Comments on: Pay to play? I don’t think so

By: MikeinNC

MikeinNC — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 00:18:45 +0000

Make the NBA fully fund and promote their own minor league….make a simple rule…when you graduate high school you make a choice – college route, or developmental route….if you choose the college route you are committed for 3 years, no exceptions….if not, you can go into the NBDL, Europe, whatever. This would just be a more rigid and formalized version of what has worked very well for baseball for quite a long time….

By: MikeinNC

MikeinNC — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 16:18:45 +0000

By: MikeinNC

MikeinNC — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 16:18:45 +0000

By: aceman07

aceman07 — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 01:33:54 +0000

I agree whole heartedly with anyone who says this guy is nuts. Here's the problem with sports writers. Most of them are morons and have never played sports. Let's do a quick analogy here. Let's say, Johnny, graduates from high school and has extraordinary skills in the area of software developing. How many colleges are going to pay Johnny to go to college? You guessed it, nobody. He's going to college to earn a degree because in the real world that degree is needed no matter how talented he is to get a good paying job. Furthermore, how fair is it to Amy, the girls tennis star when Bob pointed out that we're only going to pay athletes who are in revenue driving sports? Both Amy and Christian Watford worked on their athletic skills tirelessly so they could earn that scholarship to IU or ND or wherever. Why should Christian get his choice just because basketball earns money while tennis does not? There's too many holes in this pay to play theory. Besides, a lot of these guys end up working for years after they leave school so they can graduate because even they can see that they must have a plan after their sports lives are over. Just getting them here on scholarship encourages this while letting them skip straight to the NBA or NFL does not.

By: aceman07

aceman07 — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 01:33:54 +0000

By: BGleas

BGleas — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 22:02:32 +0000

Gotcha, I misinterpreted your original statement, my bad.

I agree that Kravitz's idea about college being a minor league is ridiculous. I would love to see the NBA make the NBDL a true minor league in which each NBA team has their own affiliate, preferably in their region.

Then players can go straight to the NBA from high school, most would play for the minor league team for a year, but if you choose college then you need to stay at least 2-3 years.

By: BGleas

BGleas — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 22:02:32 +0000

By: Sallad

Sallad — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 20:49:14 +0000

No, I get that–Stern and Co. will never admit it, but a minor league or the D-League (Or Europe) will never get the public's attention like college basketball. It's unfortunate that supposedly amateur athletes are just cash cows for whatever university and eventually professional team gets ahold of them, but I get it.

I just think Kravitz's idea about turning the NCAA into a minor league is ridiculous idea on the NCAA's part, not so much the NBA's part. I think more separation from the NBA is better for the NCAA, even if it hurts the NBA.

By: Sallad

Sallad — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 20:49:14 +0000

By: BGleas

BGleas — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 18:57:44 +0000

Do you mean a list of impact HS and 1 done's in their rookie seasons, or HS and 1 and done players that panned out overall in their career?

I ask because you often hear the argument, “for every Kobe there's 10 Korleone Youngs”. That thinking is flawed. If you actually do the research, a vast majority of the direct from HS to NBA players have panned out to at least serviceable NBA players, and a good number have turned into All-Stars.