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Reactions: Leaving early for NBA Users hate seeing players give up college for the prosPosted: Friday April 07, 2000 04:43 PM
It is becoming more of a trend for college basketball players to forgo their final year or two of eligibility for a shot at playing in the pros. Many people think the NBA has suffered from this influx of youth onto its rosters. Many more have begun to notice a deterioration in the college game. Users responded to this issue after a Page One report on CNN/Sports Illustrated. A collection of some of the most interesting responses follows. Of course it's hurt the game. College players now are only slightly better than high schoolers, while the pros are becoming glorified college players. The key in stopping this is for the owners not to draft these underclassmen that have no visible basketball skills.
Hey, let's forget for a moment how this will affect college basketball and remember why we have colleges and universities in the first place. As a college administrator, it sickens me to hear about the surge of athletes in any sport leaving college early to go pro. Why not stay the extra year (or two or three) and get the degree you went there for in the first place, and then go on? I commend those athletes who put the dollar signs on hold and put their education first.
I think it represents an overall loss of talent and hurts the NCAA. College games will always be unpredictable and exciting. Unlike the NBA, It takes a team to win, not an individual (See Michigan State, 2000 for example). It would be nice if some of these players realize that they will never achieve their potential without paying their dues in the NCAA.
Come on people! If you are an accountant, engineer, teacher, programmer -- whatever. And someone came up to you while you were a sophomore in college and said, "We want to offer you a job to do what you love to do and pay you $3 million/year. But there is catch -- you have to come after the semester is over. We need you now." Who wouldn't go? I sure would! Most of us won't come close to making that kind of money in our lifetimes, let alone a year. For these athletes, put on top of that the fact the opportunity to make that kind of money could be taken away with a weird fall in practice, or a slip in the bathtub. There is not much of a choice here. Make the money while you can. College will always be there -- and you'll have no problem affording it.
I think that the game is suffering. Fans don't have the ability to root for players for four years. In many cases, it has been for one or two years. Yes, parity has become a part of the game, but I think leaving college early has taken parity to a new level. Teams are competing to not be bad rather than be excellent.
It has obviously hurt the talent level, but who cares? The tournament is still great. If anything, it's done us all a huge favor. It's ensured the demise of the NBA by turning it over to a bunch of coddled crybabies.
I feel it hurts both college and the NBA. Look at Jonathan Bender, Yes he could have went to college and really became a better player, then go to Indiana and sit on a bench and play few minutes. I think the NBA needs to do what the NFL does. A player cannot be in the NBA until he is 21 or has been 3 years removed from High School. Also the NCAA will be more exciting and it gives us a chance to market our players before they goto the NBA so Fans get excited about a Draft Pick then wondering "Who is this Guy?"
The increasing number of athletes leaving college early to enter the NBA has no doubt hurt the college game. But more importantly it has begun to destroy the NBA. Once there was something known as team loyalty and pride, defined by players such as Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird. Today those words are replaced by money, money and more money. Kids who are 18 and 19 years old have no business in the NBA and need to remain in college to develop not only skills. But more importantly -- maturity. Yes the unpredictability in the college game has increases but only in the sense that as a fan it is doubtful that your favorite team will be together for much more than one year.
The fast departing underclassmen has killed the college game and it is getting worse. Watching college basketball use to be so exciting because if a team like Iowa St. or Florida didn't win this year, being so young or with a star should be returning junior, you couldn't wait to see them the next year. Remember the UNLV and Duke teams of the early '90s? Now there's no real excitement for the games because you have no clue who is on the teams. The fun of watching a well-recruited team develop into a dynasty is gone. Now you just wait for the tourney and see who's left when the Sweet 16 starts. And let's not talk about all of the would-be college stars that skip school.
Any sane person who wouldn't jump at the chance to leave college early for a shot at professional sports needs a lesson in common sense.
I think the underclassmen leaving early has hurt both the NCAA and the NBA. 90% of these players leaving early are not ready for the NBA -- not even close! If these players would stay in school at least until their junior year it would make both the NBA and NCAA much better basketball.
I like the college game. For me it's more interesting than the NBA. As far as all the underclassmen leaving, it just undermines the NBA. After all, why would I want to pay so much money to see college athletes play in the NBA, when I can see equally as good college players in the NCAA for less than half the price?
I've heard people complain about kids leaving school for $3 million in the NBA. "They're turning their backs on a free college education," these people say. Obviously, a million bucks pays for a whole lot of college, so this complaint mostly sounds like sour grapes to me. What these people really mean is, "Why are you leaving my alma mater when we so desperately need to win a title which would justify my having gone to this school ten years ago."
While talented and exciting college players leaving early for the NBA (where most of them will most likely be multi-million dollar bench warmers for at least a season or two) undoubtedly hurts the college game, you can't really blame or criticize these athletes for their decision. Many of them come from financially disadvantaged backgrounds, and even the ones who don't would be lunatics to pass up the kind of money being offered. Even if their pro careers turn out to be a bust, they've just netted several million dollars - more than enough to fund a belated return to higher education if need be.
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