It now appears that the NBA and its players association are nearing an agreement on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement, which is good news for those eleven thousand remaining NBA fans around the country. That is the good news. The bad news is that as part of the new CBA, the NBA has decided on a new age limit restriction that is incredibly illoigical and poorly conceived. The new CBA, will reportedly require that a kid be nineteen years old before he is eligible to be drafted into the league. Hence, if you are not 19 on draft night, you have to wait another year. For most, this will mean they will not be eligible for selection until after their freshman year of college. For others who are born after late June, it will mean they have to sit out two basketball seasons before they are eligible for selection. If you ask me, this is a half-assed solution to a legitimate problem.
The problem, as the NBA sees it, is that many kids make themselves eligible for the draft and are not ready to playing the NBA. Some of these kids go undrafted and at that point, they have no options left since they forfeited their college eligibility. Others get drafted and become discipline problems while they are waiting their turn at the end of NBA benches. So what did the NBA do to address this situation? They basically enacted a one-year waiting period for prospective players. I am not sure what the league hopes to accomplish with this and it doesn’t seem to address a problem that is larger then what the league is ready to stipulate in public.
I say this because one of the major problems with the league is that it has turned off suburban whites. You can sugarcoat it all you want, but at the end of the day, the sport no longer has mass appeal, particularly in red states where people are quite easily offended by the young hip hoppers who are entering the league with very hard street edges. Guys like Allen Iverson may be terrific players, but their exterior is just too abrasive for wonder bread America. The result is television ratings have not been this low since Magic Johnson was playing high basketball in Flint and Larry was letting loose in French Lick. So how do you remediate this problem? Well, there is no perfect solution but one thing that has helped in the past is making these kids attend some college before they are thrust into the league and into the laps of America. While at school, these kids are forced to deal with campus life and in many cases, the experience dulls some of that previously mentioned street edge. As such, many kids come out of college much more polished and marketable to the public. If you don’t believe me, take a look at Pat Ewing in 1982 and compare him to Pat Ewing in 1985. The change was startling.
So back to the age limit policy. What does a one-year moratorium accomplish? Not much in my book. First of all, it puts the colleges in a bad spot. What coach wants to recruit and sign a player when he knows his school is just a temporary stop? Sure, these kids will still find spots, like Carmelo Anthony did, but that doesn’t mean the college game is helped but this new requirement. College basketball is at its best when there is continuity and this policy does nothing but foster upheavel. Moreover, it doesn't address the problem which is the socialization of these kids. Does anyone think that a single year on the campus of Louisville is going to turn a kid like Seb Telafir into a strip mall darling? It is ludicrous to think so, although I am sure that many out there think league policy should not aim to achieve such goals. I beg to differ.
At the very least, the league should have pushed for and secured a two season waiting period that does not get bogged down in the actual age of the player. Such a restriction would restore a bit more continuity to the college game and it would provide players with a second needed year of polish both on the court and in front of the public. This isn’t a perfect solution but it beats the one-year program that has reportedly been agreed upon. Moreover, a two-season delay would eliminate the inequity that is inherent in the nineteen-year limit now being negotiated. That limit would allow many players who are one year out of high school to join the NBA, but keep out those kids born after July 1. It seems a little capricious to kiss a kid born in May and fuck a kid born six weeks later. To correct this, the new policy should just say that a player is not eligible to be drafted for two basketball seasons.
If had my druthers, I would have gone for something more like baseball where a player is given the opportunity to enter immediately after high school, but if he goes to college, he can’t make himself eligible for the draft again until after his junior year. Such a program allows a handful of superstars to jump ship without any collegiate matriculation, but it keeps the rest in school long enough for them to gain a meaningful college experience. By the time basketball players have put in three years in college, their games will have improved, but more importantly, they will have lived with college kids long enough so that they are more palatable in red state living rooms. The league should have been shooting for such an outcome with its new age policy, but in this instance, the league’s shot from 20 clanked left.
They may have stopped the Tribe’s nine game winning streak, but the Boston Red Sox bullpen problem has reached critical proportions. Alan Embree came in with a four run lead last night and got torched again as Travis Hafner hit a two-run bomb into Lake Erie. This is what Embree had to say after the game: ''It was a tough at-bat," but I thought I threw the ball well. I felt better today than I have all year.” If that was his best, what was the worst? Following Embree’s abortion, Keith Foulke came in and got into the act by giving up another home run and a series of hard hit balls, the last of which Johnny Damon was able to run down to end the game. Despite the fact that the Sox won, this bullpen is in dire shape. Embree’s time is up and Foulke is clearly struggling with his location. At this point, the Sox must go out and find a lefty who can get at least a few guys out and then throw some dollars at first round pick Craig Hansen in order to get him ready for September. All indications are Hansen could help this year and at this rate, the Sox will need it. But rather then harp on only the negatives, it should be pointed out that the Sox offense is clicking. Manny has found his stroke and JD continues to prove he is the best leadoff hitter in baseball right now. You know things are going good for this offense when they find a way to hit a tough lefty like they did last night against C.C. Sabathia.
