Lately there’s been a lot of talk about changing the age limit to enter the NBA. The idea is to move the age limit from 18 to 20 years of age, and the reason for all this arguing is Jermaine O’Neal’s comments. Jermaine says it’s racist, when it’s really about business.
Imagine you’re 17, and you live in some urban city in America. Your family is poor, but you’re an amazing basketball player with the potential to jump right into the NBA. In this situation who wouldn’t go pro? The problem is almost every teen with this kind of talent is choosing to play in the NBA instead of getting a college education and a chance to play for some of the best college coaches in America, but who would blame them. But it’s more than just a problem for teens with NBA potential; it’s starting to become a problem for the NBA.
It’d be easy just to say, “Let `em play” because so many kids in the world have dreams of being an NBA all-star and why take that away? Going pro after high school gets you instant money and you don’t risk the chance of becoming injured by playing in college. Every teenage phenom that has a chance to go to the NBA forgets about college though, because to him college looks like the long route to money, and the NBA is a short cut. What happens if he gets there and self-destructs and blows his chance though? High school players aren’t always prepared mentally for the NBA. Less than twenty-five percent of the players who try to make the jump fail. They don’t think about what it does for the NBA either.
The majority of the players that make the jump from high school to the NBA are African-American, so I can understand why you would think it could be racism that would cause this rule to change. (But don’t forget about Robert Swift, the only white player to make it to the NBA last year out of high school.) There’s a better explanation that has to do with money though, more of what the NBA cares about. Jermaine O’Neal doesn’t understand that its not racism like he thinks and that its more about business.
More and more teens every year make the leap from the high school court to the NBA court. It’s also had a big affect on the game itself. Look at some teams like the Pacers, Timberwolves, Cavs or Lakers. All of their star players have made the transformation. Dwight Howard is also a up and coming star out of high school and is looked at to be somewhat of a young Shaq, except without the hype Shaq had when he entered the league. Dwight came out of high school instead of college, and I can guarantee that if Howard would’ve went to college and worked on his game to become even better, he would have brought in just as much hype for the NBA fans to eat up.
College isn’t just about getting an education though. You learn things in college that prepare you for life and for the game of basketball. College teaches you how to become more of an adult. Look at the behavior of Jermaine O’Neal. He has helped prove the fact that the NBA needs less high school-ers in the league. All you need to do is bring up his behavior in Detroit, and everyone will know what I’m talking about. College also gives you hype for the NBA. Look what the NCAA tournament has done for some of the UNC players.
Stern’s decision was based on what’s best for the NBA, the best “business wise” decision. The road college hoops takes you through creates more talk and more hype for the NBA. Players are also more marketable after going through college; basically because they are already introduced to the sports world, despite Lebron James because of the attention he got in high school. None of these other players like KG or Kobe were getting Lebron caliber hype in high school. No one paid to much attention when Kobe or Jermaine made it into the league. I can guarantee if Kobe was coached by Coach K or Roy Williams he would’ve made the NBA more money after blowing up big time in college and entering the NBA draft.
The NBA is not concerned with Jermaine O’Neal’s comments though, their concerned with money. Making teens go through college helps the NBA attract more fans and helps the NBA Draft. The decision is based on the good of the NBA and what’s good for each franchise. We don’t need any more high school phenoms to be unseen when they enter the league; it’s a waste of potential money for the NBA. Hopefully Jermaine O’Neal understands the difference between racism and business. If not, maybe college would’ve helped.
5 replies on “Maybe College Would’ve Helped Jermaine”
Exactly You hit the nail on the head, O’Neal was completely off topic on the racial issues on this matter. It barely has anything to do with race, i was happy to read your article.
Not Exactly… The fact that 95% of the high school players that go pro are black does leaves a ton of racial issues in with the problem, Im sure Oneal knows better than we do about this topic anyway. Hes in the leauge. I think that it does have a lot to do with race and little do with the NBA buisness, why doesnt hockey or baseball have it?
How can you say this has to do with primarly race the reason they did this was to stop players from coming in the league and after 2 years in the league become superstars. They want the attention before they enter in the NBA. David Stern has no grudge against black people, why would he?
Not race Well, if you want to go from the angle you’re perceiving it from, it doesn’t have a lot to do with race, but it does have a lot to do with class. In your eyes, this would prevent poor people from getting out of those areas.
In actuality though, the proposed age limit would likely still allow underage players to enter the NBA and get paid, but they would have to spend their time in the NBA Developmental League. Full salary and all, they’d just have to spend a year or two in what is essentially a basketball camp.
I dont know.. It could be one or the other, but im hoping that was based on buisness