Age Limit? Age Limit.

With a potential lockout looming, the NBPA is looking for ground to stand on. They are proposing rolling back the player age minimum from 19 to 18. This stance is something I simply don't get. The role of the NBPA is to represent current NBA players... so why would they want to hurt the careers of their more veteran class by inundating the league with more players that are young and too green for the league? I'm not entirely sure... They claim that they will try to create incentive for high-schoolers to skip the draft and focus on college, but I'm not sure that tack will work. What incentive can they realistically provide? The age limit needs fixing, and I'm pretty sure without a serious fix, nothing will persuade these kids from skipping college.

The problem is, an age limit of 18 is bad for the NBA, and an age limit of 19 is killing college basketball with so many one-and-dones that A) have no real loyalty to their team and B) make a mockery of the term "student-athlete". As far as the NBA is concerned, having too many high-school kids make the jump in recent years really hurt teams as they were forced to take chances on potential instead of draft based more on real knowledge of skills/game experience. Either way, the rule needs some tweaking. Here is a list of all high-school to NBA players... which includes some very impressive, and some very dreadful names. Even among those who have made All-Star games, it could be argued that their careers would've been just as good if they had played some college ball to refine their skills (think about the 17-year old Jermaine O'Neal, youngest player in league history). Others obviously needed the structure and training of college (Bassy Telfair, Darius Miles) but even I can admit that Eddy Curry + a meal plan = 400... easy.... so maybe it was best that he went pro. Players like Lebron, Kobe, and Chocolate Thunder from the Planet Lovetron were always going to be successful, so I can't argue against their leap from high school to the pros... but it is fairly clear that it isn't the best decision for everyone.

So where do we go from here?

The Supreme Court did away with the old "player must have completed 4 years of college" rule, but I don't understand how the NBA can't operate under the same rule as the NFL, which states that a player must be 3 years removed from graduating high school to enter the draft. However, as a compromise, the MLB method may be the best. Draft players out of high school, they then have the option of signing and foregoing their college experience OR if they are not happy with their draft standing, they can enter college and must remain for 3 years before entering the draft for a 2nd time. This allows "locks" like Dwight Howard, Lebron James, and Kevin Garnett to enter the draft and stay, and marginal picks like James Lang and Korleone Young (who?) realize that a 2nd Round pick's salary isn't that hot, and go to college to refine their games. This also maintains some integrity to the college game, which is suffering under the current system, and would continue to suffer even if players were allowed to jump to the NBA after high school. This way, stars are guaranteed to be there for 3 years, improving overall play and drawing more attention to the game. It isn't perfect, but it is probably as close as we're gonna get.