What to do about one-and-done? Go back to none-and-done
Will these Kentucky Wildcats be the first and second picks of the 2012 NBA draft? Probably. (AJC photo by Curtis Compton)
It’s a lousy rule. John Calipari says so. Even David Stern, whose rule it is, says so. It’s such a lousy rule that everybody insists it needs to be changed. Question is, to what?
The NCAA title was just taken by Kentucky, which is coached by Calipari, who has come to specialize in one-and-done players. (He has had at least one in each of the past four seasons and could have three this time.) Mark Emmert, the NCAA president, told USA Today last month that he had no quarrel with Calipari’s recruiting of one-and-done players, saying the coach was “operating inside the rules.” But this rule isn’t the NCAA’s.
The NBA implemented the rule in 2005 because the image-conscious league was tiring of seeing its scouts trolling for draftees in high school gyms. From 2001 through 2004, three of the players taken No. 1 overall were high schoolers. It wasn’t that such guys weren’t ready to play professionally — LeBron James and Dwight Howard did OK — as the unseemliness of it all. Did a billion-dollar enterprise want to make a practice of sinking millions into teenage talent?
This halting compromise was hatched: To be NBA-eligible, a player had to be at least 19 and one year out of high school. Stern, who’s the NBA commissioner, took pains this week to note that his league never said a player had to go to college, but that has been the effect.
Players who would otherwise have done a LeBron were forced to bide their time, and the best players have made that time the briefest possible. Greg Oden, Kevin Durant, Derrick Rose, Kevin Love, Derrick Favors: All were one-and-done. In 2010 Kentucky had four players leave after one season. This year he won it all with a team that could see freshmen Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist drafted first and second overall.
Some have cast Kentucky’s crown as validation of the one-and-done method, but such a coronation has long been inevitable. Ohio State lost in the 2007 final with three freshmen who would never play another collegiate game. Memphis lost in the 2008 final with Rose. (Calipari coached that team, too.) That it finally happened hasn’t changed anything. It has only brought the issue under greater focus.
Has one-and-done cheapened the college game? Absolutely. Institutions of higher learning have come to be seen as way stations. That’s not how the NCAA would choose to have it: For institutions of higher learning, seeing a few guys go directly to the pros beat the heck out of these cameo collegiate appearances.
To single out Kentucky is disingenuous. Every big-time program would take the players Calipari signs. The No. 1 NBA draftee in 2011 was Kyrie Irving, who worked 11 games for Duke before leaving; this year another Blue Devil — Austin Rivers, son of Doc — is bolting after one season. Kentucky and Calipari just happen to recruit better than anyone else, and if you recruit at the highest level you’re signing those most apt to be one-and-done.
The catch: If you sign one-and-dones, you have to keep signing more every year, and that’s not easy even if you’re Kentucky. After claiming his championship, Calipari said he hoped the NBA changed its eligibility rule within the week — so Davis and Kidd-Gilchrist would be back.
Stern said this week he’d prefer a two-and-done rule. Mark Cuban, who owns the Dallas Mavericks, is plumping for three-and-done. Some prefer the baseball way: A player can sign with a pro team if drafted out of high school, but if he chooses to play in college he can’t be drafted again until after his junior season. Me, I don’t like any of those suggestions.
We know from LeBron and Dwight and Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett that some guys are ready to join the NBA straight out of high school. To force such players to wait even longer before taking their talents to the professional level would be unfair and probably illegal. Bruce Springsteen didn’t have to spend three years in the Rutgers marching band before turning pro; why should someone who happens to be skilled in another performing art?
The best course would be to repeal the NBA’s rule and replace it with no rule, to return to the days where high schoolers could be drafted (and collegians could leave at any time). The NBA would never agree, especially not with a tightened salary cap: With fewer dollars to spend, teams want to invest in more, as opposed to less, proven products. To which I say: Too bad.
