When the federal courts ruled against then 19-year-old Maurice Clarett and for upholding the NFL age limit, all three major sports leagues took notice; a precedent had been set. Only the National Football League had worked the restriction into the Collective Bargaining Agreement, a limitation most high paid veterans are not opposed to; however, this all about to change, and for many of the same reasons.
The National Basketball Association has been faced with an influx of high school players and one- to two-year college players based on the word potential. That word is dangerous for both the players being drafted and the teams investing in them. Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Jermaine O’Neal, and most recently Lebron James, Amare Stoudamire, and Carmelo Anthony are all examples of the potential benefit that can be derived from the drafting of a young player.
But as the NBA will argue for every Johnson, Jordan, or James there are 10 Kwame Browns. Why don’t they name more, one might ask. A valid question; and the answer is because you won’t remember them. Who will recollect the likes of DeSagana Diop, Kedrick Brown, Joseph Forte, Omar Cook, or Ousmane Cisse? The answer is no one. They are all failed potential from the 2001 NBA draft alone.
Some may see this as a gesture of goodwill by the NBA, and it partially is, but in the end, money is the league’s driving factor. The NBA wants to improve the play of the game, they want to sell tickets, and the only way to do this is to improve the way the game is played. An easy method is to get rid of the young inexperienced high schoolers for more experienced and seasoned veterans, a move the veteran-controlled Players’ Association will not fight hard to keep out of the CBA. And while some may argue this would rid the game of the Lebrons, Kobes, and Carmelos, think just for a second, the fact that you can name them proves the successes come few and far between.
The NBA wants to let young players’ potential develop in college basketball before they waste the money of both the owners and fans of the NBA. That’s fantastic! The NBA will inadvertently release a wealth of talent in the realm of college basketball. The level of play and the excitement of March Madness will increase exponentially as the number of experienced and talented ball players return to the universities. Picture Carmelo in his Syracuse Orange versus Lebron in his North Carolina Blue squaring off in the national championship, which may actually one-up the infamous matchup between Larry Bird’s Indiana State squad and Magic’s Michigan State Spartans.
However, as one sits here drooling over the NBA’s warm-hearted “revitalization” of college basketball—although the game has never died in the first place—one can easily forget the opportunity that would be lost to some many young adults. And that is the key term: young adults. The NBA, despite all its well-wishes—if they even exist—should not be allowed to hold legalized adults from obtaining work with potential employers. That, as the Indiana Pacers’ Jermaine O’Neal pointed out, is flat-out discrimination. Why should the NBA be allowed to pursue this effort to “improve the league’s quality of play” at the expense of its potential employees. If the NBA really wants to solve the problem, the owners should stop wasting draft picks on such “potential.” If the United States of America can send 18-year old men to a distant desert to fight a war, then those same men should be allowed to pursue employment opportunities domestically. Unfortunately, as Mr. Clarett found out, the federal courts do not agree, and NBA fans will have to accept the fact that while there might be another Jordan, they will never see the next Lebron.
Editor’s Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the individual writer and do not represent those of The Polytechnic or the sports staff.
