Happy Birthday to the NBA’s ‘One-and-Done’ rule — Is it HELPING or HURTING the NBA, NCAA and players?
Happy Birthday to the NBA’s “one-and-done” rule at five years old.
Loading ...But is it really working? Some of the biggest names in college basketball have let it be known they don’t like the rule, including Kentucky coach John Calipari — the czar of one-and-doners. Calipari could have four freshmen off this year’s team drafted in the first round.
South Atlanta High’s Derrick Favors, who prepped for one season at Georgia Tech, could go as high as No. 3 overall in the draft.
“These kids should be able to go right to the league if that’s what they choose to do . . . or they should go to college for two or three years,” Calipari told the Birmingham News. “The way this is right now makes it hard. A kid has to be a really loyal kid to finish his school work (to avoid a team losing Academic Progress Rate points) when he knows he’s going to the NBA. Our kids this year did. That’s very unusual.”
The one-and-done rule requires that NBA Draft entries be 19 years old and one year out of high school. The current NBA agreement expires after the the 2010-11 season. Here are some opinions from Atlanta area coaches about the mandate:
- Milton High coach David Boyd: “I really have mixed feelings about it. I felt bad for college coaches because [before the rule] these great players were not playing any college basketball … I guess I feel if a kid is good enough to go straight from high school to the NBA, he should be allowed to do that because the bottom line is you go to college to get a good job … to prepare for a job. If you’re good enough, like a Kobe Bryant or LeBron James or John Wall, I think you should be able to go. However, I only think there are a limited number of outstanding players [each year]. I don’t think you’re talking about more than 2-3, or possibly four, per year. That’s where the high school coach or the parent or the NBA can help out with good advice. If you don’t get good advice, you may come out too early and mess yourself up for good.”
- Longtime AAU coach Linzy Davis: “Personally, I feel like for the elite high school players, maybe one or two, they should have the opportunity to turn professional. Some of them should be able to do it because they haven’t met the SAT requirements and are forced to play overseas … My position on it is education is extremely important, and each player has to have a strategy in completing their education. If a player decides in high school that he wants to turn professional, start taking some educational classes either online or in the offseason. No one can play basketball forever, and you’re going to have to do something after basketball. You’re going to have many more job opportunities with a college degree than without one.”
- Wheeler coach Doug Lipscomb: “It’s hard to say. Hindsight is always 20-20. I don’t think a year of college hurt any of our kids. It didn’t hurt Shareef Abdur-Rahim (retired 13-year NBA player) or JJ Hickson (second-year forward with the Cleveland Cavaliers]. I think it was a learning process and it benefitted them. I love when kids go to college and graduate. Most of our kids have done that. So I’m very proud of that.” Abdur-Rahim bolted from Cal after one season, while Hickson left North Carolina State after his freshman year. Both were first-round picks.
- Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl told Florida Today: ”One of my problems is that it sends a message and the trickle down is that way too many high school and college kids are now thinking about coming here and how many years am I going to be here before I go. Am I going to be one-and-done, two-and-done, three-and-done, as opposed to coming to college and saying, ‘What am I going to major in? What am I going to get my degree in and how many championships can I win?’ “
Would Favors have been a lottery pick straight out of South Atlanta High?? (AJC)
What is YOUR opinion? Please post below:
Related: Battle of the Teen Stars: Will it be Derrick Favors OR DeMarcus Cousins at No. 3? Click here
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38 comments Add your comment
Techie 45
June 24th, 2010
9:05 am
Paul Hewitt hurt Favors. He would’ve been No. 1 last year.
jsours
June 24th, 2010
9:57 am
listen to Bruce Pearl
Robert Caffey
June 24th, 2010
10:02 am
If they get a scholarship they should be required to stay two years. If they do not want to go to college then they can declare at 18. Either go overseas or play in the developmental leagues. I believe the scholarships should be for the kid who is trying to graduate not for the kid who wants a stage to play in the NBA. Raise the ACT and SAT requirement. If you cannot qualify like the average student, then a junior college is the way.
