Give Me The Rock
this is fantasy basketball
I woke up this morning to a smoking hot wife and a flurry of activity on the Internet regarding the new NBA draft age restriction. I quickly realized, however, that only one of those things was actually true. The flurry, while new to me, has been going on for quite a while behind my back while I innocently tended to my job, my house, and my family. Oh, how I have had my priorities mixed up. Unfortunately, due to previously said duties, I can’t read everything on the Internet, or even as little as 75% of it. True Hoop, a great blog that I am able to read regularly, had a couple of interesting posts on the age restriction, which I cam across today: Getting 18 Year Olds Drafted and More on 18 Yr Olds Getting Drafted. Be sure to read Jumbo’s surprising eloquent and intelligent commentary in response to the first post.
In the end, the posts also pointed me to what looks like a very interesting blog (which I’ll have to squeeze into my rotation) that I never knew existed: the Sports-Law Blog. It was here where it became evident this discussion had been going on for quite some time, with somewhat frightenly impassioned people on both sides of the issue.
I’m not really going to go through the trouble of rehashing the arguments for and against the new draft restrictions. Articles here and here do a more through job than I can do. Obviously, the race issue is repeatedly brought up (all but one high school draftee has been black), as is the social and emotional immaturity of 18 year olds, the risk associated with drafting kids out of high school, and the seemingly arbitrary restrictions set by this rule.
Two quick points about the validity of these arguments. A study conducted by Michael McCann of the Sports-Law Blog, found no correlation between an NBA player spending more time in college and diminished arrest propensity (for now, let’s set aside the fact that the list of NBA players who have been arrested is scary long). Also, some preliminary research on the draft I have been playing around with so far indicates that high school draftees have outperformed both their college and foreign counterparts, on average.
Now, those are only two minnow-sized data points in the much larger sea of reality, but I’d bet that additional research would point in the same direction. Why, exactly, is college a better alternative for these kids than the NBA? The same influences, distractions, and problems don’t exist in college? Sure. I can see why the age restriction is a good deal for the NBA, as it is a great PR move for the league (hey look, were doing something to protect these kids!) and also saves them a little scrilla (although a lack of money doesn’t seem like the biggest problem for the NBA nowadays). I just wish it would be called for what it is.
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