Eliminating Age Restrictions On Drafting Would Eliminate Tanking

[boscel33]

i was originally for an age restriction, but have since changed my mind, with a minor caveat, the person must be of the age that their high school class has graduated.  why should they be restricted from earning a living and why sign them up for some bs classes in college just to get them one year out.  let them get drafted and begin to develop.

[Celtics18]

it would increase tanking and middle schoolers would fill up the top 20 picks.

I don't think so, it will depend on team need, approach, strategy. There would a whole lot less emphasis on the draft and a whole lot more about the system, scouting and development.

Agreed.  I hate the 19 year old rule.  I'd love to see teams be able to draft players as young as sixteen or seventeen.  I don't think that's realistic, though, and would be happy to move the age back to eighteen.

The nineteen year old rule is a farce designed to protect GMs from themselves, and probably also to some extent designed to help the big time college programs out by ensuring they get at least one year's worth of top level talent.

When the rule was first introduced, I remember it being bogusly sold as a way to protect the players.  Nonsense.

Eh, I think there's got to be something to be said for letting teenagers just be teenagers, to the extent that it's possible in today's AAU world.  Bad enough that guys already get YouTube-hyped in middle school.

Opening up the draft as you suggest would make it a lot worse, I think.

It's not possible in today's YouTube hyped AAU world.  If a kid looks ilke a basketball phenom at an early age, he's not going to be able to just be a "normal teenager." 

I really can't understand what's so laughable about eliminating the mandatory one-year, unpaid basketball apprenticeship in the NCAA for young players with potential NBA talent.

I'm not suggesting that eliminating the college requirement is laughable.

Drafting kids in middle school, though, is laughable.


I think players should be able to get drafted out of high school, but I also think that if players decide to go to college, they should be ineligible for the draft until they've played in college for 2-3 years, or until a full year after their most recent year of college (if they dropped out or something).

If the NBA had a legitimate minor league system instead of just the D-league, I might feel differently.  I'd be perfectly okay with seeing a lot of the guys who are just interested in becoming professional basketball players skip college and go straight to working towards that dream in a league that pays them a bit of money and specifically aims to teach them how to be professional ball players.

That's not the reality we live in, though.

Once the D-League expands to thirty teams (which they keep saying they are actively working towards), then it will be able to function as a much more legitimate minor league. 

I don't understand the rationale behind wanting to make players who choose the college route have to wait 2 or 3 years before they become draft eligible.  That seems like it is an idea intended solely for the purpose of protecting the NCAA. 
I understand that folks like college ball and that March Madness and all that is super big business, but I'm growing increasingly uncomfortable with college athletics being that kind of big business. 

I'd rather follow the Portland Red Claws to see young basketball talent than my college alma mater.  I mean, if an eighteen year old kid chooses to go to college on a basketball scholarship, and then improves drastically in his freshman year and has NBA teams looking at him as a prospect, why should he be punished for that?

[kozlodoev]

i was originally for an age restriction, but have since changed my mind, with a minor caveat, the person must be of the age that their high school class has graduated.  why should they be restricted from earning a living and why sign them up for some bs classes in college just to get them one year out.  let them get drafted and begin to develop.

Because teams never tanked when there was no age restriction?

[kozlodoev]

I think it would fix the problem. Wiggins probably would have been a 2007 2nd round pick.

Um, no.

Teams tank in basketball because one player can make such a difference to a team. This is not football, hockey or baseball where you have 15+ rotation players and 30+ man rosters. Basketball will always be a star league, and thus teams will always gamble on the next great thing just because the payoff is so high.

[Celtics18]

I think it would fix the problem. Wiggins probably would have been a 2007 2nd round pick.

Um, no.

Teams tank in basketball because one player can make such a difference to a team. This is not football, hockey or baseball where you have 15+ rotation players and 30+ man rosters. Basketball will always be a star league, and thus teams will always gamble on the next great thing just because the payoff is so high.

So you think Wiggins would have gone in the lottery at the age of thirteen?

[Chris]

1. This wouldn't eliminate tanking.  Teams tanked for Tim Duncan, who was a senior.  There will still always be players good players at the top of the draft

2.  Without some major work on the development leagues, and a complete overhaul of the development system (which the owners have no interest in paying for), this would end up ruining more players than it would help. 

[kozlodoev]

I think it would fix the problem. Wiggins probably would have been a 2007 2nd round pick.

Um, no.

