7 Kentucky Players Expected to Enter 2015 NBA Draft

[nickagneta]

I think Andrew Harrison will be a very good NBA player. If you can land that kid in the second round, that's good value.

[fairweatherfan]

Nor should they care about that.  They are trying to produce the best product they can, and delayed draft eligibility helps (Harrison twins being a great example).  I understand that some straight from high school guys were/are  Hall of Famers, but I firmly believe that overall, later entry produces a better product.

I fully accept there are two sides to this argument, and that the current system would have been hurtful to KG, Kobe, etc.  However, there is one pro-high school eligibility argument that I roll my eyes at and that is the "It's not fair to the kid to deny him the opportunity if he's ready" argument. 

So what?  Practically every other job (outside of the arts or entrepreneurship) has the same situation.  What if you are an incredibly talented electrician, but you drop out of apprenticeship school a month before graduating - you can't get a job until you finish the apprenticeship, no matter how talented you are.  Just pick the college major and drop out 10 credit hours short of getting your degree.  That will preclude you from being eligible for most jobs.  You can argue that it's arbitrary and unfair, but it is the easiest way for the employer to be comfortable that they are hiring a reasonably qualified person.  You make rules geared toward the norm, you don't make rules based upon the rare and spectacular exception.

And if you want to compare pro athletes with artists or entrepreneurs, I'll disagree on this basis:  by definition, I'm doing both of those things on my own dime.  Team-based athletes are "asking" someone to hire them at their company.  The company can and should be able to determine the criteria for hiring. 

If I'm buying a house, I want to know that it was built by trained and certified experts.  Maybe the most talented plumber alive thought that school wasn't for him, so he isn't certified.  Good for him, but he's not getting my business.  As a consumer of the NBA's product, I want the best product possible for my money.  That may slightly inconvenience two or three 18 year olds per year who aren't interested in school.  As a consumer, I'm OK with that.

TP ......well said.

Really?  I thought it was a hot mess of bad analogies (playing sports is just like being an electrician!), bare assertions (the product is better, it just is, period), and hyperbole.  Especially where millions of dollars in lost wages and the risk of losing tens of millions more via injury so that someone else can become wealthy from your labor = "slightly inconvenienced".

[Celtics18]

Towns, Lyles, WCS, Booker are going in the 1st round
Dakari Johnson 2nd round

Harrison Twins probably will be undrafted

I think Dakari Johnson will be picked in the early second round. I don't know about the Harrison twins, I feel like they will both get drafted, probably on the second round. I just can't see both going undrafted.

Harrison twins --> poster children for the impact of having kids attend college for a year instead of jumping right to the NBA.  these 2 would have been first round picks coming out of high school and now after their sophomore years there's a legit discussion point that neither one could be drafted. 

is there anyone that doesn't see the benefit of that rule?

I'm fairly sure the Harrison twins don't see the benefit.

Yup.

Rule favors management of NBA teams by keeping them from having to choose on talent when they're 18, just another year of no wages for the Harrison twins.

Given that even talented players frequently wash out of the NBA rookie deals are often all you get too.

Players should be able to enter the draft out of high school. If they are undrafted they should be able to play in college. Players should be payed and able to get endorsements in college. If an underclassman is undrafted they should be able to stay playing in college. All this would be much more fair for the player. Unfortunately the colleges and NBA owners don't care much about that.

Nor should they care about that.  They are trying to produce the best product they can, and delayed draft eligibility helps (Harrison twins being a great example).  I understand that some straight from high school guys were/are  Hall of Famers, but I firmly believe that overall, later entry produces a better product.

I fully accept there are two sides to this argument, and that the current system would have been hurtful to KG, Kobe, etc.  However, there is one pro-high school eligibility argument that I roll my eyes at and that is the "It's not fair to the kid to deny him the opportunity if he's ready" argument. 

