe and Amare, a year of college wouldn't have helped them at all. I doubt 2 years would have either. It would have slowed their development as players. The reason I like a year (or better 2 years) of college as a requirement is because some of the busts get weeded out. It's a shame when fluff players from high school with "great potential" get drafted high in place of someone else. The NBA draft is hard enough for teams as it is but not seeing guys play against college-level competition makes it tougher. I understand the concept of high schoolers having the freedom of playing professionally, but as a fan my main concern is the quality of play in the NBA. I think most players benefit from the slower growth curve of going to college and so does the NBA. The superstar players mentioned above are the exception to the rule.
College helps young players develop maturity while the Nba helps young players develop physically. Players gets better when they play professional basketball faster than college because of the competition and training. But in college, it basically prepares them for the NBA and help them mature without all the distraction while being in the NBA. But it really depends on a player. If a player like Lebron, Kobe or KG, they are way too good that college really don't help them as much as the NBA. Their skills improve much more being in the NBA because of the training staff, and the vets giving them advice. But certain players need the college discipline and college coaching to be successful in the NBA like Brandon Roy. Kevin Durant probably didn't learn much in college. He is the type of player that can just jump straight from High School to the NBA.
I think Stephon Marbury - could have used more college Kwame Brown, Sebastian Telfair, Leon Smith, etc . . . those folx could have improved i think. Heck I think Dwight Howard could have improved with some college Rocket River
You know what, Moses is the only guy I can think of that is actually tough minded and understand what winning takes right out of the gate. Someone might think of others that I might have missed. Obviously, those who make it big on the pro level are extremely talented players, or else they wouldn't have been drafted in the first place. Almost all those who became superstars have sort of a me-first mentality. What I don't know is whether a year or two in college would have made any difference in these guys. As is noted, there are plenty of me-first players coming out of college too. Anyway, I tend to agree that the human side (as opposed to the skill side) is underrated when it comes to developing players. All the kids who can jump straight from high school have been miles ahead of his peer in talent and skills. They had no reason to respect his teammates or his opponents.
Its about weeding out the Gerald Green types. I'm sure the Celtics would like a do-over with that pick. And also the Taj McDavid, Korleone Young, DeAngelo Collins, Lenny Cooke and Giedrius Rinkevicius types (WHO ?). EXACTLY... We pay attention to Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett. NBA is looking at the bigger picture and player misses.