Teams tank in basketball because one player can make such a difference to a team. This is not football, hockey or baseball where you have 15+ rotation players and 30+ man rosters. Basketball will always be a star league, and thus teams will always gamble on the next great thing just because the payoff is so high.

So you think Wiggins would have gone in the lottery at the age of thirteen?

This question is immaterial. If players are eligible to be drafted at 13, then the best 13-year olds will be drafted first. Except this will make the draft much more of a crapshoot than it is now.

[PhoSita]

 

I don't understand the rationale behind wanting to make players who choose the college route have to wait 2 or 3 years before they become draft eligible.  That seems like it is an idea intended solely for the purpose of protecting the NCAA. 

. . . .

I'd rather follow the Portland Red Claws to see young basketball talent than my college alma mater.  I mean, if an eighteen year old kid chooses to go to college on a basketball scholarship, and then improves drastically in his freshman year and has NBA teams looking at him as a prospect, why should he be punished for that?

My feeling is that if a young player is all about playing basketball professionally, and that is all they want to do, they should do that out of high school instead of going to college.

I'd love for the D-league to offer a legitimate option as far as that goes.

On the other hand, once a guy commits to go to college, I think the presumption should be that he's going to college for the sake of getting a degree and being a student athlete.  I don't like that many big colleges have become little more than incubators for potential pro-prospects who have nothing to do with the student body or being a student at all.

College basketball would also be far more enjoyable to watch if the best teams actually played together for a few years instead of being made up of a bunch of first and second year players with one foot out the door.


I definitely feel that the age restriction exploits guys who are already talented enough and good enough to play in the NBA as soon as they leave high school.  Let them go straight to the pros.  The number of players who fall in that category is pretty small, though, in my opinion.

The issue with having no age restriction whatsoever is that a lot of teams will just draft guys out of high school even if they aren't ready because they want to get the rights to them ASAP.  Then because they are high picks there's pressure on the GMs to have them play right away.  What results is a lessening of the quality of the NBA game.  That's definitely part of the reason they put the age restriction in place.

[kozlodoev]

 

I don't understand the rationale behind wanting to make players who choose the college route have to wait 2 or 3 years before they become draft eligible.  That seems like it is an idea intended solely for the purpose of protecting the NCAA. 

. . . .

I'd rather follow the Portland Red Claws to see young basketball talent than my college alma mater.  I mean, if an eighteen year old kid chooses to go to college on a basketball scholarship, and then improves drastically in his freshman year and has NBA teams looking at him as a prospect, why should he be punished for that?

My feeling is that if a young player is all about playing basketball professionally, and that is all they want to do, they should do that out of high school instead of going to college.

I'd love for the D-league to offer a legitimate option as far as that goes.

On the other hand, once a guy commits to go to college, I think the presumption should be that he's going to college for the sake of getting a degree and being a student athlete.  I don't like that many big colleges have become little more than incubators for potential pro-prospects who have nothing to do with the student body or being a student at all.

College basketball would also be far more enjoyable to watch if the best teams actually played together for a few years instead of being made up of a bunch of first and second year players with one foot out the door.


I definitely feel that the age restriction exploits guys who are already talented enough and good enough to play in the NBA as soon as they leave high school.  Let them go straight to the pros.  The number of players who fall in that category is pretty small, though, in my opinion.

The issue with having no age restriction whatsoever is that a lot of teams will just draft guys out of high school even if they aren't ready because they want to get the rights to them ASAP.  Then because they are high picks there's pressure on the GMs to have them play right away.  What results is a lessening of the quality of the NBA game.  That's definitely part of the reason they put the age restriction in place.

That is possible and people have done it already. I think at least one guy was drafted from the NBDL this season (can't recall who), and Jennings spent a year playing in Europe professionally. But I don't think that it's fair for NBA teams to be forced to draft complete projects, given the high restriction mandated for rookie contracts.

[PhoSita]

That is possible and people have done it already. I think at least one guy was drafted from the NBDL this season (can't recall who), and Jennings spent a year playing in Europe professionally. But I don't think that it's fair for NBA teams to be forced to draft complete projects, given the high restriction mandated for rookie contracts.

That's kind of what I mean when I talk about the D-League offering a "legitimate" option.

Right now, it really isn't a legitimate option, because the level of competition and exposure just can't compete with college.  Teams would rather take a guy who has spent a year in college than a year in the D-League.

[quidinqui33]

The NBA actually needs to combine what they used to do in the 80s and what they do now with the lotto and you chould eliminate big time tanking. 