For better or worse, the NBA sits atop the basketball food chain. The NBA’s preference has served to diminish its chief feeder system. There was nothing unfair about high schoolers jumping to the pros; the pros just didn’t like it. Again, too bad. None-and-done isn’t ideal, but it trumps one-and-done.
By Mark Bradley
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110 comments Add your comment
IlliniBrave
April 7th, 2012
9:19 am
More reason why basketball sucks. Attendance at NBA games is down, the brand is losing value, and even March Madness was just not as fun this year.
Steve
April 7th, 2012
9:26 am
I with you Mark. If I’m good enough to play on the pro level then allow me that option. I’ve often found it interesting that the sports dominated by whites (i.e. baseball, hockey, etc.) do not have the age limit while those dominated by blacks (i.e. football, basketball) have the limit.
Hey “Yawn” we realize the that “thug” is racist slang for black. It’s okay buddy you’re already safely behind a keyboard. You can tell us how you really feel.
Michigan4555
April 7th, 2012
9:38 am
If athletes want to learn a profession other than sports, then college is for them. If not, let them go to the pros and not take scholarships away from people who want to work at obtaining a degree and hopefully a better occupation.
My mother(40 yr. ago.) talked about athletes going into some kind of minor league after high school and earn money, then going on to the pros. If the intent is to just play sports, then college is not needed.
RileyHamilton
April 7th, 2012
10:04 am
I’d much rather watch the NBA than college basketball…yuck…the game has zero integrity and there are only about 10 teams with shot of winning each year (Conn, Kent, NC, Duke, Flo, etc.).
JSS
April 7th, 2012
10:13 am
” Attendance at NBA games is down, the brand is losing value”
Propaganda… There are 9 teams struggling with attendance (including the Hawks). Revenues are up over last season, TV viewership was up through February compared to last season.
Try reading Helene Elliot instead of conjecturing false information about the state of the NBA. Moreover, all of the teams struggling with attendance have a direct correlation between alienated fan base and ownership. When Phoenix, Sacramento, Indiana, and Washington can’t draw at home (with their history of fan support), there are deeper problems that are not basketball related!
Oh yeah, “March Madness” was unwatchable because college basketball is mostly a very boring game infused with coaches with no idea of coaching (over coaching yes)!
VCGA
April 7th, 2012
10:27 am
First of all we’re dealing with 18, 19, 20 year olds who still haven’t had their brain fully develop so trying to tell them anything is a lost cause but if they sign with a school it’s for 4 years, the NBA should have to honor that contract (they make their players honor theirs) and before a player signs with a school he must go through a series that outlines all the things he potentially gives up (free education, player development etc.) If he chooses then to go to the NBA or take a chance that he will go then he’s at least been shown the opportunities and also the downfall of his decision. It might help colleges with those recruits that sign early and then change their mind at the last hour. The colleges too must be accountable that if they offer and the kid signs he’s SIGNED (not the Saban rule).
Tech Fan
April 7th, 2012
10:52 am
Bradley, got to disagree with ya here. The baseball model is perfect. If a kid ain college material after one ofr two years, there is the developmental league and loads of overseas competition. As someone who paid for and earned a degree, I KNOW most of the Basketball players (male not female) have really no business on a college campus other than to play hoops. Yeah…..I said that.
2HLLWGA
April 7th, 2012
11:38 am
Understanding that the NBA is going to do nothing, I think the NCAA needs to act. They should allow student athletes to leave early, but penalize the athletic department two paid scholarships for each year until that student athlete would have finished their eligibility. So the current rule is thirteen scholarships in basketball. If a student athlete leaves after their freshman year, that athletic department is penalized two paid scholarships for the next three years. Leaving for academic reasons also counts against the athletic department. Only transferring to another college exempts the penalty.
In addition, to promote the idea of student athlete, whenever a student athlete’s stats are shown on the scoreboard, the scoreboard must also mention the student athletes major and gpa.