So what?  Practically every other job (outside of the arts or entrepreneurship) has the same situation.  What if you are an incredibly talented electrician, but you drop out of apprenticeship school a month before graduating - you can't get a job until you finish the apprenticeship, no matter how talented you are.  Just pick the college major and drop out 10 credit hours short of getting your degree.  That will preclude you from being eligible for most jobs.  You can argue that it's arbitrary and unfair, but it is the easiest way for the employer to be comfortable that they are hiring a reasonably qualified person.  You make rules geared toward the norm, you don't make rules based upon the rare and spectacular exception.

And if you want to compare pro athletes with artists or entrepreneurs, I'll disagree on this basis:  by definition, I'm doing both of those things on my own dime.  Team-based athletes are "asking" someone to hire them at their company.  The company can and should be able to determine the criteria for hiring. 

If I'm buying a house, I want to know that it was built by trained and certified experts.  Maybe the most talented plumber alive thought that school wasn't for him, so he isn't certified.  Good for him, but he's not getting my business.  As a consumer of the NBA's product, I want the best product possible for my money.  That may slightly inconvenience two or three 18 year olds per year who aren't interested in school.  As a consumer, I'm OK with that.

Nice post.  I don't necessarily disagree that it's perfectly fine to require previous training for a player to be hired to play basketball in the NBA.  My major disagreement is with the idea that this training should necessarily take place in the NCAA. 

In lieu of setting the age limit back to eighteen (which probably isn't going to happen), I'd love to see more players follow in the footsteps of Brandon Jennings or Emmanuel Mudiay and skip college to go play overseas before becoming eligible for the draft.

Having college be the major (unpaid) training ground for professional athletes just doesn't sit well with me.   

[Forza Juventus]

Towns, Lyles, WCS, Booker are going in the 1st round
Dakari Johnson 2nd round

Harrison Twins probably will be undrafted

I think Dakari Johnson will be picked in the early second round. I don't know about the Harrison twins, I feel like they will both get drafted, probably on the second round. I just can't see both going undrafted.

Harrison twins --> poster children for the impact of having kids attend college for a year instead of jumping right to the NBA.  these 2 would have been first round picks coming out of high school and now after their sophomore years there's a legit discussion point that neither one could be drafted. 

is there anyone that doesn't see the benefit of that rule?

I'm fairly sure the Harrison twins don't see the benefit.

Yup.

Rule favors management of NBA teams by keeping them from having to choose on talent when they're 18, just another year of no wages for the Harrison twins.

Given that even talented players frequently wash out of the NBA rookie deals are often all you get too.

Players should be able to enter the draft out of high school. If they are undrafted they should be able to play in college. Players should be payed and able to get endorsements in college. If an underclassman is undrafted they should be able to stay playing in college. All this would be much more fair for the player. Unfortunately the colleges and NBA owners don't care much about that.

Nor should they care about that.  They are trying to produce the best product they can, and delayed draft eligibility helps (Harrison twins being a great example).  I understand that some straight from high school guys were/are  Hall of Famers, but I firmly believe that overall, later entry produces a better product.

I fully accept there are two sides to this argument, and that the current system would have been hurtful to KG, Kobe, etc.  However, there is one pro-high school eligibility argument that I roll my eyes at and that is the "It's not fair to the kid to deny him the opportunity if he's ready" argument. 

So what?  Practically every other job (outside of the arts or entrepreneurship) has the same situation.  What if you are an incredibly talented electrician, but you drop out of apprenticeship school a month before graduating - you can't get a job until you finish the apprenticeship, no matter how talented you are.  Just pick the college major and drop out 10 credit hours short of getting your degree.  That will preclude you from being eligible for most jobs.  You can argue that it's arbitrary and unfair, but it is the easiest way for the employer to be comfortable that they are hiring a reasonably qualified person.  You make rules geared toward the norm, you don't make rules based upon the rare and spectacular exception.

And if you want to compare pro athletes with artists or entrepreneurs, I'll disagree on this basis:  by definition, I'm doing both of those things on my own dime.  Team-based athletes are "asking" someone to hire them at their company.  The company can and should be able to determine the criteria for hiring. 