Rob
June 24th, 2010
10:09 am
Players should be able to go pro out of high school if they are good enough. If they go to college, they should be required to wait at least two or three years before going pro.
Both the NBA and the NFL need to create a player development league for kids who don’t want to go to college. The numbers won’t work for a model like minor league baseball (where every major league team runs three or more minor league teams), but both leagues make enough money to support at least a six or eight team developmental league owned by the league.
Rob
June 24th, 2010
10:14 am
Robert,
Just read your comment. I didn’t realize the NBA already had a development league, but it does. This needs to be pushed as a better option for kids that don’t want to go college and aren’t quite ready to go pro. Someone like Lebron James or Kobe Bryant should be able to go pro straight out of high school – as one of the high school coaches pointed out, this is maybe three or four people per year.
RAM
June 24th, 2010
10:15 am
I agree with Caffey, scholarships should be for players who want an education not for those practicing for NBA. Player should agree to at least two years if he accepts a scholarship.
BBFan
June 24th, 2010
10:53 am
Baseball and Tennis allows the kids to go straight to the pros so why not basketball. In Europe the kids start on a pro track as young as 13.
BBFan
June 24th, 2010
10:55 am
Maybe the eligibility rule should be if the kid is signed not if they enter the draft, like in baseball so some of these kids who think they are good enough for the pros can wake up when they don’t get drafted. This may then help them to focus on their studies when they get to college and begin to understand that getting to the NBA is a dream that can only be realized by a few but the real benefit that they get from playing basketball is the free college education
Tundeballer
June 24th, 2010
11:06 am
There should be an NBA committee of the NBA top scouts and Gm and they should offer 3 high school kids an ability to bypass college.The kids who do go to college have to stay for 2 years and after two years if they decide that there game still needs work but the same committee will offer 5 juniors the ability to skip a year of college so the kid who has worked hard and made imself talented in a year can be rewarded by not having to stay for school for 4 years.
Tech Guy
June 24th, 2010
11:48 am
I believe that are are VERY FEW high school kids ready for the NBA. The few should be allowed to go to work at 18 in the NBA if they choose. The baseball rule seems to work better than the current basketball rule. Allow the student to go pro if he is drafted out of high school and he chooses to sign. No agent should be involved. If he doesn’t sign right out of high school, he waits three years before he can be drafted again. This will force some of the nonstudents to be more attentive to their education if they go to college. Those not interested in college can get a real job. As a college graduate, I strongly resent any “student” at my school doing anything to devalue my degree. Unfortunately many athletes, especially one-and-done basketball players, can hardly be called college students. I would rather these people not be allowed to enroll at my school. They are not students and I am insulted that they are called students.
JuneBaby
June 24th, 2010
12:38 pm
Sour Grapes, that’s all i’m hearing! These players should be allowed to succeed or fail, just like anyone else in the workforce. It shouldn’t be dependant on whether you or i approve. They shouldn’t be forced to go and slave in colleges and make money for a program and people(students and alumni) that has no regard for them in reality. They only want to use these players, so they can boast that my school is better than your school, or to make money so other non-talented kids can travel all over the place to play golf, equestrian, swimming, volleyball, and other sports that no one would pay a dime to watch.Then, they have to put up with people who criticize them like they’re being paid for what they do. And no, the cost of a scolarship is not sufficient pay for what they earn for the schools, and the b.s. they have to put up with. So If they think they can succeed in the n.b.a. or n.f.l. without going to college, then they should have the opportunity to fail or succeed like any other person in the workforce would.
JuneBaby
June 24th, 2010
12:42 pm
please pardon my spelling; scholarship, not scolarship.
jarvis
June 24th, 2010
12:46 pm
Techie45 that’s a bold statement, but the Clippers certainly would have been happier
.
gdawginkalamazoo
June 24th, 2010
1:22 pm
You know that the NBA developed this one year rule to allow the kids the time to get all tatooed up. No way in hell a kid can jump straight from HS to the NBA and have time to get tatted up enough in one summer. It takes time people.
gdawginkalamazoo
June 24th, 2010
1:32 pm
I have to agree with Bruce Pearl on this one. The scholarships should be used for kids who want to complete a degree and play ball. Let the ones that do not want to go to college go play in Europe or the devlop. leagues.
