[Schilly]

Yes this makes things a bit more complicated, but it might just help the situation that the NBA is trying to address by changing the eligibility age.

It's a 2 part process

Part 1
Open it back up to High School players, but incorporate an eligibility scale. As follows

HS Players can only be drafted in the top 10
College Freshman can only be drafted in the top 20
College Sophomores can only be picked in the 1st round
College Juniors and Seniors are eligible at any point

Part 2
Draft eligible players may not sign with an agent until after the draft. They can have everything in place, but can only sign once they have been drafted.

What this does is enable basically all players to be eligible for the draft. IT removes the teams late from gambling on a HS player or Freshman who really would be a project player that you hope pans out.

Jsut a thought.

[ehmunro]

They should just force the NCAA to treat the basketball players like the hockey or baseball players. Let players declare straight out of high school, and drafted or no let them go to school after the draft if they choose. If they elect to forego the draft for school, then they need to stay for two years before they become draft eligible again. The good GMs are happy because they get to draft high school players, but still send them to college for seasoning.

[Schilly]

Originally Posted by ehmunro

They should just force the NCAA to treat the basketball players like the hockey or baseball players. Let players declare straight out of high school, and drafted or no let them go to school after the draft if they choose. If they elect to forego the draft for school, then they need to stay for two years before they become draft eligible again. The good GMs are happy because they get to draft high school players, but still send them to college for seasoning.

Except how do the GM's benefit if the Draft a guy then he goes to college for 2 years to then become Drafte eligible again. They blow a pick that way.

[ehmunro]

That would be a built in discouragement to GMs to select high schoolers, no? If they go the hockey route the drafting team would maintain draft rights for four years before they became draft eligible again, in baseball it's two years. But now that I'm thinking of it I think MLB teams lose draft rights if they go to an NCAA college (but retain them if the player goes to a Jr., Community, or NAIA college, don't ask me why). So the NBA could simply adopt the hockey rules and everyone's happy.

[Schilly]

Originally Posted by ehmunro

That would be a built in discouragement to GMs to select high schoolers, no? If they go the hockey route the drafting team would maintain draft rights for four years before they became draft eligible again, in baseball it's two years. But now that I'm thinking of it I think MLB teams lose draft rights if they go to an NCAA college (but retain them if the player goes to a Jr., Community, or NAIA college, don't ask me why). So the NBA could simply adopt the hockey rules and everyone's happy.

You are right, I played Junior college ball and a few of my teammates had been drafted. I wasn't drafted but the Marlins asked me to go to the JC I went to because they had 3 others on that team and the scouts would be there frequently just keeping an eye on them.

[ehmunro]

Another thing I should mention, the NCAA can fix some of the problems themselves by simply treating the players equitably. Hockey and baseball players can be drafted without the NCAA taking punitive measures, it's only the hockey and football players that get punished for going through the draft process. if the NCAA simply let players return to school after the draft if they so choose, a lot more would probably do it.

[CaliCool]

Hmm. Solid suggestions. I think David Stern and the others are actually thinking of having high schoolers play 2 years of college (!). Nevertheless, the rate of getting solid value from high schoolers is pretty high right now.

[CrackerJack]

just go back to the old method, which was the player decides to declare straight out of HS if he wants. its like the NBA is babying these guys and stops them from making life decisions. if a player chooses to make the jump from HS to NBA and fails so be it, it isn't the end of the world, they can play ball overseas or just do a college degree and become a businessman or something.