After watching what Dennis Scott, Kenny Anderson, Stephon Marbury and Lorenzo Charles did after finishing their time is horrible and the schools should take a little more pride and help their student athletes be more than a bus driver or a gym manager.
SoCal Jacket
April 7th, 2012
11:59 am
The college baseball rules should be implemented – The pros would once again have to spend dollars to scout HS players and the players/students can decide to go pro out of HS – forfeiting their college eligibility, or go to college and be ineligible for the draft until completion of their junior year. Of course, the player should also be able to simply sit-out – not sign with a college – improve their skills and register for he draft again the footing year – nothing is forcing him to go the college route.
I think that practically any student athlete who’s asked years later about their fondest memories, will mention their playing days in college as the best days of their lives … No one is being harmed by Implementing the college baseball system for basketball.
murfdawg
April 7th, 2012
12:04 pm
In the words of Hawkeye Pierce “Here is some sham-poo, we couldn’t find any real poo!” College basketball is SHAM-POO and NBA is REAL-POO. How many kids are you talking about anyway? As usual, the NCAA(national communist against athletics) has the tail wagging the dog. Maybe we should start supporting Ivy League sports.
Tokyo jacket
April 7th, 2012
12:05 pm
Mark, gotta agree with TommyP. I was going to write the exact same thing. Everyone’s a winner with the 0/3 rule.
Let's Go
April 7th, 2012
12:14 pm
I don’t see the NBA going to a 2 and done or rule like Baseball because then it would open the doors for kids to go to Europe and play and the possibility that they enjoy the money over there and don’t come back. The problem with the one and done rule is that these kids only have to enroll in school for 2 semesters and basically only have to go for one and since it’s during the season they only have to take 2 classes. The only rule the NCAA could enforce would be taking away future scholarships for players that leave after 1 year or come up with rule that you can only have so many scholarship players on the team at one time and a players scholarship stays with you for 3 years, even if they leave or flunk out early.
Trojan
April 7th, 2012
12:49 pm
Another issue is the poor level of play that is caused by talented but undeveloped players coming in the the NBA. Other than being great athletes, most have poorly developed skills.
VaBeachDawg
April 7th, 2012
12:56 pm
Mark, that’s crazy. The issue isn’t whether they have NBA talent at 18, or whether we want NBA scouts trolling around high school gyms, the issue is whether 18 year-old kids are ready for the fast lifestyle of the NBA. They’re not. It’s not always about the basketball.
Bobby You-Know-Who
April 7th, 2012
1:35 pm
If the b__tch hadn’t done that reach-around, I could have made that turn easy. Now I’ve got a face only a mother could love, a neck brace, and a pending divorce, not to mention another job hunt on the horizon.
Oh—the topic. Let ‘em play after their junior year—-in high school. They talk a big game about academics, but that never gets in our way.
brick
April 7th, 2012
1:48 pm
Just let the ones from HS who want to go straight to the NBA all have a big tournament of 1 on 1, top 5 can enter the draft, the rest can go to Europe, developemental league or college. That way it would be up to the kid. If he doesn’t make it should be clear to him his game isn’t good enough. Puts all the decision making on the kids ability, not his ego that says “My game is NBA ready” If he can’t beat a bunch of high school kids then his game isn’t ready.
Sid
April 7th, 2012
1:57 pm
Hell, I thought this was a Falcons story. C’mon you Dirty Birds……………..RISE UP
Liberalefty
April 7th, 2012
2:20 pm
if an 18 year old is old enough to go die for rich corporate america in the middle east…shouldnt he be allowed to make money from rich corporate america if his talent warrants it
Joe 12-Pack
April 7th, 2012
2:34 pm
I prefer the baseball way.
Brother Bill
April 7th, 2012
4:08 pm
Once the athlete reaches age 18, they should be able to work for any employer who would like to hire them. Isn’t it age discrimination to refuse to hire those under 19 years of age?
