I would imagine NBA teams would love to draft high school players. What they don't want to do is use lottery / mid first round draft picks on high school players. If they could use a 2nd round (or say 3rd or 4th round) pick on a guy that projects to be first rounder in a year or two I think they would jump at the chance.

And for the 18 year old kids - if we say they are not ready for life in the NBA, how could we possibly say that they are ready to move to a foreign country and play with grown men, many that don't share the culture or language as the 18 year old.

Maybe a new system would just lead to more academic fraud as players that enter college would have to remain academically eligible for 3 semesters instead of just 1. Hopefully a new system would give athletes that don't have a desire to be students a better route to the NBA, while preserving the college game for kids who have an interest in both athletics and academics.

(06-05-2017 07:21 PM)Trapper John Wrote:  I would imagine NBA teams would love to draft high school players. What they don't want to do is use lottery / mid first round draft picks on high school players. If they could use a 2nd round (or say 3rd or 4th round) pick on a guy that projects to be first rounder in a year or two I think they would jump at the chance.

And for the 18 year old kids - if we say they are not ready for life in the NBA, how could we possibly say that they are ready to move to a foreign country and play with grown men, many that don't share the culture or language as the 18 year old.

NBA draft is only 2 rounds.

NBA league office is quite clear they want nothing to do with 18 year olds. Individual teams can't help themselves, for every Lebron or Kobe, there are 10 examples of 18 year olds who flame out or never develop, and are quickly forgotten.

Sorry, the round 3 or 4 was a reference to my earlier post. I agree that they don't want to waste early picks by gambling on 18 year olds, but if each team could have a minor league team to stock with potential players and had the opportunity to use that team to stash teenagers that chose not to go to college, then I think they would jump at the chance.

Ideally what would develop is a system where it would be quicker for a player to go to the G-League for a year and then be eligible for the NBA, with the other choice being a player committing to college for 2 years and developing there. Hopefully it would clean up the college game and give the best players another option.

(06-06-2017 08:53 PM)Trapper John Wrote:  Sorry, the round 3 or 4 was a reference to my earlier post. I agree that they don't want to waste early picks by gambling on 18 year olds, but if each team could have a minor league team to stock with potential players and had the opportunity to use that team to stash teenagers that chose not to go to college, then I think they would jump at the chance.

Ideally what would develop is a system where it would be quicker for a player to go to the G-League for a year and then be eligible for the NBA, with the other choice being a player committing to college for 2 years and developing there. Hopefully it would clean up the college game and give the best players another option.

Yep. Current system is not working. Quality of play in NCAA is general is so poor. Also true that 18 and 19 year olds would develop quicker in the D-League, where NBA teams can work with them all day if the want to. Tubby is limited to what, 2 hours per week, during the summer months?

I see us slowly moving to more of a European model, like they do with soccer and hockey and even basketball. That system helped Marc Gasol develop at a club team in Spain, and he totally bypassed college. So 18 year olds skipping college, going right to an expanded D-League, and develop there for a year or two.

(06-07-2017 10:24 AM)Tigx Wrote:  

(06-06-2017 08:53 PM)Trapper John Wrote:  Sorry, the round 3 or 4 was a reference to my earlier post. I agree that they don't want to waste early picks by gambling on 18 year olds, but if each team could have a minor league team to stock with potential players and had the opportunity to use that team to stash teenagers that chose not to go to college, then I think they would jump at the chance.

Ideally what would develop is a system where it would be quicker for a player to go to the G-League for a year and then be eligible for the NBA, with the other choice being a player committing to college for 2 years and developing there. Hopefully it would clean up the college game and give the best players another option.

Yep. Current system is not working. Quality of play in NCAA is general is so poor. Also true that 18 and 19 year olds would develop quicker in the D-League, where NBA teams can work with them all day if the want to. Tubby is limited to what, 2 hours per week, during the summer months?

I see us slowly moving to more of a European model, like the do with soccer and hockey and even basketball. That system helped Marc Gasol develop at a club team in Spain, and he totally bypassed college. So 18 years skipping college, going right to an expanded D-League, and develop there for a year or two.

The MLS has youth academies, but players still get the chance to go to college. The team just keeps their rights.

Jordan Morris is a good example. He went to Stanford but Seattle still owns his rights and were able to sign him when he was ready to go pro.

I could see a similar system working with the G-League, NCAA, and NBA all working together. I think eventually the NCAA will play players in revenue sports with a hard cap at a percentage of the minimum pro league salary. If a player wants more, he can go pro if a team will sign him. But there are issues with that.