High schoolers could choose Europe instead of NCAA

kstack · Post by **kstack** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 9:45 am

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/23/sport ... ref=sports

I used to support players going to college, but the more I think about it, the less sense it makes for a kid to go through the charade of living a "student-athlete" life. Either way, if this kid plays in Europe for a year, he could definitely force the NBA to re-think its policy that bans high schoolers from entering its draft.

Post by **SonomaCat** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 10:14 am

Yeah, I'm way over the whole idealistic notion of forcing them to play college ball for a year. Going overseas is the better option for them. It's absurd that they are forcing kids whose market value is in the millions to live like poor college students for a year ... and then make a "scandal" out of it if they get free tickets to a basketball game or something else trivial (while students who happen to have been born to rich parents are free to accept gifts in unlimited amounts from their families). Let them enter the profession of their choice as soon as they are qualified.

What other profession on earth mandates that you go to school and study subjects that have nothing at all to do with your career before you can enter that profession?

HelenaCat95 · Post by **HelenaCat95** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 10:17 am

[quote="Bay Area Cat"]Yeah, I'm way over the whole idealistic notion of forcing them to play college ball for a year. Going overseas is the better option for them. It's absurd that they are forcing kids whose market value is in the millions to live like poor college students for a year ... and then make a "scandal" out of it if they get free tickets to a basketball game or something else trivial (while students who happen to have been born to rich parents are free to accept gifts in unlimited amounts from their families). Let them enter the profession of their choice as soon as they are qualified.

What other profession on earth mandates that you go to school and study subjects that have nothing at all to do with your career before you can enter that profession?[/quote]

BAC,
I do agree with you in regards to HS kids and the NBA.
But in answer to the question in bold, wouldn't that be just about any profession that requires a Bachelors degree?

kstack · Post by **kstack** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 10:21 am

Bay Area Cat wrote:Yeah, I'm way over the whole idealistic notion of forcing them to play college ball for a year. Going overseas is the better option for them. It's absurd that they are forcing kids whose market value is in the millions to live like poor college students for a year ... and then make a "scandal" out of it if they get free tickets to a basketball game or something else trivial (while students who happen to have been born to rich parents are free to accept gifts in unlimited amounts from their families). Let them enter the profession of their choice as soon as they are qualified.

What other profession on earth mandates that you go to school and study subjects that have nothing at all to do with your career before you can enter that profession?

Well, prospective engineers, architects, doctors and lawyers, among others, usually have to go to college and take the b.s. "core" classes that are required in freshman and sophomore years, but, yeah, I get what you're saying.
You know what else upsets me when people make a big deal about basketball players either not going to college or not taking it seriously? Teenagers in other sports -- baseball, tennis, hockey -- seem to get free passes when they don't pursue higher educations.

coachouert · Post by **coachouert** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 11:42 am

kstack wrote: Well, prospective engineers, architects, doctors and lawyers, among others, usually have to go to college and take the b.s. "core" classes that are required in freshman and sophomore years, but, yeah, I get what you're saying.
You know what else upsets me when people make a big deal about basketball players either not going to college or not taking it seriously? Teenagers in other sports -- baseball, tennis, hockey -- seem to get free passes when they don't pursue higher educations.

I completely see where you are coming from in regards to other sports and that double standard (like with hockey, how old was the recent number 1 overall pick?)

I personally think if there is going to be a mandated time period in college, it needs to be at least two years. This way, you are forcing these guys to attend classes, learn something and maintain their eligibility as opposed to those that are one and done. I mean honestly, how many classes do you think OJ Mayo, Michael Beasley, Derrick Rose, Kevin Love etc attended after the tournament was over? It's kind of like the "dropdown" rule with BCS and FCS now where guys have to have two years remaining, this way they have to go to class instead of being the mercenaries for hire.

Hell, schools could even set up courses designed for those who may not be sticking around long. Make some of these guys take marketing, public speaking, some other business courses that may help with contract stuff, etc. At least they wouldn't be all "BS" classes and might actually help them in the long run.

It's a flawed system no matter what direction they go in my humble opinion.

Post by **SonomaCat** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 11:53 am

HelenaCat95 wrote:
Bay Area Cat wrote:Yeah, I'm way over the whole idealistic notion of forcing them to play college ball for a year. Going overseas is the better option for them. It's absurd that they are forcing kids whose market value is in the millions to live like poor college students for a year ... and then make a "scandal" out of it if they get free tickets to a basketball game or something else trivial (while students who happen to have been born to rich parents are free to accept gifts in unlimited amounts from their families). Let them enter the profession of their choice as soon as they are qualified.

What other profession on earth mandates that you go to school and study subjects that have nothing at all to do with your career before you can enter that profession?[/quote]

BAC,
I do agree with you in regards to HS kids and the NBA.
But in answer to the question in bold, wouldn't that be just about any profession that requires a Bachelors degree?

Not really. Generally, your bachelors degree includes learning about the subjects that are a part of your eventual job (if your job is one of the few in the world that actually requires a bachelors ... which would only be the ones that have certification requirements like CPAs and Doctors).

Yes, there might be some core classes that don't have anything to do with your eventual job, but that really wasn't what I was getting at. I was talking about the main subject matter studied.