MJ
June 24th, 2010
1:32 pm
This is a bad rule. If players want to go to the NBA out of high school fine, they should be allowed to go. But if they elect to go to college, than they should have to stay 3 years like they do in college football and baseball. Letting players go pro right away would weed out the players that have no interest in college and then the guys that do go to college would stay a full 3 years which would instantly make college basketball so much better. The quality of collge basketball is so much worse than it was 10 years ago when guys would stay longer than 1 year. Plus by letting a player develop for 3 years in college would only make them better able to jump in to the pros right away, just like football and baseball. This one and done thing is stupid and does no one any good.
MARIO
June 24th, 2010
1:48 pm
I think the rule should be 2 years.. 1 year helps noone..not the player or the school.. I think 2 years should suffice.
SportsFan
June 24th, 2010
1:48 pm
Every time I read about a football or basketball player drowning because they couldn’t swim I will remember the un-talented swimmer comment. Michael Phelps is being paid very well as are numerous other swimmers. Tiger makes a pretty good living from golf. Also if a basketball player thinks college doesn’t pay enough they can always go overseas. The college game will survive without them and maybe when some of these non-talented students stop getting let into schools they don’t deserve to be in people will take the other athletes at these schools more serious as students.
Halsey
June 24th, 2010
1:50 pm
Private organizations should have the right to set an age minimum. Nobody is forcing anyone to do anything. The NBA is simply setting an age minimum. People who think a private organization can’t set an age minimum must think it’s ok for NBA teams to start drafting freshman in high school. I mean, if they can’t set an age minimum, who says they have to wait on guys to graduate high school.
RAM
June 24th, 2010
2:19 pm
No problem with the NBA. They have plenty of players and money to solve their problems. The real problem is with the college programs and the mess all these freshmen and sophmores leaving college creates. How can a coach recruit for the future when he doesn’t know how long the players already recruited will be in the program? The college coaches need to sit down and figure this problem out for the sake of college basketball.
UNBIASED ONE
June 24th, 2010
2:25 pm
Baseball, Hockey, Tennis, Golf, Childhood Actors, Singers, Dancers etc.
Whats the debate?! Oh, thats right the NBA is 77% African American. Don’t want THOSE kids making that kind of money.
Mike
June 24th, 2010
3:07 pm
Who cares. The NBA is nothing but a bunch of overpaid thugs. I’d rather watch tennis than the NBA.
Richham
June 24th, 2010
3:24 pm
I was in favor of this rule when they first came up with it, but I agree with changing it. Those that are really that good to go straight out of high school should be able to, but they should adopt the nfl rule of making a player wait three years before they can declare. This would benefit college basketball and in the long run the nba.
This will probably kill quite a few kids dreams if they declare out of hs and can’t go to college, but you need a severe penalty to get these kids attention.
dap01
June 24th, 2010
3:32 pm
It has certainly lowered the standard of play in the NBA.
KD
June 24th, 2010
3:36 pm
Kids should go to college for 3 years minimum, regardless of your talent. Yes, kids in other sports(baseball,hockey) go stright to the pros but it is in their respective minor league systems first, not high school to professionals.In my opinion, when a kid signs a scholarship, it is for 4 years, that’s how long they should go to college.
Time
June 24th, 2010
4:43 pm
Needs to go one way or the other. Either let the high school players enter the draft. Or force them to go to college for at the least three years like the NFL does. If they are academically ineligible, allow them to play in the D-league. Would rather see them stay home playing minor league hoops than going overseas to do it.
michael
June 24th, 2010
4:45 pm
three years then leave, just like college football. ‘gives them a chance to grow-up socially, educationally and gives skills that will carry over AFTER they are booted out of the “what have you done for me lately” NBA. seems to me the message is that football players are a little smarter than bb players. oh wait, that’s right, football/baseball teams carry more players and have more bench players to develope. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Ryder
June 24th, 2010
5:02 pm
Baseball, Hockey, Tennis, Golf, Childhood Actors, Singers, Dancers etc.