George Wyatt
April 7th, 2012
6:52 pm
The real onus is on the NCAA. Why not change the eligibility rule concerning the draft. Let players enter the draft and come back if they don’t sign with an agent if they aren’t happy where they are drafted. Sort of like baseball players coming out of high school. They get drafted and then decide. Bet you can’t guess why basketball is different? And football requires three years out of high school. Why doesn’t everyone clamor for change there? Hmmmm.
Bobby Petrino to His Wife
April 7th, 2012
8:09 pm
I was driving along all by myself when I had to stop at a red light, then she just came out of nowhere and jumped on the back of my bike.
Honest honey. Honest.
sting_em
April 7th, 2012
8:47 pm
If you go to college, you have to use three years of illegibility or two + a red-shirt. If you go into the NBA draft our of high school and get drafted, you have the choice of signing and going to the NBA or tell the NBA not yet and go to college. MLB has a good model. Also, have a minor league basketball where teams can keep talent in their organization and develop young players.
gt4ever
April 7th, 2012
8:58 pm
Oh the hypocrisy of it all……
How in the hell,or why in HELL would you limit someones ability to make a LIVING! If the kid has skill then let him play. I don’t care how old he is…. Good Grief…..
JSS
April 7th, 2012
11:52 pm
Sid
April 7th, 2012
1:57 pm
“Hell, I thought this was a Falcons story. C’mon you Dirty Birds……………..RISE UP”
Because you have eternal losing on the brain!
jack
April 8th, 2012
3:42 am
I agree with the one and done or the two and done. For the none and done, there are many greedy agent going around trying to persuade young high school player and their parent that they can make it. With the rule, in a way, the college and the coach can better advice them on whether they are ready. I’m just not too sure that behind every Kobe or LeBron, there are how many school kids that cannot make it in the draft or in the league.
Kville
April 8th, 2012
6:04 am
Mark what is your issue with the baseball rule? You say you don’t like it but give no reason for pushing back on the rule. I like a modified version that says like baseball you can submit your name for the draft. If you are drafted and have a college scholly in hand, you can make the choice like a HS baseball player. However, once you decide that is it. If you go to college, you must stay three years and then can re-enter the draft. If you go pro, you can’t re-enter the college ranks.
What about this process doesn’t allow a kid to make money at the pro level? Plus with only two rounds in the NBA draft it will make NBA teams think long and hard about picking a kid. With between 500 and 600 HS kids signing scholarships each year, you are talking about 5 or 6 or right at 1% of the kids that would be impacted by the change. So you don’t like the rule for 1%, come on Mark.
A three and one rule creates more stability at the college ranks and it ensures that the level of talent coming to the NBA especially the JRs would be better suited for the game than what we are seeing.
So everybody wins what’s the issue?
yodaddybrother
April 8th, 2012
8:44 am
“Bruce Springsteen didn’t have to spend three years in the Rutgers marching band before turning pro; why should someone who happens to be skilled in another performing art?”"
In football you can’t just jump to the league because that’s the rule implemented by the NFL. It’s no different for baseball either. Yes they may get drafted out of high school but they will not play in the MLB immediately, they will go to some minor league team for 3 or 4 year to actually learn how to play baseball.
As for the NBA, they need better scouts in my opinion. Basketball is the easiest sport to spot talent. These kids declare for the NBA and the only thing they can do is jump. They can’t hit an open jumper, horrible free throw shooting, no back to the basket game, bad footwork etc.
I saw the Bobcats last night and that team is full of lottery picks but I didn’t see one good player on that 12 man roster. Biyombo, Kemba Walker, Gerald Henderson, Tyrus Thomas, DJ Augustin, Maggete…all lottery picks because some scouts don’t know how to evaluate talent.
It seems to me that the best model is the NFL…after 3 years you can leave. That makes college exponentially a better product and it gives scouts time to actually evaluate players in different game situations.
There was no problem when Patrick Ewing was at Georgetown for 4 years or Tim Duncan at Wake Forest or Ty Lawson at UNC. Players don’t lose their talent.