If I'm buying a house, I want to know that it was built by trained and certified experts.  Maybe the most talented plumber alive thought that school wasn't for him, so he isn't certified.  Good for him, but he's not getting my business.  As a consumer of the NBA's product, I want the best product possible for my money.  That may slightly inconvenience two or three 18 year olds per year who aren't interested in school.  As a consumer, I'm OK with that.

It's not the same at all. Players should still be fairly compensated in college at the very least. To force players to stay playing in college where the not payed is unfair.

[Forza Juventus]

Towns, Lyles, WCS, Booker are going in the 1st round
Dakari Johnson 2nd round

Harrison Twins probably will be undrafted

I think Dakari Johnson will be picked in the early second round. I don't know about the Harrison twins, I feel like they will both get drafted, probably on the second round. I just can't see both going undrafted.

Harrison twins --> poster children for the impact of having kids attend college for a year instead of jumping right to the NBA.  these 2 would have been first round picks coming out of high school and now after their sophomore years there's a legit discussion point that neither one could be drafted. 

is there anyone that doesn't see the benefit of that rule?

I'm fairly sure the Harrison twins don't see the benefit.

Yup.

Rule favors management of NBA teams by keeping them from having to choose on talent when they're 18, just another year of no wages for the Harrison twins.

Given that even talented players frequently wash out of the NBA rookie deals are often all you get too.

Players should be able to enter the draft out of high school. If they are undrafted they should be able to play in college. Players should be payed and able to get endorsements in college. If an underclassman is undrafted they should be able to stay playing in college. All this would be much more fair for the player. Unfortunately the colleges and NBA owners don't care much about that.

I'd like to see a version of the baseball model adopted - you can come out of HS, but be prepared to spend some time in the D-League if you can't cut it yet.  If you don't come out after HS, you're ineligible for the draft for 2-3 years.  Go to college or go to a foreign league and work on your game.  Obviously there'd have to be opportunities for early entry guys to back out like they have now, but this would keep the guys who don't want to go to college out, and reduce turnover of the players who do go.

That is even worse than the current system. If you aren't ready to go to the NBA out of high school your forced to play unpayed in college for several years. Some players would feel pressured to enter early and some would be ready but have to play for no pay. No players would actually benefit because those players that need to stay 3-4 years anyway.

[Forza Juventus]

Towns, Lyles, WCS, Booker are going in the 1st round
Dakari Johnson 2nd round

Harrison Twins probably will be undrafted

I think Dakari Johnson will be picked in the early second round. I don't know about the Harrison twins, I feel like they will both get drafted, probably on the second round. I just can't see both going undrafted.

Harrison twins --> poster children for the impact of having kids attend college for a year instead of jumping right to the NBA.  these 2 would have been first round picks coming out of high school and now after their sophomore years there's a legit discussion point that neither one could be drafted. 

is there anyone that doesn't see the benefit of that rule?

I'm fairly sure the Harrison twins don't see the benefit.

Yup.

Rule favors management of NBA teams by keeping them from having to choose on talent when they're 18, just another year of no wages for the Harrison twins.

Given that even talented players frequently wash out of the NBA rookie deals are often all you get too.

Players should be able to enter the draft out of high school. If they are undrafted they should be able to play in college. Players should be payed and able to get endorsements in college. If an underclassman is undrafted they should be able to stay playing in college. All this would be much more fair for the player. Unfortunately the colleges and NBA owners don't care much about that.

Nor should they care about that.  They are trying to produce the best product they can, and delayed draft eligibility helps (Harrison twins being a great example).  I understand that some straight from high school guys were/are  Hall of Famers, but I firmly believe that overall, later entry produces a better product.

I fully accept there are two sides to this argument, and that the current system would have been hurtful to KG, Kobe, etc.  However, there is one pro-high school eligibility argument that I roll my eyes at and that is the "It's not fair to the kid to deny him the opportunity if he's ready" argument. 