Like in the 80's, all the teams that don't make the playoffs get one ping pong ball (I think they used to use square cards)and you draw for the first three picks.  All teams have the same odds so there is no benefit to tanking.  You might have the random 8th seed that decides they would rather be in the lotto than in the playoffs and might intentionally lose a game or two at the end of the season, but I can live with that.

Then from picks 4-14, you go in order of record from worst to last.

With this system, you are not completely rewarding teams for having the worst record but you are atleast ensuring they will pick 4th at worst, you are giving the middle ground teams an incentive for playing hard rather than tanking and still having an even shot at the top pick.

I think this is how the league used to do it, but they have always over reacted whenever a 14th seed gets the number one pick and then tries to weight lottery in favor of the bad teams, which of course promotes tanking.

[mmmmm]

No.

What they need is to extend rosters, and create a better sort of farm system were teams can stash players who are not ready to play without them taking roster spots from better and legit NBA players.

Well -- yes to that, but it would require some sort of modification to the current age restrictions because with a real player development system, the NBA would be less dependent on the NCAA hypocrisy.

The only age restriction should be the legal age to sign a contract and hold a job.

[boscel33]

i was originally for an age restriction, but have since changed my mind, with a minor caveat, the person must be of the age that their high school class has graduated.  why should they be restricted from earning a living and why sign them up for some bs classes in college just to get them one year out.  let them get drafted and begin to develop.

Because teams never tanked when there was no age restriction?

No, I'm sure they still tanked, I'm just in the mindset of opening it back up.  A person can get hired right out if high school and work at a company the rest of his life without going to college.  Why can't a basketball player (or other athlete) do the same?

[wdleehi]

I am for the opposite.  Raise the age to after their junior season.  (or the equivalent if they decide to go overseas if they want to be paid)



The reason, college basketball and overseas is the NBA development leagues.  I want to see more NBA ready rookies, not less.  I am tired of drafts where we don't really know most the names with players that have longer list of skills they need to work on then skills that are already developed.  I am sick of watching 1st rounders spend three seasons sitting on a bench before leaving. 


As for preventing tanking, the only way to possible lessen it, is to adjust the rules to favor team play over star play.  That way, one player will not make all the difference.

[Celtics18]

 

I don't understand the rationale behind wanting to make players who choose the college route have to wait 2 or 3 years before they become draft eligible.  That seems like it is an idea intended solely for the purpose of protecting the NCAA. 

. . . .

I'd rather follow the Portland Red Claws to see young basketball talent than my college alma mater.  I mean, if an eighteen year old kid chooses to go to college on a basketball scholarship, and then improves drastically in his freshman year and has NBA teams looking at him as a prospect, why should he be punished for that?

My feeling is that if a young player is all about playing basketball professionally, and that is all they want to do, they should do that out of high school instead of going to college.

I'd love for the D-league to offer a legitimate option as far as that goes.

On the other hand, once a guy commits to go to college, I think the presumption should be that he's going to college for the sake of getting a degree and being a student athlete.  I don't like that many big colleges have become little more than incubators for potential pro-prospects who have nothing to do with the student body or being a student at all.

College basketball would also be far more enjoyable to watch if the best teams actually played together for a few years instead of being made up of a bunch of first and second year players with one foot out the door.


I definitely feel that the age restriction exploits guys who are already talented enough and good enough to play in the NBA as soon as they leave high school.  Let them go straight to the pros.  The number of players who fall in that category is pretty small, though, in my opinion.

The issue with having no age restriction whatsoever is that a lot of teams will just draft guys out of high school even if they aren't ready because they want to get the rights to them ASAP.  Then because they are high picks there's pressure on the GMs to have them play right away.  What results is a lessening of the quality of the NBA game.  That's definitely part of the reason they put the age restriction in place.

I agree with a lot of what you say.  For this whole thing to work, the D-League will need to be expanded to 30 teams.  Once that happens, I would love to see a system like baseball where you can call up or relegate players on either the big league or D-League roster as needed.  I think that farm system is coming. 

With a full development system, I'd be perfectly willing to reduce the age back to eighteen.  I'll wait until then.

With such a system, you wouldn't need the make college players play 2 or 3 years rule.  I don't like the college as a professional sports training ground part of it either.  I think that combining drafting out of high school with a legit development system would eliminate that.  In this scenario, the guys who go to college to play ball and get an education likely would be the type of players who would need close to four years of seasoning to even be considered NBA prospects (or they really just wanted to go to college). 

And, I really don't care if the quality of NCAA basketball suffers.  As you say, college shouldn't be about big time, big money athletics.