Those Yankee fans singing Jason Giambi’s song last week were noticeably silent last night as Giambolic struck out twice in key spots last night. For some reason, his forearm was wrapped last night and I couldn’t help thinking gthat it was to hide some recent injection marks. After all, is there any other explanation for last week’s big home run off Jose Mesa? Should the Yanks get a pass for losing to Casey “The Blade” Fossum last night? Some may argue yes since rookie Sean Henn was forced to start in place of Downtown Kevin Brown, but I would argue there is never an excuse to let the Blade throw seven scoreless. Isn’t the argument that Bernie heats up when it gets warm out? If that is the case, he should probably find a team that plays near the equator since 90-degree days in New York are obviously not doing the trick. Fortunately for the Yanks, the O’s got smoked up in Toronto in the opening game of the great avian war. Should it come as any surprise that Ted Lilly shut down another good offensive team? This guy is uncanny – he beats Boston, St. Louis and Baltimore but he can’t beat garbage like Oakland, Seattle and Houston.
Do the White Sox ever lose? They already have 47 wins and it looks like they can hit the half-mile pole with 54 or 55 wins. The scary thing about this team is Paul Konerko is now on fire. The Sox brought up 21 year-old phenom Brandon McCarthy to pitch last night but unfortunately for some fantasy speculators, the kid got tossed around in a Kansas city spin cycle. In a big AL West matchup, Paul Byrd completely shut down Texas out in Anaheim while Vlad knocked in four. The Angels are winning so it isn’t a big deal right now, but you have to wonder whether this team can go too far with Dallas McPherson in the lineup. He has no glove, he strikes out a ton and he sports a OPS of just .710. Plus, he is named for a city and that is just plain queer.
Jake Peavy was downright nasty last night, fanning thirteen during eight scoreless innings at the Pet Store. Brad Penny nearly matched him in one of the better pitching duels of the year. Since hitting all those bombs, last week, Hee Sop Choi is just 2-21. Elsewhere, Livan Hernandez picked up his tenth win for the Nats, while Jose Guillen clubbed two bombs. With the win, Washington now leads the East by three and they are not too far away from burying the Mets who find themselves 7.5 back and two games behind last year’s pedestrian pace. In New York, the sharks are circling Willie Randolph, who is bleeding and adrift at sea. In my mind, the criticism is justified because Willie remains committed to a plan that simply is not working. Willies big problem: he is more of a chaperone then manager. I love those pundits who mention the possibility that Todd Helton could be moved this year. Lets forget for a second that he has one of the worst contracts in the sport. Here is all you need to know: he is hitting just .250, and only .237 with three home runs away from Coors. Further, he is slugging under .200 against lefties. I am not sure Colorado could pay half his contract and still move him. This situation in Cincinnati is spinning out of control. You know it’s going to be a bad week in Southeastern Ohio when ace Aaron Harang loses on Monday. After all, once his turn passes, there is not much to look forward to in the River City. And finally, Greg Maddux won his 311th game last night with a win over the Brew Crew. Didn’t he win his 311th last year? Is it possible that he is going backwards?
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4 comments:
The 19 (vs. 20) age limit renders the whole thing largely irrelevant. Between the aggressive, scholarship hungry parents who purposely start their kids a year late or have them repeat a grade and the seeming lengthy average matriculation times of inner city kids the quaint notion of 17 and 18 year old high school seniors is becoming a thing of the past. I'll bet 80% of recent high school early entrants were 19 by July 1st of their last year in high school.
"I'll bet 80% of recent high school early entrants were 19 by July 1st of their last year in high school." Good point and completely agree with you IM. That is why the NFL uses 3 years out of HS and not an age. I think the owners agreed to 19 to get something on the books to give them more leverage in the future. However, I am pretty certain this rule will be challenged in court before too long. Is it a carbon copy of the Clarrett case? I tend to think not quite.
Excellent points raised by both my colleagues - the limit should not necessarily be about age but about class. I think Amare Stoudamire is in his mid-20s so I don't think this would have had much impact on his eligibility. Looking on the bright side, Lindsey Lohan will be draftable next year. Irish mike has to love me giving it up for the Irish girls.
Appreciate the plug my fellow LIer of Irish descent!
To be fair while the older graduation ages are much more prevalent now there were always some exceptions in the old days. I think Larry Bird was 24 when he finished at Indiana State.
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