So what?  Practically every other job (outside of the arts or entrepreneurship) has the same situation.  What if you are an incredibly talented electrician, but you drop out of apprenticeship school a month before graduating - you can't get a job until you finish the apprenticeship, no matter how talented you are.  Just pick the college major and drop out 10 credit hours short of getting your degree.  That will preclude you from being eligible for most jobs.  You can argue that it's arbitrary and unfair, but it is the easiest way for the employer to be comfortable that they are hiring a reasonably qualified person.  You make rules geared toward the norm, you don't make rules based upon the rare and spectacular exception.

And if you want to compare pro athletes with artists or entrepreneurs, I'll disagree on this basis:  by definition, I'm doing both of those things on my own dime.  Team-based athletes are "asking" someone to hire them at their company.  The company can and should be able to determine the criteria for hiring. 

If I'm buying a house, I want to know that it was built by trained and certified experts.  Maybe the most talented plumber alive thought that school wasn't for him, so he isn't certified.  Good for him, but he's not getting my business.  As a consumer of the NBA's product, I want the best product possible for my money.  That may slightly inconvenience two or three 18 year olds per year who aren't interested in school.  As a consumer, I'm OK with that.

Nice post.  I don't necessarily disagree that it's perfectly fine to require previous training for a player to be hired to play basketball in the NBA.  My major disagreement is with the idea that this training should necessarily take place in the NCAA. 

In lieu of setting the age limit back to eighteen (which probably isn't going to happen), I'd love to see more players follow in the footsteps of Brandon Jennings or Emmanuel Mudiay and skip college to go play overseas before becoming eligible for the draft.

Having college be the major training ground for professional athletes just doesn't sit well with me.   

It's very hard at age 18 to move to another country. Plus if you struggle you will get benched for a veteran professional quickly because the pro team has no incentive to teach you or accept your ups and downs because they know you will leave.

[Celtics18]

Towns, Lyles, WCS, Booker are going in the 1st round
Dakari Johnson 2nd round

Harrison Twins probably will be undrafted

I think Dakari Johnson will be picked in the early second round. I don't know about the Harrison twins, I feel like they will both get drafted, probably on the second round. I just can't see both going undrafted.

Harrison twins --> poster children for the impact of having kids attend college for a year instead of jumping right to the NBA.  these 2 would have been first round picks coming out of high school and now after their sophomore years there's a legit discussion point that neither one could be drafted. 

is there anyone that doesn't see the benefit of that rule?

I'm fairly sure the Harrison twins don't see the benefit.

Yup.

Rule favors management of NBA teams by keeping them from having to choose on talent when they're 18, just another year of no wages for the Harrison twins.

Given that even talented players frequently wash out of the NBA rookie deals are often all you get too.

Players should be able to enter the draft out of high school. If they are undrafted they should be able to play in college. Players should be payed and able to get endorsements in college. If an underclassman is undrafted they should be able to stay playing in college. All this would be much more fair for the player. Unfortunately the colleges and NBA owners don't care much about that.

Nor should they care about that.  They are trying to produce the best product they can, and delayed draft eligibility helps (Harrison twins being a great example).  I understand that some straight from high school guys were/are  Hall of Famers, but I firmly believe that overall, later entry produces a better product.

I fully accept there are two sides to this argument, and that the current system would have been hurtful to KG, Kobe, etc.  However, there is one pro-high school eligibility argument that I roll my eyes at and that is the "It's not fair to the kid to deny him the opportunity if he's ready" argument. 

So what?  Practically every other job (outside of the arts or entrepreneurship) has the same situation.  What if you are an incredibly talented electrician, but you drop out of apprenticeship school a month before graduating - you can't get a job until you finish the apprenticeship, no matter how talented you are.  Just pick the college major and drop out 10 credit hours short of getting your degree.  That will preclude you from being eligible for most jobs.  You can argue that it's arbitrary and unfair, but it is the easiest way for the employer to be comfortable that they are hiring a reasonably qualified person.  You make rules geared toward the norm, you don't make rules based upon the rare and spectacular exception.

And if you want to compare pro athletes with artists or entrepreneurs, I'll disagree on this basis:  by definition, I'm doing both of those things on my own dime.  Team-based athletes are "asking" someone to hire them at their company.  The company can and should be able to determine the criteria for hiring. 

