I'd love to hear what everyone on here thinks about an age minimum, but I'm taking the wimp route and posting after I've read a few responses, mostly because I haven't made up my mind yet.
Would an age minimum be good for Basketball?
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http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/3407586
Stern's proposed age minimum divides players
Steve Wilstein / Associated Press
Posted: 1 day ago
DENVER (AP) - The NBA found itself caught between hypocrisy and hype at the All-Star game.
As commissioner David Stern pushed his idea of a 20-year-old age minimum for players in the draft, fully one-third of the 24 All-Stars showcased Sunday night were teenagers when they joined the league.
LeBron James, Jermaine O'Neal and Gilbert Arenas on the Eastern Conference team, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, Rashard Lewis, Tracy McGrady and Amare Stoudemire on the Western Conference team all entered the league before their 20th birthday.
They are the vanguard of the NBA's evolving image and swelling merchandise sales, and they are the strongest argument the players' association could offer in opposing Stern's plan in the new collective bargaining agreement under negotiation.
There was James, Rookie of the Year last year and an MVP candidate this season, looking as comfortable on the court as any of his seniors, scoring 13 points and handing out six assists in the East's 125-115 victory. He teamed with game MVP Allen Iverson on one of the most fan-pleasing plays, a dunk off an alley-oop pass from Iverson in the first quarter.
There was Garnett, the NBA's MVP last season and a teen when he entered the league out of high school a decade ago, looking no worse at 28 for turning pro so young.
Stern is claiming the moral high ground on the age issue, saying he is looking out for the best interests of the game and the many kids whose NBA dreams never materialize. But when push comes to shove in the contract talks, Stern is not likely to win on this one - even if the players themselves are divided on the merits of an age minimum.
"There are so many guys coming in under 20 who have done so well out of high school," said Stoudemire, a first-time All-Star who was drafted at 19. "If that's making the NBA better, why would you cut them off because of their age?
"For guys who come in under 20 or straight out of high school, I think it's cool, as long as they come in mature and eager to learn the game of basketball."
Ray Allen, who stayed in school, playing at Connecticut, took a different view.
"A lot of people look at it as punishment for younger players, but you have to think about the players who fall through the cracks, who aren't as successful and end up not getting a college education or being able to see what that whole experience is like," Allen said. "I don't look at (an age minimum) as a bad thing. I think we're helping out younger guys, not hurting them."
Just as Allen said he would vote for the 20-year-old rule if the union took a poll, so did another college grad, Duke's Grant Hill, a seven-time All-Star now with Orlando.
Hill acknowledged the hypocrisy of the NBA promoting the young players at the same time the league is trying to ban more.
"If you have that kind of special talent and gift then, of course, the league will have to market you," Hill said. "But not everybody is a LeBron, a Dwight Howard.
"There are some guys in this locker room who aren't even 20 who are great players. But I always thought the purpose of a union was to protect its members, not its potential members."
Hill recalled Korleone Young, who came out of high school, played with him in Detroit, then drifted quickly out of the NBA.
"He would have benefited by going to school and developing," Hill said. "I think more of guys like him than I think of a LeBron."
Though it may seem obvious that most players would benefit by staying in school longer, college is not for everyone. Some players have neither the aptitude nor interest in going to class. What would forcing them to stay in school accomplish, other than taking away a scholarship from players who really want an education? Then, too, some players who grow up in poverty and happen to mature faster than others may have no desire to postpone the wealth they can make in the NBA.
Eleven of the All-Stars, including several from overseas, never went to college. Yet they are successful, seemingly satisfied and without regrets.
"Who knows if there's another LeBron James out there?" said Houston's Tracy McGrady, who joined the NBA out of high school in 1997 and was now on his fifth All-Star team. "I would be against the age limit. I think what would be a great idea is the way they do baseball players. If the guy is not ready, the teams ought to be able to sign them, have the rights to them but let them play in a minor league. Send that guy down a level until he's ready to play at this level."
Stern wants to do something exactly like that with an expanding NBA Development League.
That's fine for players who are drafted but not quite up for the NBA. It doesn't solve the problem of what to do with teens who are ready in every way to play among men.
"If a guy can go fire weapons in a war at 18, why can't he choose to play basketball?" asks Jermaine O'Neal, one of those who leaped from high school to the NBA. "We are just talking about basketball here. If we were talking about something that's bad for the league, I would say, 'OK, you're right.' But the most marketable players are the ones who came in at an early age and it's working."