Birmingham Jacket
April 8th, 2012
9:14 am
Please stop writing about stupid basketball. It’s a loser sport, and no one cares.
Pay for Play
April 8th, 2012
9:57 am
the players should get paid, at least $1,500 per month—they make millions for the university and get nothing except a basic scholarship. The system run by white people takes advantage of the players—most are african-american. I’m tired of this.
GFJacket
April 8th, 2012
10:22 am
Simple solution – - if you sign a player to a scholarship, you owe him/her a degree. If he leaves early and goes to the NBA/MLB/NFL/whatever and comes back after a career you are required to pay for his/her costs until he/she gets a degree. They have to do the work, but the athletic department has to foot the bill. If they do stupid things and get kicked out, all obligations end. However, if they flunk out, they can reapply just like any student, and if they get back in, you still pay their fees.
These will count against the total you are allowed to have on scholarship. This is an incentive to the Athletic Departments to get their “student-athletes” to finish their studies.
until the nba management and
April 8th, 2012
11:47 am
the players union grow 2 sets… there is nothing that can be done.
teen players and their agents would challenge any rule they come up with in court.
anything that needs to happen needs to come from the ncaa. time to put the student back in student athlete.
sorry birmingham jacket
April 8th, 2012
11:54 am
but the world doesnt revolve around YOU. get a life sheesh.
i heard that that patrino's gf
April 8th, 2012
11:56 am
wore red panties. didnt they just dismiss the uga red panty chick or was that a dude?
coincidence? i think not.
they could also bar all nba
April 8th, 2012
11:59 am
scouts and agents from campus. they do that to donors who create ncaa violations why not nba officials?
GT
April 8th, 2012
12:05 pm
Could not agree with you more. The NBA is not for everybody nor is college. Never in the history have two less compatible golds been compromised by each other. Where you and most people stop you logic is where there is a far larger purpose served by college than is reached by the entertainment business. Newspapers use to have that character too. The mere submission of a college to the weak moral character of a Calipari compromises the university far more than what is done with the freaks that are displayed at some fairground. A man or woman that can not qualify for a college education should not be allowed to enter for one year or four years, let the chips fall where they may. Stop making education so common.
Tech Man
April 8th, 2012
1:00 pm
Who cares. the NBA has so many teams and players, it’s like the minor leagues compared to the days of Jordan, Bird, Dr. J., and the rest. All the NBA looks like now is a bunch of thugs from the hood who can play basketball. Personally, I never watch the NBA-not even the championship games. I also can’t stand to try to watch the last 3 minutes of a game that last an hour.
Ron Jirsa
April 8th, 2012
3:54 pm
Mark Fox will be None and Done next year! Book it!
maypal
April 8th, 2012
4:18 pm
all these one and done thugs couldn’t even get admitted to the university under regular rules—they take scholarships from real students and leave before even finishing 1 year of classes—a total joke.
JSS
April 8th, 2012
4:33 pm
“I also can’t stand to try to watch the last 3 minutes of a game that last an hour.”
Somebody has the NBA confused with college basketball!
Bill
April 8th, 2012
5:40 pm
Mark–The stand pat Braves may find themselves at top of league—Mets sweep Braves in first three games of season. No-way this group will win wild card..bet on it.
frank
April 8th, 2012
6:12 pm
I would rather them go back to the let them go to the NBA right out of high school instead if going for 1 year of college cause if they are a bust then they are a bust it’s on them.
hey gt i agree with you
April 8th, 2012
7:11 pm
if they cant qualify like all the other students than dont them in. plain and simple. however…..
your going to have a bunch of phewitt’s whining and crying that tightening the entrance requirments is down right racist while he is encouraging athletes to one and done.
phewitt is just another sleeze bag using the system for his own gain. he is too poor of a coach to be an nba coach or even a semi pro coach so he does what he can at the college level to make sure he has a job.