Whats the debate?! Oh, thats right the NBA is 77% African American. Don’t want THOSE kids making that kind of money.
UNBIASED ONE
June 24th, 2010
2:25 pm
I love it when myopic morons play this angle. First of all, genius, the top prospects in baseball still have to go through the minors after getting drafted. Even if they do, how many of them get guaranteed contracts like they do in the NBA.
Also, many teenagers in tennis & golf never make the kind of money that NBA kids do at that age.
And even though it has nothing to do with sports, aren’t many of those childhood singers, actor, and dancers AFRICAN AMERICAN?
Delbert D.
June 24th, 2010
6:54 pm
Do it like football. If you sign a scholarship offer, the NBA can’t touch you for 3 years. That is enough time to figure out if the “student” has any brains. If he flunks out, “Sorry, you should have chosen the NBA developmental league. Now wait until you’re eligible, or transfer top a Div. II school.”
JuneBaby
June 24th, 2010
7:18 pm
None of you guys seem to mind all the kids that didn’t go to college, but have died fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Should there be a two or three year rule before you can put these kids in harms way? I didn’t think so! Once a kid leaves high school behind, he or she is thought capable of making their own decisions. That’s what high school is for. If these kids see that they can’t make it right out of high school, they’ll stop applying for the draft, and find other ways to accomplish their goals. Maybe going overseas to play after high school will be one of the routes they choose, or developmental leagues. College supporters just don’t want to give up their gravy train, because then they’ll have to pay for their kids to play baseball, soccer, golf, tennis, etc., all of these non-revenue sports, because the money for their scholarships and partial scholarships will no longer be available. There is a hidden agenda here! Cheerleading, band, equestrian, men’s gymnastics, hockey and lacrosse! PLEASE!
POAD
June 25th, 2010
7:31 pm
JUNEbaby. An NCAA college recuit & a NBA drafted player sign based on the contract in front of them. A recruit for Milatary Service signs the same contract in front of them.
Wheeler Grad 99
June 26th, 2010
11:49 am
I agree with JuneBaby,
Isn’t this a CAPITALIST SOCIETY. If an eighteen year old ADULT can make a million dollars out of high school, why in the world should he haveto wait three years so he can help pay the coach’s million dollar contract, pay for other bullcrap sports and etc.
That’s what a SOCIALIST WOULD WANT. Consider this for all you morons that want kids to wait.
If YOUR KID could make ten million dollars out of high school, would you want them to wait three years. I don’t think so hypocrates.
Wheeler Grad 99
June 26th, 2010
11:59 am
I can see some of you now talking to your kid:
“No little Johnny or Suzie, don’t sign that 20 MILLION AUTOMATIC MILLIANAIRE CONTRACT, go to UGA and get an education that you can get at ANYTIME in your life so you can make maximum 80 thousand a year.
Yep, that is totally worth it. Who cares about being a millionaire in this day and age. The economy is going to pick up I KNOW it.”
Hypocrates.
Ted Striker
June 27th, 2010
4:02 pm
The NBA has no real incentive to change the rule. The NBA will still get their player(s) after a year (or 2 if they’re under 19) and a year in college will weed out some of the highly touted h.s. guys who may not perform so well against a higher level of competition.
Coaches who live by the one and done player may die by the one and done player (unless they’re Calipari, who is the John Gotti of basketball coaches). Schools who use it liberally may take a hit on their academic points but that’s their choice. All they care about is the money anyway.
All in all, I dislike the rule, but it’s there to protect guys who think they’re “NBA good” when maybe they’re only “high school or college good.”
gt
June 28th, 2010
12:19 pm
You ever wonder why American football worked here and not soccer. American football grew up in the colleges where the players got a name and following for themselves before going pro. You kind of bring a constituency of fans with you to the new team. The NBA is dying.
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