NCAA'S STUPIDITY FORCING UNPREPARED PLAYERS TO NBA
NBA scouts and team officials were in St. Louis last weekend when Eddy
Curry and other high school stars were on display, and one NBA general
manager said the mammoth Curry did remind him of the onetime LSU center.
"He looked like the next Stanley Roberts," the GM said.
Curry, bothered by the flu, appeared out of shape and years away from being
a productive or successful NBA player.
Yet Curry would have to be stupid to go to college.
Not because of the money that could be available to him as a potential
first-round draft choice or the chance to achieve most every kid's dream of
playing professional sports. Curry, and dozens of kids like him who have pro
potential, shouldn't go to college because of the scrutiny they'll be subjected
to under NCAA regulations that discriminate against them more than regular
students.
The NBA doesn't want kids like Eddy Curry. A look at the Bulls' roster
suggests why. They may have talent, but the NBA doesn't want to become a
developmental league, which is what's happening. In Chicago and other cities,
it's becoming like a Class AAA baseball minor league as kids are being
groomed to play against the best.
Unfortunately for the Bulls, they have to play the best while that process is
going on. It's reminiscent of when the Florida Marlins come to Kane County
to play against the prospects.
It's also a big reason why interest in the NBA is diminishing: Fans know when
they're seeing bad basketball, and with so many unprepared kids, it's coming
too often in NBA games.
Yet the colleges, and principally the governing NCAA, are at fault, and the
case of Arizona's Richard Jefferson is a prime example.
Jefferson is the roommate and best friend of Luke Walton, a basketball
teammate. Luke also happens to be the son of NBA Hall of Famer Bill
Walton, now an NBC broadcaster. I know Walton and have been around
him and his kids, one of whom is a member of the Princeton basketball team,
another a highly regarded high school player. A disciple of UCLA's John
Wooden, Walton lectures his kids about playing by the rules and being
responsible for their actions.
"Imagine my embarrassment over this," Walton said.
It should be the NCAA's.
There was a birthday party for one of Walton's boys. Luke was coming and
invited his best friend, Jefferson. Dad was at the Finals for NBC, so he asked
Luke if he wanted to go and paid for two tickets.
Which would have been fine if Luke's best friend were a chemistry major, or
probably even a drug dealer. But because he was a basketball player, the
NCAA chose to suspend Jefferson one game for accepting extra benefits.
Does anyone in college know how to spell "insane?"
Here's a father trying to do something for his son and a friend. I do it all
the time. Most parents do. And the kid gets punished and tainted for breaking
the rules.
Jamal Crawford, the Bulls' rookie point guard from Michigan, would still be
in college if not for the NCAA.
Crawford is talented, but he's not ready for the NBA after only a
half-season playing in college. He wanted to return, but because he
accepted gifts--mostly food and sustenance items from a friend of the
family--he was suspended for much of last season and then ordered to
make repayments. If he missed one payment, he would lose his eligibility.
Crawford knows several NBA players from off-season games back home in
Seattle and they offered to make his restitution rather than see him go to the
NBA too soon. He declined, knowing that, too, would be illegal and
reluctantly declared for the NBA. Similarly, Arizona's Loren Woods just
returned to the team after a six-game suspension for receiving extra benefits
from a longtime mentor.
The rules that resulted in the formation of the NCAA were justified at the time
because of scandals, cheating and other forms of corruption. But the
organization lost sight of its mission as it became the proverbial snowball
rolling downhill, so big and powerful it could no longer be dealt with.
This goes beyond the debate over whether athletes should be paid. Of course
they should--they're earning huge profits for their colleges. Have you seen the
Bowl Championship Series payouts? And payment is hardly complicated:
Pay the players from revenue-generating teams. Those who earn money
receive money. It would be a valuable real world lesson, anyway.
Of course, the hypocrisy of those who rule collegiate athletics hardly allows
for the best interests of students, which is why the college game is a lie.
In pro sports, it's all about the money and everyone knows it. College just
pretends it isn't. The difference is in college, the athletes are the losers.
It's why any skilled high school basketball player should skip college and go
directly to the NBA. Not because the NBA needs or wants him, but because
the NCAA will treat him unfairly and make his life a miserable lie.
It's the shame of intercollegiate athletics.
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