players are drafted too young for the NBA needs minor leagues and not NBDL crap

ok this post spawned off my last post in the topic where some guy was hyping the draft of '02 as possibly the best since '84.

the players in the draft are getting so young it is getting scary, because it is either sink or swim for them. in next years draft two 18 year olds will be picked #1 and #2 and these guys both would have declared eligible for the draft if the NBA would have allowed them to in '02.

the reason why this is getting scary is because there is no middle ground to fall back on like in baseball. in the NBA you either sink or swim.

this is getting out of control...guys like tskitishvili (sp?), hilario, amare, kwame, boki, and so on need more playing time and coaching to develop. i have a feeling that it is very difficult to cater to the coaching needs of a player fresh out of HS versus a player right out of 4 years of college versus a foreign player versus player who is a NBA vet.

some HS players are capable of making the adjustment those guys are usually the best of the best like kobe, garnett, moses malone, kemp (in his prime), and so one. but there may be other players like leon smith, deshawn stevenson, and so on who might turn into solid NBA players like a eddie johnson or harpring or najera with proper coaching. i can't think of any players straight from HS who turned into mid-level NBA players...they were either badasses or you never heard from them again.

some foreign players might be better served if they were able to play in the NBA minor league for a year to get more playing time and to become more acquainted with the american style of play. it took peja more than 2 years to develop, dirk took over a year, turkoglu is still developing, boki needs time, maybe mirsad turkcan could have made it, wang zhi zhi said he has missed out since he was stuck in the cba, skita needs time...the list goes on and on.

then you could fill out the rest of the minor league with marginal college players who still are trying to make it like a gabe muoneke type player or kris clack. they might turn into players like elie or hawkins. the type of guys that found a niche other than scoring and excelled at it. guys like these could also be called up from the minors to help teams out. they might be more consistent since they had more playing time and more coaching, and might work harder since they know it may be their only shot and they have to bust their ass or be sent back to the minors. guys like these could also be used to fill out NBA rosters rather than have guys like boki, who need to be playing, sitting on the bench because the coach knows they aren't ready.

so instead of 18/19 year old rookies filling out the bench you could have vets who are accustomed to NBA-style basketball and you would see improved game play.

the NBA could expand the draft like it was in the past and teams could draft the bad ass prospects early and still be able to get solid, fundamental 3 or 4 year college players to play on their teams who would be apart of their team contributing much sooner..like carlos boozer or gadzuric as replacements until the prospects are ready.

finally, not everyone develops at the same pace as can be seen with a lot of the top baseball prospects...some make it to the top in a year (pujols) others take years to get it right (bagwell) but when they do they are still badasses. the talent is almost always there with the players its just a matter a lack of coaching and maturity in a lot of the guys that fall to the wayside in the NBA.

for anyone who took the time to read it all feel free to change things up or whatnot. its kind of disorganzied, but just my thoughts on things.

 

the problem is that the NBDL does not have ties to specific franchises. its too small right now also.

under the current system if a player wants to try to bust his ass and make it to the NBA as an undrafted player then he would more than likely have to go the way of what hawkins did. this means having to play all over the globe to have a chance. when you have to go to such extremes like moving to a foreign country you are going to lose players who might end up being decent because they don't want to have to completely uproot their entire lives and move somewhere that they have no family and don't know the language.

 

there is nothing wrong with coaches wanting to develop players in the NBA. it might be best in some cases. it happens when the players are good enough in baseball as well. the players progress very fast through the minors (like beckett, prior, or a-rod) and do most of their development in the majors.

however, not everyone develops at the same pace. that is why you need a minor league for the hs players who have trouble developing fast or maybe need more coaching and time to mature. i'm not saying there is something wrong with players not getting a college education, but i am saying there is something wrong when the only high school players that succeed in the NBA are the ones who are destined for the upper tier of NBA basketball. if you can name more than a handful of high school players who developed into aaron mckie, eric snow, brent barry, charlie ward type guys then be my guest. i can't even name one. point being...there is NO middle ground for very young players. they are either huge successes or nothing.

now, if you think that this means that the HS players who were drafted and didn't make it really had no talent at all then i guess thats an argument, but i feel otherwise. i think these guys did have lots of talent, but just were not able to make such a huge transition so fast. even though these guys might not end up being hall of famers they could still end up being solid 20 min/game players with solid fundamentals. i think baseball has enough examples of guys who took a bit longer to develop but still made a solid impact. i'm too lazy to do research on guys from HS who made an average impact at the pro level.

damn it i gotta get off the computer. i had more to write about foreign players...be back later