Charles Barkley put it best on Pardon the Interruption when he said, “I wish we can find a way to keep college basketball players in college longer.”
These words would strike anyone as suprising. Normally, players leave college when their draft stock is at their peak, and normally that would be at the end of their freshman or sophomore years. It seems pointless for a collegiate player to play one year just to declare for the draft after the year is over. College basketball players need to learn to stay in school.
It seems useless for a college player just to stay in school for one year. If that is the point, why don’t they just go from prep to pro (straight out of high school)? This has already happened; the earliest signs of the NBA seeking players straight out of high school can be traced as far back as 1962 with the Detroit Pistons drafting seven footer Reggie Harding, whose career did not last long and was over before a decade.
Then, twelve years after players going to college, Moses Malone came along in 1974 and proved that players can play on the NBA level after only high school experience, and from that came the wave of prep to pro players, including Kevin Garnett, Amar’e Stoudemire, Dwight Howard, and Lebron James.
After a collective bargaining agreement was reached in 2005 stating that an NBA player’s age limit of 19-years-old was reached, it transferred in players having future NBA players wait in so called Purgatory while they wait that one year, but what do they gain? No one can get a degree in one year of college education.
Collegiate basketball players should stay in school for three reasons: 1.) to get an education, 2.) basketball does not last forever, and 3.) to improve on their game. Many college basketball players may get pressured to go for the money and run when it comes to the NBA, and who can blame them, but will it be worth bit if they don’t pan out and are out of the NBA in a couple years, and do not a fall back plan to rely on? No.
College basketball players need an education. That should be the primary reason to go to college. In a job climate like today, it is vital to have a college degree; one cannot get a high school diploma and expect to land a good job. If you can even stay just two years in college instead of one, that would be beneficial.
NBA Draft analysts say more than half the players drafted in the NBA Draft are out of the NBA or don’t even play in the NBA after five years. With those results, it would be smart to stay in school and get an education, so if a player has that bad luck of the draw, they have a back up plan.
College players also need to learn that they will not be playing basketball forever. One would be very lucky and fortunate to be playing basketball into their mid-thirties. A lot are not this fortunate; even with the advancements in medical technology these days, it is not worth banking on it. You still need something to do after basketball is over; it is highly doubtful a former player can live off an NBA penchant alone unless they saved money. It would also be a waste of time for a player to call his NBA career over and do nothing after that. With staying in school, a player can study a field they like out of basketball which will benefit him after NBA retirement.
College players today might find that it is crazy to stay in school and work on their game, but it is true. An NBA scout will be looking for the most finely polished player in the draft, not the most talented. Take an example from Marcus Smart, guard for Oklahoma State. Smart decided to stay in school an extra year to improve his shooting. It is amazing that a college player like him (a projected first round pick) would stop and decide that he still needs to improve his game. With Smart’s decision to stay in school an extra year, his draft stock has well improved and is projected to go in the top 5 in the upcoming NBA Draft if he elects to do so; he is considered by many as the best player in the country, and he expands his college education an extra year.
It would be a little bit of a stretch by saying the NBA exploits young athletes like the MLB exploits the Dominican Republic’s youth, but to an extent they do. By taking away important years of education and pressuring young athletes that they are at the peak of their draft stock, it is an outrage and should put a black eye on the NBA. These college athletes should not fold to this pressure and decide to stay in school. Take a note from Charles Barkley’s playbook, “Stay in school kids.”