[luther]

"Here is what should happen … in the next Collective Bargaining Agreement, the NBA and the NBAPA should agree that every American player must attend the pre-draft camp and compete in order to be eligible for the draft. Of course, that is unlikely to happen because agents have so much control over the NBA Players Association." That is a part of the Jay Bilas column (found here: http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog...name=bilas_jay) that includes a sentiment a couple of friends of mine and I have been discussing for years, as the pre-draft camps just get worse and worse. There was a time in the 90s when pretty much everyone actually played: not the Shaqs of the world, but pretty much everyone. And even Portsmouth had legit prospects, generally regarded as second-rounders trying to work their ways into the first. Now Portsmouth is guys trying to prove they deserve a pro career somewhere, and Orlando is second-rounders and undrafted guys with a few top guys showing they belong at the end of the first round. Not that there is no purpose, but it's to the point where the Euroleague, CBA and USBL should be holding the camp--they're the ones whose future players are participating. I would like to see participation--actually playing the games--mandatory. If a guy says all he can do is hurt his stock by playing, to me that means he is afraid his performance will be bad: he's a sham trying to use smoke and mirrors, hoping for a scripted Tskitishvili-style workout to vault him higher than he belongs. What does everyone else think? (ps, sorry for no paragraph breaks. A cabernet sauvignon incident rendered my Enter key useless.)