82grad
April 8th, 2012
7:46 pm
Goobers, colleges (D1) are being used by the NBA and NFL to supply them with new talent without admin. expenses. TV networks make too much money also, so no changes will be made. The college baseball model would destroy the cash cows known as D1 football and basketball.
phillip
April 8th, 2012
8:05 pm
Damn good column Mark.
CC Almond
April 8th, 2012
8:33 pm
It is all about money. My solution would require that any player going pro after his first year in college pay 25% of his 1st year salary to the college he played for that one year. After 2 years in college a player would pay 18.75% of his first year salary. After 3 years in college a player would pay 12.5%. Must be 19 years old and the pro’s should not be allowed to pay a minimum salary the first year and a larger base for the next year. There would need to be a floor in the salary to prevent this from happening.
Fan of the Game
April 8th, 2012
9:39 pm
Why shouldn’t all sports be the same. They can go pro after high school, go D1 and have to stay three years or go juco and leave after 2 years. If it is good enough for baseball why not the others.
uga76
April 8th, 2012
11:15 pm
the comments about making all athletes meet the same entrance requirements for all NCAA sports are right on the money – if the Jesse Jackson’s and Al Sharpton’s want to play the race card, my question would be – Are you basically saying that athletes of every shape, size, and race are incapable of learning and meeting college entrance examinations? To imply that they can’t learn is racist if you ask me!
if this were the policy and the future “student athletes” knew it, they might stop sleeping through their classes, and if the high schools country wide would adopt reasonable academic requirements for students to participate in extracurricular activities including sports, band, drama, glee club …….. we might see a seismic shift in what is going on in schools. For example, if you want to play you must show up every day, on time, and at least make a legitimate B in all of your courses – otherwise you are not going to play and this should be pushed out to local youth leagues as well. If you are not passing, you are not playing. Oh, and the schools should make it very clear that if you want to play at some schools then a C is not going to cut it.
make the professional leagues develop and run their own damn development programs and quit using the colleges. Yes it will change the look of college athletics, but if everyone is one a level playing field if won’t matter. college kids are not supposed to be as skilled as people who get paid to go to work every day to develop themselves to play a game.
When my son was in 5th grade and playing youth football, an African American dad showed up one afternoon with his son who was probably the best athlete on the team and he had his son announce to the gathered team that he would not be playing anymore that season due to sub par academic performance and that he was sorry for letting the team down. I can’t tell you that the kid straightened out because they moved to another city but something tells me this kid became a good student to get what he wanted.
If you coddle kids like Carver Columbus did with Isaiah Crowell- he admitted that he missed a lot of classes in high school and it was no problem – you get the discipline issues that he obviously brought to Georgia with him.
Overheard a counselor at my son’s high school one day telling a kid that “contrary to what you guys believe, and are being told by friends and family, you are not all going to make it in the NBA, and if you don’t what is your Plan B to support yourself”
College athletics is clearly making the schools a lot of money, but at what price???
Oh … before you naysayers from other schools jump on this with your asinine comments about Georgia fans being whiners and Mark Richt running a thug program, put your mind in gear for a change and live in Realville – the “big time” programs are recruiting the same kids, they are having the same issues, and clearly some schools are just looking the other way or burying the problems. Case in point is the major difference in positive drug test suspension policies. You practically would have to offer the head coach a puff of your “doobie” to get suspended at some of these schools and at some that probably wouldn’t be enough.
thanks for the forum Mark – I needed to vent!
Been a college sports fan since mid 60s but I am about ready to just turn it all off as some of this stuff is just getting out of control.
mehlman rings twice
April 9th, 2012
2:39 am
Did Lexington, KY run out of neighborhood watch persons?
mehlman rings twice
April 9th, 2012
2:48 am
I guess a better question is, Did Lexington, KY run out of neighborhood watch persons with guns? To paraphrase George Zimmerman, “Those rioters are acting funny, they look like they were on drugs or something”.