Proposal: Player is Only Eligible for NBA Draft If Age is 21 or Older

[meangreenmachine]

Discuss pros and cons for both the NBA and NCAA. Only exception to age restriction: Those under 21 who have completed undergraduate studies.

[greece66]

I don't agree with this. Some players are NBA ready at a very young age.
It is also important for Euros to have the opportunity to enter quickly: had Giannis and Dirk stayed longer in their countries, their development might have been completely different. Remember they were both playing second division in teams that lacked good infrastructure, coaching staff etc -esp. when compared to NBA teams.

[slightly biased bias fan]

Discuss pros and cons for both the NBA and NCAA. Only exception to age restriction: Those under 21 who have completed undergraduate studies.

This whole notion is no offence ridiculous, it's so easy to propose these things when it isn't you losing millions of dollars and having your family struggle to make ends meet when NCAA rakes it in at your expense, UCLA just signed 280 million jersey deal and those kids won't see a penny. When ex players say you'll make plenty in your career they are usually the legends when actually the average NBA career is only 4.8 years. The only reason the NBA wants to raise the age limit is that the owners are upset that they miss on unfinished draft prospects but if they had decent scouts there wouldn't be a problem. The Red Sox just drafted a 17y.o why don't people get upset with that? Because MLB have established better farm systems and NBA are too greedy and cheap to do the same thing. If the NBA raises the age limit they will force young kids to go overseas to lesser programs where like greece666 stated they might ruin talent.

[Celtics4ever]

There are a lot of guys coming into the league who are not ready.   College would help a lot of the players in terms of seasoning.  Of course, there are guys who are lights out from the beginning but they are the exception and not the norm in most cases.

[gift]

A legit minor league solves the problem. With how much teams can afford to waste on some players on their roster, you'd think the league would be willing to pay a few minor leaguers more money and make it a league where real talent can consistently develop. Then they can draft all the 19 year olds they want and still keep the main roster filled with guys who are going to produce.

[BDeCosta26]

Sure, the extra years would help the vast majority of players (I.E. James Young), but I really don't see why you shouldn't be able to enter the draft until 21. That just throws tons of support behind the sham that is college athletics, and punishes the players who are ready before 21 unnecessarily.

ProbAbly more importantly, that kind of ruins all the investment the NBA has made in the NBDL. I agree that the current system is kind of bad for everyone, and changes should be made, but I think they need to finish developing the NBDL into a fully fledged minor league system. They should expand the draft to 3 rounds, allow players to be drafted at 18, and only allow teams maybe one or two NBA roster spots for under-21 players. Allow the under-21 draft picks to not take up roster spots unless your using your one or two designated spots.

That allows young draftees to start their professional careers, have a chance at cracking the league, gives the majority much more time to develop and doesn't endorse the god awful NCAA. I think that's the direction they're looking to go anyway, when you consider how much they've built up the D-League.

[greece66]

The truth of the matter is that professional sports are extremely elitist.

For every NBA millionaire there are hundreds of guys who got stuck in mediocrity or had an early career ending injury.

A legit minor league (or an upgrade of the DLeague) would not solve these issues- teams are willing to give big money only to top talent (for the purposes of this discussion Rozier or Mickey count as top talent too- just compare to their peers who still play in the NCAA).

The name of the game is //find and develop talents// not //create a more egalitarian working environment//.

This has nothing to do with my personal 'political' views, I'm just stating the obvious, NBA teams will only agree to do what maximizes the chances of finding and improving elite talent- increasing the age does not seem to be helping with that (and anyway IMO it is not helping the players cause much either)

[boscel33]

I was originally for a minimum draft age, but now think no sports should have it.  If a player wants to try and enter a sport right out of high school, they should be able to.  If I graduated high school and had developed "the next great idea", I wouldn't have to go to college or wait a couple of years, no I could go right into whatever industry it was for and make as much $ as possible.  We shouldn't tell some 6'10" stud that they can't begin their after high school life because they aren't "old enough".

[wdleehi]

I am a big fan of making players receive more training before they get their job.


Whether is in college, overseas, or an NBDL that take guys out of high school and make them eligible to be drafted when they are old enough.


I want to see players come into the league better developed and ready to contribute. 



As for the argument about the average length of the NBA career, why would that change for the players that much?   It is not like this is going to add more players. 


