this may be getting ridiculous...

[cordobes]

2. The outcry from the league is utterly dishonest.

Where's that outcry from the league? I didn't notice it.

[youcanthandlethetruth113]

What exactly is the uproar over. Tennis players are playing professionally in their teens. Kids act and sing and model professionally at extremely young ages. Canadian kids are playing hockey professionally as teenagers and kids all over the world play football(soccer) professionally under 18 years of age. Take a look at the Olympic competitors who are competing at extremely young ages.

If someone opts to work professionally at a sport at a very young age, what's the big deal? They can still get an education while doing so or even afterward. Hopefully they have good parents, good advisers and handle their education and profession in a mature and beneficial manner that allows them to have a bright future doing whatever they want.

Agreed

[Fan from VT]

ederson:

http://www.sportando.net/eng/europa/esteri/2173/maroussi-tyler_first_talks.html

And from that same article, a great point against the argument of "well people go pro in golf and tennis at a young age":

Paul Hewitt, Georgia Tech men's basketball coach and president of the Black Coaches Administrators, has a different view: "The reality is if you're a tennis player or golfer, your family has a safety net."

I don't even understand that argument about the safety net. I mean, what's exactly the downside for the kid? Having to finish his high-school when he's 19 or 20 but hundreds of thousands of dollars richer? And the idea that tennis players families have safeties net is quite anachronistic.

The argument about safety nets is that to be a competitive golfer or tennis player, there's about a 99.9% chance you come from a family that could spend money on club/course memberships, equipment, lessons, etc. 

I doubt that number is still accurate. Anyway, why does that matter? If the kid didn't go to Europe, what exactly would be his safety net? A high school diploma? Well, he can get a high school diploma in Europe, but even if he doesn't, he can get it later: 2 years older and with a much bigger bank account. What's not to like?

We are basically in agreement that basketball prospects certainly have the right to go choose to go pro whenever they can. I believe that the original argument is this:

People had a problem with players jumping from high school to the pros. Others said that this was okay, because no one worries when young golfers or tennis players go pro before college. The quoted author was saying that that argument doesn't make sense because basically all the kids that are standout golfers or tennis players are from wealthy backgrounds, so the consequences of failure are not bad. The quoted author thinks that the consequences for a kid from a poor background failing to jump to the NBA are much worse.

The safety net argument was the quoted author's attempt to say why he was against basketball players going pro but not against tennis players or golfers going pro.

That's the argument. I thought you were confused about that. And though i do agree that the vast majority of tennis players and golfers have a financial safety net, i don't agree with the author that this means basketball players shouldn't go pro. I don't see what the big deal is about that either.

[Fan from VT]

2. The outcry from the league is utterly dishonest.

Where's that outcry from the league? I didn't notice it.

outcry was perhaps a strong word. But in general on this issue, media proponents of an age limit and the league try to weave in concern over the welfare and the importance of education into their rhetoric.

[Brendan]

Once you factor in how much of a waste 90% of college is and even much of HS for even a serious student, this is a no brainer.

Factor in the average quality of HS most NBA prospects are coming from, the minimum amount of learning these guys do in college, and how the college needs impact (negatively) their development as ball players. Ugh.

The wussification of education, and the preposterous cost, make me wonder if sending ones sons to college even makes sense.

[D Dub]

The bottom line here is that we (as a society) shouldn't need to make up rules to counter bad parenting.

[dark_lord]

i think its more ridiculous stern and the nba dont allow young adults to enter the draft and require them to wait.  if a kid is 18 out of high school and an nba team wants him, he should be able to play. 

[cordobes]

We are basically in agreement that basketball prospects certainly have the right to go choose to go pro whenever they can. I believe that the original argument is this:

People had a problem with players jumping from high school to the pros. Others said that this was okay, because no one worries when young golfers or tennis players go pro before college. The quoted author was saying that that argument doesn't make sense because basically all the kids that are standout golfers or tennis players are from wealthy backgrounds, so the consequences of failure are not bad. The quoted author thinks that the consequences for a kid from a poor background failing to jump to the NBA are much worse.

The safety net argument was the quoted author's attempt to say why he was against basketball players going pro but not against tennis players or golfers going pro.

That's the argument. I thought you were confused about that. And though i do agree that the vast majority of tennis players and golfers have a financial safety net, i don't agree with the author that this means basketball players shouldn't go pro. I don't see what the big deal is about that either.

Thanks for the explanation, but I'm guilty of poor phrasing. I understand the argument, I just think that it's a nonsensical/absurd one: as you, I don't see how bad can the consequences of the failure be.

----------------

Btw, I agree with the age limit in the NBA - as a way of protecting the NBA teams from themselves, from making bad decisions; not as way of protecting the kids.

[Eja117]

This is Stern's fault for discriminating against legal adults.

By single handedly intervening in the invisible hand of the market he has basically forced young American basketball players to sort of become illegal immigrants of pro basketball.

If he isn't careful the ABA will make a comeback

[threats13]

HELLOOOOOOOOOOOO anybody see the newborns the Chinese were putting in gymnastic uniforms at the olympics.

[crownsy]

The bottom line here is that we (as a society) shouldn't need to make up rules to counter bad parenting.

If your kid has a skill that has the potential to earn him millions of dollars a year, how on earth is it good parenting to make him finish high school and buy into a corrupt system (the NCAA) for a year for no reward (he won't be going for 4 years, so all he's doing is playing B-Ball for free for the NCAA) all the while risking injury which would effectively end his opportunity for a high paying job playing basketball as well as void his scholarship (no play, no scholarship going forward for most kids), just so he can get a piece of paper that says he's slightly more eligible to flip burgers than a drop out from his HS?

There basketball players, not scholars, most of them don't have the ability or desire to do anything that requires a college education, which they won't be staying in school for anyway, so who cares if they finish HS before getting payed?

[RebusRankin]

Who did Jennings do this year? Is he in this year's draft?

[crownsy]

Who did Jennings do this year? Is he in this year's draft?

ESPN had him going 4th today, but i think that's high, he'll be a top ten pick though.

[bobdelt]

There is always the option of going back to school.

The isn't always the option of playing professional basketball.

[bdm860]

I just saw this on the front page of yahoo, so some of you probably saw it too, but there's an article about how so far it's been a big mistake for Jeremy Tyler, so I figured it might be a good time to update this thread:

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/blog/the_dagger/post/Jeremy-Tyler-s-Israeli-experience-thus-far-a-fai?urn=ncaab,200966

[Tyler's decision to forgo his Senior year of high school is] not only regrettable but disastrous. Tyler is clearly immature and distracted by the potential of NBA riches, which he apparently considers a sure thing. His

His coach calls him lazy and out of shape. The team captain says he is soft. His teammates say he needs to learn to shut up and show up on time. He has no friends on the team. In extensive interviews with Tyler, his teammates, coaches, his father and advisers, the consensus is that he is so naïve and immature that he has no idea how naïve and immature he is. So enamored with his vast potential, Tyler has not developed the work ethic necessary to tap it.

The article also goes on to say that Tyler is only about 3 months in, so still plenty of time to turn things around, but so far it's not good.

It's also interesting to see how well Brandon Jennings is doing so far.  Obviously we have no idea of what the final outcomes will be for both players, but the way the stories have gone so far, I would have thought Jennings and Tyler stories would be flipped.