Would you stay or would you go(pro)?

[freshinthehouse]

Let's say you are a Jabari Parker-type prospect.  You just ripped the NCAA a new one in your freshman season.  You are at a D-I school where basketball is king, you play for a great coach, and your team looks like it will be loaded next year and you have a good chance of being the pre-season #1.

But, if you declare for the draft, you are almost guaranteed at least a top 4 draft spot, and will get to make millions of dollars while plying your trade against the best basketball players on PLANET EARF.

So do you stay or do you go?

[Mazingerz]

Darling you got to let me know, should I stay or should I go

When you say that you are mine, until the end of time

Should I stay or should I go now

[D.o.s.]

No poll?

[freshinthehouse]

If it's up to me, I say.  At least till my junior year.  It's crazy to not take the money when it's offered, but I'd be pretty confident that I'm gonna be a blue-chip draft prospect regardless of when I enter the draft.  If I came from a real bad family situation, I would declare in a heartbeat, but my folks, while not well off, are not struggling to get by.  They can hold off retirement until I finish school. 

I just think being an alpha dog at big college like that is the kind of thing that money can't buy.  College was a blast for me just as a regular schlub.  Could you imagine what it's like when you are the star of the championship-contending basketball team?  The parties.  The girls.  Taking classes that you find enjoyable, and letting someone else do all your work in those tedious general classes.  And I'm not a guy that needs a lot of money, and you can't tell me they don't find a way to make sure the guys on the basketball team don't at least have pizza and tap beer money.  That seems like too great a time to let pass in just one year. 

[freshinthehouse]

No poll?

That's a good idea.  Can I add a poll after the fact?  Mods, a little help here?

[freshinthehouse]

Thanks to my superior intellect I was able to deduce how to add a poll.

Vote away, kids.

[furball]

I leave as soon as I can because I would not want to be in school.  As in I would not want to go to class or do any work or anything academic.  Now, you can say as a top athlete there would be, lets say corners I could cut but to me being in school would just be a fraud and an insult to every other student in college in America.  If I really felt I wasn;t ready I would go to the NBDL. 

[fitzhickey]

I'd stay, partly due to me being annoyed at not winning and getting a great education as well

[ManUp]

I would go.

The money is guaranteed my health is not.

[bobbyv]

My parents would probably want me to stay, but I'd go pro, get the money, and finish college later. Way too much risk for an extra one year (blows knee, prospects at NBA shot)

[freshinthehouse]

My parents would probably want me to stay, but I'd go pro, get the money, and finish college later. Way too much risk for an extra one year (blows knee, prospects at NBA shot)

I'm pretty sure insurance companies will still float you on a policy that will pay off if you happen to get a catastrophic injury.  I know that Steve Nash got such a policy when he decided to go back for his senior year.

[timobusa]

Definitely go. That's guaranteed money.
What if he suffers a career ending injury if he stayed in College?
His life is over.

[BigAlTheFuture]

I would go pro, no doubt. College parties and college girls are cool, but compare that to a party with your NBA pals, where the parties would be bigger and better, and the girls would be hotter. That and I'm getting millions of dollars.

I'm going Pro.

[CFAN38]

I go Pro,

As much as I love college Basketball and can only image the fun that these players have in college it makes to much sense to leave.

Basketball players have a relatively small window of time that will make up the primary earning period of their lives. The sooner he declares the sooner he gets to his huge pay day non-rookie contract and the more years of healthy prime basketball he will have.

As a player his game is very developed. The area he needs the most improvement is his body. I think he will have better physical development on an NBA roster and not in college.   

[Sketch5]

Definitely go. That's guaranteed money.
What if he suffers a career ending injury if he stayed in College?
His life is over.

I'm pretty sure his life would go on with a career ending injury. It would just be different. It's why parents and coach's should always talk to these kids about life after basketball, if it's after a long career or after a bad injury. how many players that play 10 years don't have money because they blew it and had no back up for after they were done playing.

This is why when people say "guaranteed money, I roll my my eyes. There is no guaranty that he would even have anything left after blowing his knee out in the first year, because they blew it all the first season.