And if they want to go earn money instead of going to college, they can by either going overseas or (if the allow it) going to the NBDL (where top players could still get early endorsement deals)

[wdleehi]

I was originally for a minimum draft age, but now think no sports should have it.  If a player wants to try and enter a sport right out of high school, they should be able to.  If I graduated high school and had developed "the next great idea", I wouldn't have to go to college or wait a couple of years, no I could go right into whatever industry it was for and make as much $ as possible.  We shouldn't tell some 6'10" stud that they can't begin their after high school life because they aren't "old enough".

Yet for almost every other high paying occupation, training of some sort is required past high school.

[slightly biased bias fan]

I am a big fan of making players receive more training before they get their job.


Whether is in college, overseas, or an NBDL that take guys out of high school and make them eligible to be drafted when they are old enough.


I want to see players come into the league better developed and ready to contribute. 



As for the argument about the average length of the NBA career, why would that change for the players that much?   It is not like this is going to add more players. 


And if they want to go earn money instead of going to college, they can by either going overseas or (if the allow it) going to the NBDL (where top players could still get early endorsement deals)

Because it eats away at the players career?? If a 19 y/o has a 4 year career, obviously if he can't leave college until 21 he loses two years worth of income.

[greece66]

I am a big fan of making players receive more training before they get their job.


Whether is in college, overseas, or an NBDL that take guys out of high school and make them eligible to be drafted when they are old enough.


I want to see players come into the league better developed and ready to contribute. 



As for the argument about the average length of the NBA career, why would that change for the players that much?   It is not like this is going to add more players. 


And if they want to go earn money instead of going to college, they can by either going overseas or (if the allow it) going to the NBDL (where top players could still get early endorsement deals)

Because it eats away at the players career?? If a 19 y/o has a 4 year career, obviously if he can't leave college until 21 he loses two years worth of income.

^this

we already discussed in another thread how most players only stay a few years in the NBA. If you look at drafts (esp. second rounders), players who stay 4+ years in the NBA are the exception not the rule.

Add to this that the only way to really know whether a player is good enough for the NBA is to actually give him an opportunity to play. Raising the age limit is very likely to create a bottleneck effect esp. in the first years of implementation. And as mentioned earlier, some players might be forced to search for a career abroad for financial considerations which might have a negative impact on their career.

Finally, it's really hard to agree upon a minimum age given how different NBA players are depending on position, frame, strength. KAT was drafted at 19 and he is already easily in the top-5 of his position. Several bigs adapted pretty fast and at a young age(Garnett, Porzingis); guards seem to usually take a bit more time to mature, altho again it is hard to reach a valid generalization.

IMO trial and error is the best method for NBA teams to find talents and I do not see how setting an age limit at 21 would help with that.

[greece66]

btw, is such a measure being considered by the NBA or discussed in a major site? if so, a link would be appreciated.

[BDeCosta26]

I am a big fan of making players receive more training before they get their job.


Whether is in college, overseas, or an NBDL that take guys out of high school and make them eligible to be drafted when they are old enough.


I want to see players come into the league better developed and ready to contribute. 



As for the argument about the average length of the NBA career, why would that change for the players that much?   It is not like this is going to add more players. 


And if they want to go earn money instead of going to college, they can by either going overseas or (if the allow it) going to the NBDL (where top players could still get early endorsement deals)

The thing is though, I think if they fully develop the NBDL, we'd have to let players be drafted out of high school, give slightly longer rookie contracts, and allow each team and it's affiliate develop their own talent. It doesn't make much sense to put a bunch of guys on the Red Claws and then have them be drafted by a different team 2 years later.

It has to be a system that allows guys to get decent pay, better development and allows the select few elites get a chance to enter the league earlier. Towns shouldn't have to sit in the d-league for two years when he's good enough to dominate NBA competition.

- Make every team have a D-League affiliate
- Expand the draft to 3 rounds
- Expand options on rookie deals, especially for later picks.
- Raise average DL pay.
- Give each team two Under-21 Roster spots they can use on guys who are under the limit.
- Allow guys to be drafted direct from HS

That's how we should be doing it, anyways.

[dreamgreen]

I said this in another post. I've always been for raising the age limit to 21, not just in basketball but in many things in out society. If you are not considered old enough to be responsible with alcohol until 21 why can you go off to war at 18, go to prison for the rest of your live even younger? If you are not adult enough to buy a drink at 18, 19 , 20 than how can you manage millions of dollars? Of course there are always people that can handle this stuff at a younger age, and many others that can't for years later.

More importantly per the discussion as a fan of the C's I'd rather have a draft full of players that have more history on them and easier to gauge how and who they are going to be in the NBA. With all these young 1 and done guys it's a total crap shoot and for a billion dollar business that sounds moronic to me.