If I'm buying a house, I want to know that it was built by trained and certified experts.  Maybe the most talented plumber alive thought that school wasn't for him, so he isn't certified.  Good for him, but he's not getting my business.  As a consumer of the NBA's product, I want the best product possible for my money.  That may slightly inconvenience two or three 18 year olds per year who aren't interested in school.  As a consumer, I'm OK with that.

Nice post.  I don't necessarily disagree that it's perfectly fine to require previous training for a player to be hired to play basketball in the NBA.  My major disagreement is with the idea that this training should necessarily take place in the NCAA. 

In lieu of setting the age limit back to eighteen (which probably isn't going to happen), I'd love to see more players follow in the footsteps of Brandon Jennings or Emmanuel Mudiay and skip college to go play overseas before becoming eligible for the draft.

Having college be the major training ground for professional athletes just doesn't sit well with me.   

It's very hard at age 18 to move to another country. Plus if you struggle you will get benched for a veteran professional quickly because the pro team has no incentive to teach you or accept your ups and downs because they know you will leave.

That's a good point.  Then, the D-League should accept kids right out of high school (if they don't already?), and more kids should take advantage of that avenue. 

The D-League should really be the answer here.  I mean, the D does stand for development after all. 

Aren't they going to have a full thirty team league soon, where every franchise has their own development team?

[notthebowler]

Nor should they care about that.  They are trying to produce the best product they can, and delayed draft eligibility helps (Harrison twins being a great example).  I understand that some straight from high school guys were/are  Hall of Famers, but I firmly believe that overall, later entry produces a better product.

I fully accept there are two sides to this argument, and that the current system would have been hurtful to KG, Kobe, etc.  However, there is one pro-high school eligibility argument that I roll my eyes at and that is the "It's not fair to the kid to deny him the opportunity if he's ready" argument. 

So what?  Practically every other job (outside of the arts or entrepreneurship) has the same situation.  What if you are an incredibly talented electrician, but you drop out of apprenticeship school a month before graduating - you can't get a job until you finish the apprenticeship, no matter how talented you are.  Just pick the college major and drop out 10 credit hours short of getting your degree.  That will preclude you from being eligible for most jobs.  You can argue that it's arbitrary and unfair, but it is the easiest way for the employer to be comfortable that they are hiring a reasonably qualified person.  You make rules geared toward the norm, you don't make rules based upon the rare and spectacular exception.

And if you want to compare pro athletes with artists or entrepreneurs, I'll disagree on this basis:  by definition, I'm doing both of those things on my own dime.  Team-based athletes are "asking" someone to hire them at their company.  The company can and should be able to determine the criteria for hiring. 

If I'm buying a house, I want to know that it was built by trained and certified experts.  Maybe the most talented plumber alive thought that school wasn't for him, so he isn't certified.  Good for him, but he's not getting my business.  As a consumer of the NBA's product, I want the best product possible for my money.  That may slightly inconvenience two or three 18 year olds per year who aren't interested in school.  As a consumer, I'm OK with that.

TP ......well said.

Really?  I thought it was a hot mess of bad analogies (playing sports is just like being an electrician!), bare assertions (the product is better, it just is, period), and hyperbole.  Especially where millions of dollars in lost wages and the risk of losing tens of millions more via injury so that someone else can become wealthy from your labor = "slightly inconvenienced".

Emmanuel Mudiay making 7 figures in China, to me, is "slightly inconvenienced".  Mudiay "risking millions in lost wages" by making 7 figures overseas instead of making it in the NBA = hyperbole.

Just to be clear, I'm not in the "everyone should go to college" camp.  There are alternatives, like the D League or playing overseas.  I'm all for these kids/young men having the option to work if they want to.  I just don't believe the NBA has some kind of obligation to be one of the choices.

An 18 year old who is good enough to play pro ball can absolutely play pro ball.  I just feel strongly that an employer should be able to set parameters for their entry level employees based upon what they think is best for their business.  As long as those parameters are not discriminatory, of course.  And no, this is not discriminatory; 18 year old male athletes are not a protected class.