Would an age minimum be good for Basketball?
--------------------------------------------------
http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/3407586
Stern's proposed age minimum divides players
Steve Wilstein / Associated Press
Posted: 1 day ago
DENVER (AP) - The NBA found itself caught between hypocrisy and hype at the All-Star game.
As commissioner David Stern pushed his idea of a 20-year-old age minimum for players in the draft, fully one-third of the 24 All-Stars showcased Sunday night were teenagers when they joined the league.
LeBron James, Jermaine O'Neal and Gilbert Arenas on the Eastern Conference team, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, Rashard Lewis, Tracy McGrady and Amare Stoudemire on the Western Conference team all entered the league before their 20th birthday.
They are the vanguard of the NBA's evolving image and swelling merchandise sales, and they are the strongest argument the players' association could offer in opposing Stern's plan in the new collective bargaining agreement under negotiation.
There was James, Rookie of the Year last year and an MVP candidate this season, looking as comfortable on the court as any of his seniors, scoring 13 points and handing out six assists in the East's 125-115 victory. He teamed with game MVP Allen Iverson on one of the most fan-pleasing plays, a dunk off an alley-oop pass from Iverson in the first quarter.
There was Garnett, the NBA's MVP last season and a teen when he entered the league out of high school a decade ago, looking no worse at 28 for turning pro so young.
Stern is claiming the moral high ground on the age issue, saying he is looking out for the best interests of the game and the many kids whose NBA dreams never materialize. But when push comes to shove in the contract talks, Stern is not likely to win on this one - even if the players themselves are divided on the merits of an age minimum.
"There are so many guys coming in under 20 who have done so well out of high school," said Stoudemire, a first-time All-Star who was drafted at 19. "If that's making the NBA better, why would you cut them off because of their age?
"For guys who come in under 20 or straight out of high school, I think it's cool, as long as they come in mature and eager to learn the game of basketball."
Ray Allen, who stayed in school, playing at Connecticut, took a different view.
"A lot of people look at it as punishment for younger players, but you have to think about the players who fall through the cracks, who aren't as successful and end up not getting a college education or being able to see what that whole experience is like," Allen said. "I don't look at (an age minimum) as a bad thing. I think we're helping out younger guys, not hurting them."
Just as Allen said he would vote for the 20-year-old rule if the union took a poll, so did another college grad, Duke's Grant Hill, a seven-time All-Star now with Orlando.
Hill acknowledged the hypocrisy of the NBA promoting the young players at the same time the league is trying to ban more.
"If you have that kind of special talent and gift then, of course, the league will have to market you," Hill said. "But not everybody is a LeBron, a Dwight Howard.
"There are some guys in this locker room who aren't even 20 who are great players. But I always thought the purpose of a union was to protect its members, not its potential members."
Hill recalled Korleone Young, who came out of high school, played with him in Detroit, then drifted quickly out of the NBA.
"He would have benefited by going to school and developing," Hill said. "I think more of guys like him than I think of a LeBron."
Though it may seem obvious that most players would benefit by staying in school longer, college is not for everyone. Some players have neither the aptitude nor interest in going to class. What would forcing them to stay in school accomplish, other than taking away a scholarship from players who really want an education? Then, too, some players who grow up in poverty and happen to mature faster than others may have no desire to postpone the wealth they can make in the NBA.
Eleven of the All-Stars, including several from overseas, never went to college. Yet they are successful, seemingly satisfied and without regrets.
"Who knows if there's another LeBron James out there?" said Houston's Tracy McGrady, who joined the NBA out of high school in 1997 and was now on his fifth All-Star team. "I would be against the age limit. I think what would be a great idea is the way they do baseball players. If the guy is not ready, the teams ought to be able to sign them, have the rights to them but let them play in a minor league. Send that guy down a level until he's ready to play at this level."
Stern wants to do something exactly like that with an expanding NBA Development League.
That's fine for players who are drafted but not quite up for the NBA. It doesn't solve the problem of what to do with teens who are ready in every way to play among men.
"If a guy can go fire weapons in a war at 18, why can't he choose to play basketball?" asks Jermaine O'Neal, one of those who leaped from high school to the NBA. "We are just talking about basketball here. If we were talking about something that's bad for the league, I would say, 'OK, you're right.' But the most marketable players are the ones who came in at an early age and it's working."
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