Column: NBA needs to rethink age rules

Right now, as the NFL continues to undergo major reformation under commissioner Roger Goodell, the NBA is still putting off fixing its major problem.

The NFL has its overtime issues and its character questions, while the NBA has what in my opinion is the biggest rule flaw in all of sports — the age rule.

Just how many more Demarucs Cousinses, Derek Roses, Eric Gordons or Greg Odens will it take for commissioner David Stern to realize what this rule is doing to, or really, taking away from, basketball.

With the age rule how it is, saying prospective professional basketball players must be one year removed from high school graduation to enter the league, the NBA is really showing kids the easy way out.

One of the lesser publicized side effects of this insane clause is that kids don’t even have to show up for classes during the second semester before they put their name in the draft. There is no sense of liability.

Hey, show up for the fall semester, play your 30-40 games, sign your agent, pack your bags and adios.

On to train for the pre-draft camp Chicago.

It’s just that simple, isn’t it?

Kids can go in having no motivation — except to meet minimum GPA requirements, which at some of the premier programs require a decimal point and one figure — to succeed in the classroom. Is that what the NBA wants in its future employees?
Moreover, is that what it should want?

Here’s another brain-buster: let’s say next year’s John Wall tears his ACL in an exhibition game against Northeastern Central State and kisses his career goodbye.

That one year — or prospective one year — of college was forced upon him, thus bypassing guaranteed money in marketing, contractual and endorsement deals. Remember that in the NBA, teams are liable for their players’ contracts, unlike the NFL (see Jamaal Tinsley meltdown).

You’d have to have a Johnny Cochran-esque argument to convince me that those three-and-a-half months living in a dorm and risking millions upon millions was worth it, especially given the fact that legitimate one-and-done’s can compete at the highest level right out of high school. There’s always a player’s post-career for coming back and finishing a degree, which I’m all for.

What about the maturity aspect? Sending these types of players to college for one year or one semester makes them immature in many cases. Think about everything coming along with decision to go pro: with which agent to sign, what outfitter to bring on and countless other questions.

Is that player really thinking about the team (see Kentucky in the NCAA tournament)?

Jermaine O’Neal said it best back during his time with the Pacers when he said if an 18-year-old man can go overseas and fight and die for his country, he should be able to make money playing professional basketball at 18.

Look at it from college coaches’ perspectives: Rebuilding has gone to a whole new level. There are the John Caliparis of the world who will always recruit the types of players that will opt for the draft after their freshman year. There’s no consistency from year to year and no cohesiveness.

Right now, the NBA has got to make this giant step forward and spare us all from these wasted few months we watch these superstars suit up in the amateur ranks.
It’s the biggest problem on the NBA’s plate, and now it’s time to fix it (see NFL).


E-mail: ftherber@indiana.edu