The NBA Draft of The Future

Since high schooler Kevin Garnett was drafted high in the 1995 NBA Draft, the face of the NBA Draft has changed dramatically. Scouts look at potential versus what they have accomplished. I’ve taken a humorous look at what will happen if this trend continues.Is it me or is there no one who likes the direction the NBA draft is going? You got the National College player of the year and he does not get drafted until the 20th pick. What a joke. Let’s instead draft a high school student who may or may not make it in the NBA. The person that I am referring to is Jameer Nelson, point guard out of St. Joseph University.

All he did last year was lead St. Joseph to a number one ranking and win the Naismith award as the college player of the year. I bet half of you out there never even heard of St. Joseph before this year. He was a strong leader who proved himself at the collegiate level. But that does not matter anymore because the NBA scouts would rather draft a high school kid who looks good playing against kids who have no future playing basketball, and some of them just play basketball in high school just to impress a cheerleader. Someone explain to me why Portland drafted Sebastian Telfair instead of Nelson. They are about the same size but Nelson won the college player of the year while Telfair dominated high school. I don’t get it. I hope that Nelson goes on and wins rookie of the year and then maybe the scouts will look at collegiate players. If I am not mistaken Michael Jordan played three years of basketball; he turned out to be a pretty decent player. Guess what, he was the Naismith award winner also.

Just humor me as I look in the future. Let’s say it is the year 2015 and the Los Angeles Clippers have the first pick in the draft. Come on, do you actually think that the Clippers will ever be good? Back to my point, the scouts for the Clippers are debating their draft pick. There are three potential candidates they can draft. Here they are: First, we have player A. Let’s say he is 6’4″ and plays guard. He actually played four years at let’s say Duke University. He won the collegiate player of the year and he led Duke to a national championship. He has no flaws in his game and he is ready to contribute right away to the NBA. This kid will have a solid ten-year career in the pros.

Next, we have player B. Let’s say he is 6’9″ and plays power forward. He was the High School player of the year and the sky’s the limit on this kid. He has a good work ethic and should make an all-star team or two. He comes from a solid family and is very intelligent. You really couldn’t go wrong with this pick.

Finally we have player C. He is 5’2″ and plays for an elementary school. He is only ten years old. He dominates his PE class like no other kid. The scouts are already drooling over this kid. The school nurse said that this kid should grow up to be 6 foot 6 inches. Mr. Jones, the PE teacher is quoted as saying this young man could be the next Michael Jordan. He has a little maturity problem and sometimes he won’t eat all of his vegetables. The scouts are worried that he is not allowed up after 9:00 but the sky is the limit for this kid. In fourteen years he should be ready to contribute in the pros. In twenty years he could easily be an all-star.

With the first pick of the 2015 NBA draft, the LA Clippers have selected player C out of elementary school. Elgin Baylor, vice president of basketball operations, said we could not forgive ourselves if this kid in 20 years turns out to be the next Michael Jordan. I can imagine picking up a paper and reading a quote from LA Clipper owner Donald Sterling saying, “How could I pass on this great bargain with such potential? Our roster will be helpful because they just went through adolescence this past year”. In addition, his parents will be allowed to sit on the bench during games. Of course for the first couple of years he will only be allowed to play games in the daytime or games that fall on the weekend. He can’t travel with the team because he might miss math class. The coach said that we are willing to work this out because we don’t won’t to miss out on drafting the next Michael Jordan.

Laugh all you want but that could be the future of professional basketball.