Two (more points of view) and done (for the day)

Got two interesting comments/e-mails regarding my earlier post "One and not quite done." The first is from Mike DeCourcy, one of my favorite college hoops writers (even if we don't agree on every issue), and Majorie Leunen, mother of 4 sons, including Maarty (former Oregon player and current Houston Rockets draft pick). Mike, who interviewed me after the O.J. Mayo story broke, disagrees with my view:

They're not forced to go to school. If they prefer Europe or the D-League, they can try it that way. Obviously, the best means of building both an NBA-worthy game and a world-class brand is going through college basketball. But nobody's forcing anything on anybody. After 10 years of allowing players the "freedom" to enter the league out of HS, David Stern realized this policy was killing his product. Too many players entered the league as unknowns, and the league had no mechanism to train these players to reach their full potential. It took 13 years for one of these HS guys to be the principle force on an NBA champion; meanwhile Duncan wins four titles and a team of low-first-round college guys (Detroit) makes six straight conference finals. That's no accident. The NFL realized it had a great deal with the colleges and never let it come to this -- and the game has exploded to heights hard to imagine 25 years ago. The NBA decided college basketball was more a competitor than an ally -- and the league wound up damaging itself more than the colleges. Stern thus made a business decision regarding the age limt. It was a wise one. If the Players Association wanted to make an investment in the future income and stability of their members, they'd be on board and pushing for two years, also.

I agree that college basketball is a great place for players to build their own brand and to develop their games. While players are not forced to go to college, until the NBDL and/or Europe become viable alternatives to college, most great players will choose college. My big issue is that the NCAA should not lobby either way. The NBA and the NBPA will hash this out in the next collective bargaining agreement and the NCAA membership should decide how it should respond. Unless schools agree to look the other way when it comes to the activities often associated with these great players, we're just asking for more problems.

And this from Marjorie Leunen:

Dear Marc: It was wonderful to sit and chat with you at the NBA Summer League games in which my son, Maarty was playing. I am enjoying reading your "Money Players" book. I wish I had read it before Maarty graduated from the University of Oregon, but now is better than never. I feel the same way that you do. Don't push a kid into college if they have no interest in getting a meaningful education. My son got his degree in Econ, but he really liked college life and he was not ready for the NBA right out of high school. I totally think it should be on the athlete and his family to make that 1 to 4 year commitment to college. The NCAA should not lobby when players should leave for the NBA...the NBA can figure that out just fine. Remember they picked my kid.........haha. Thank you, Marjorie Leunen Mother of 4 sons

I appreciate Marjorie's plug for my book -- and also her view of "one and done." If the NBA does not want these young players in the league because, as DeCourcy suggests, they can't win big games, NBA GMs should discount these players in the draft by not selecting them so early. That would provide a strong financial incentive to stay in school, wouldn't it? But in reality, NBA GMs draft these young players presumably to help them do one thing -- WIN CHAMPIONSHIPS. I do think the longer players stay in school, the more the NBA community and media pick apart their game. (Perhaps Michael McCann will share his view here.) Interestingly, when it comes to the NBA Draft, the marketplace does just the opposite of what DeCourcy says should happen -- the younger players historically get picked earlier than the 3- and 4-year guys. On a related note, Maarty played very well in NBA Summer League and definitely showed he was worthy of being drafted higher.

What do you think? Send your comments and/or questions to Marc Isenberg via e-mail at marc.isenberg@gmail.com

Comments

[Sammy]

Great post, Marc. You make a great point about the NBA Draft being a true marketplace for draft-eligible talent. According to DeCourcy the most teams are not getting value from drafting the high school and one and dones, which is probably correct. The question is whether this problem should be solved with more regulation by the NBA, which would probably lead to even more problems in college basketball.

[andy fine]

couple of points of disagreement with Decourcy:
1. of the NBA Players Association priorities, age limit is probably way below revenue sharing and guaranteed contracts, so they could care less age limits if the NBA really pushed it.

2.while NCAA hoops is the only way for a kid to get optimal "branding" for the NBA, to develop/prepare for an NBA-worthy game, Euroleague may be better. You think Stephen Curry will learn much or advance his skills getting triple teamed for the next 2 years? He'd be better off playing two games a week in Europe, and practicing full time with fundamentally sound players and coaches, than staying put.

[Garrett Sanders]

While it's not the NBA's problem, "one and done" is a FARCE. They are on campus 6 months, they attend class for one semester and their full-time "amateur" athletes the moment first semester ends. The APR is also a joke... Marc correctly pointed out in a previous post that coaches would gladly trade a "one and done" performer for lost scholarship (it's for one year and you're talking about a 13th scholarship player who probably won't contribute much)...that's a great trade...better than Lou Brock for Ernie Broglio. Focus on kids who want to go to college and let great players move on to professional sports ... if they want to make good financial decisions, they'll read Money Players...lol.

[Aces]

Mrs. Leunen is awesome. Mom's reading your blog...very cool.

[JP]

"It took 13 years for one of these HS guys to be the principle force on an NBA champion; meanwhile Duncan wins four titles and a team of low-first-round college guys (Detroit) makes six straight conference finals. That's no accident."

This is not true. Kobe Bryant wasn't a principle force on the Lakers Championship teams. Why doesn't he count? Because he's a well spoken guy? I'm a college grad, my degree is the most valuable asset I own and I thank the Almighty(who ever he/she is) everyday for giving me the opportunity and ability to earn it, but if I could ball like LeBron no way would I have gone to school and done it for free so the University, coaches and everyone else could get paid while my family and I struggled.