Even though I am totally against the one and done decision and think the NBA should require an extra year of College before going pro I would totally take advantage of it and bolt my school for the NBA as soon as I would able to do so.
I think the rule should be something like
a) If you go to college, you have to stay in college for at least 3 full years.
b) But, you can be drafted as soon as you graduate high school or turn 18.
c) Players can be drafted and yet still go to college if they so choose. There could be some set up where the team that has drafted them puts a certain percentage of the rookie contract money into a trust for the player that can be accessed in limited amounts while the player is in school. But the years on the contract don't start until the player enters the league.
that's not a half bad starting point. TP. plenty of wiggle room for details.
a) player has to maintain academics and the school's code of conduct. Being kicked out of the school before 3 years does not allow the player to be drafted earlier.
b) make it after high school. I was 17 when I graduated. should push the draft back a few weeks to give players the time to decide if they want to declare or not and give teams time to consider if a declared grad is worth picking vs a player choosing college.
c) Players should be required to declare one way or the other within a few weeks of graduation. if the player is injured to the point where they cannot play, I think the teams need some financial guarantee to recoup some money. I'm all for kids going to college if they choose and would hate to set up an incentive for kids to bypass college for the quick buck and penalize teams for taking a kid that selects college for a few years.
definitely something that requires a lot more thought to it but definitely an interesting starting point.