It really is all about context of the sport and it's specific landscape professionally. When we signed Leonard Fournette, everyone expected if he performed as anticipated that he'd be gone after his junior year to the NFL. Same with Patrick Peterson and others. In basketball that is the goal for kids coming to college that have that type talent and professional prospects. Get in, perform and develop to your best ability then ascend. Most aren't like Ben Simmons who didn't care about the team, though. We want to attract the best talent because then you're in position to win big and you'll constantly draw top guys to replenish your roster. The key then is to mix in enough solid multiple year guys to round out your roster so it isn't an all star team without cohesion. Need those glue guys. Waters is a great example of an ultra talent who will be here 2 more likely 3 years who will enhance the talents of those one and done guys.
I have no major beef with one and done players. My problem is I think it's wrong that the NBA makes them go one and done. It's a lame attempt at saving the NBA money by not paying those elite talents their first year. It is disguised as the NBA trying to help out college programs....they're not. Pay them out of high school or make them play NCAA ball at least 3 years if they want a free developmental league.
NBA needs to know they are legit so a year in th ebtop conferences against 3 and 4 year guys separates the wheat from the chaff.
I like the baseball rule. A player can sign with whoever drafts him right out of high school but if he chooses to go to college he can't be drafted again for 3 years.
Don’t even have to finish HS apparently? Europe is more libertarian than USA in this regard, I guess.
isn't that why LiAngelo Ball-19, and LaMelo Ball-16, went to Europe,.. to get paid and avoid college? Our idgets and castoffs go to Europe, and the best European high school players, accept college scholarships and come to America.
The money was probably the biggest factor, but not the only one. There's a huge maturity issue. The Hornet/Pelicans were one of the last teams to draft a kid straight out of HS when they took JR Smith. The T-P did a great article about him during his rookie year, about the difficulties faced by a kid not even old enough to legally drink, but living a high profile life in an unfamiliar city and as an instant millionaire. Its amazing that, during those days, we didn't see a bunch of basketball dads like that jackwagon Ball guy, just making asses of themselves at their kid's expense. But so much has changed socially since then, I think we'd see a lot of that if the NBA went back to picking kids out of HS.
