Steve Kerr Makes A Case for 20 Y/O Age Limit in NBA

[ProfessaPackMan]

Good read and a good article and also makes some good points as to why there needs to be an age limit.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7883540/steve-kerr-problems-age-limit-nba

Thoughts on this?

[23]

Re: Steve Kerr Makes A Case for 20 Y/O Age Limit in NBA

Without reading it off hand first.... I already agree with him

Wouldnt be any worse than players who went to college for 2 years in the past.

[23]

Re: Steve Kerr Makes A Case for 20 Y/O Age Limit in NBA

4. Marketing

In the old days, college basketball was the NBA's single best marketing tool. Nearly all of the league's future stars were well known by the time they were drafted. I'll never forget watching the lottery in 1985, when the Knicks won the right to select Patrick Ewing with the first pick. NBA fans had followed Ewing for four years as he dominated college basketball at Georgetown; by 1985, they couldn't wait to see him on a bigger stage. They knew that whichever team landed Ewing would contend for the next decade, at least. This was a common occurrence back then: college stars like Jordan, Bird, Magic, Hakeem Olajuwon, or David Robinson entering the league to great fanfare and anticipation, poised to change the fortunes of franchises immediately.

How often does that happen today? Even if Washington fans were excited to draft John Wall two years ago, and Cleveland fans were ecstatic about picking Kyrie Irving last year, none of them were actually thinking, We're back! Look out, playoffs!

Man I could post alot from this one, but Ill just take the last sentence for example.

We all watched John Wall and knew he would need to develop a jumpshot to really thrive in the NBA, and he could've gotten that down with another year in college.

[datdude69]

Re: Steve Kerr Makes A Case for 20 Y/O Age Limit in NBA

Without reading I totally disagree. If I can join the Army at 18, get a full time job at 18, be seen as an adult in the legal system at 18 then I should be able to bounce a basketball around a court and get paid at 18.

[da ThRONe]

Re: Steve Kerr Makes A Case for 20 Y/O Age Limit in NBA

I'll break it down segment at a time.

1. Player Maturity

This line stuck out to me "Many enter the NBA as child prodigies: physically gifted, but lacking any concept of how hard the day-to-day work is, or even how the NBA functions as a whole."

My problem with this is it's a problem that won't be solved in one or two years if ever.

If you have a Rasheed Wallace approach to life how is a extra year of college, in which you dominate the competiton and are most likely pampered for doing so, going to give you the hard reailty check needed to mature?

[23]

Re: Steve Kerr Makes A Case for 20 Y/O Age Limit in NBA

Without reading I totally disagree. If I can join the Army at 18, get a full time job at 18, be seen as an adult in the legal system at 18 then I should be able to bounce a basketball around a court and get paid at 18.

I dont agree with this. The army has nothing to do with playing the game of basketball. There are plenty of jobs out there that require a degree, or at least 2 years of college or some work experience to get that position... its no different here.

Its not a right to play basketball in the NBA...but if you wanna just shoot some hoops then go down the street to your local park and have at it

EDIT: and you didnt read the article because he addresses it also

The arguments against raising the age requirement hinge on civil liberties, points like, "Who are we to deny a 19-year-old kid a chance to make a living when he can vote, drive, and fight in a war?" If this were about legality or fairness, you might have a case. But it's really about business.4 The National Basketball Association is a multi-billion-dollar industry that depends on ticket sales, sponsorships, corporate dollars, and media contracts to operate successfully. If the league believes one rule tweak — whatever it is — would improve its product and make it more efficient, then it should be allowed to make that business decision. If an 18-year-old basketball whiz wants to earn a living right away, he could play overseas or in the D-League for those two years. Regardless, it shouldn't be the NBA's responsibility to provide working opportunities for teenagers, just like it's not the NFL's responsibility to do so. The NBA should only care about running its operation the best it can. That's it.

[da ThRONe]

Re: Steve Kerr Makes A Case for 20 Y/O Age Limit in NBA

2. Financial Cost

The rookie wage scale pretty much kills this arguement. The majority of big dollars go to guys on their 2-4 contracts. Having a vet making the mid-level exception salary is much more costly than a young player on his first deal. Which come with a ton of team options where guys can be cut without guarenteed pay after his 2nd year.

[da ThRONe]

Re: Steve Kerr Makes A Case for 20 Y/O Age Limit in NBA

3. Player development

I have tackled this many times before. We live in a different age. Young men are finding themselves ready phyiscally for the game now at earlier ages than 30 years ago.

How can you make an arguement that guys will develop faster in college than in the NBA. In college you have limited practise time, school work, vacations, sub par talent to work with/against, lessers skilled coaches, lesser resources, etc. In a game that's dominate by skill you don't transform your game with experience you do it in a gym with a trainer.

[da ThRONe]

Re: Steve Kerr Makes A Case for 20 Y/O Age Limit in NBA

4. Marketing

This is one that I agree with. The NCAA gives the league free marketing that's worth 100's of millions of dollar. This is the only legit reason for an increased age limit and it is solely for the benefit of the league at the expense of the athletes.

[da ThRONe]

Re: Steve Kerr Makes A Case for 20 Y/O Age Limit in NBA

5. A Sense of Team

This goes back to maturity. You can't reverse a lifetime of bad habits in two years. Personally the NBA is a business in these young men should approach it as such. I agree to be successful you have to have a unique balance of self and team, but when the chips are down a franchise won't hesitate to do whats best for it. I have no problem with the players doing the same.

He praises Jordan for staying 3 years, but I would make the case it still took MJ many years to learn how to be a part of a team. Iverson was at Georgetown 2 years we all know how is pro career went.

[da ThRONe]

Re: Steve Kerr Makes A Case for 20 Y/O Age Limit in NBA

6. Mentoring

I think Steve is thinking too much of the old days. He talks about how sleazy AAU basketball is, yet speaks of NCAA sports like it's so pure an innocent. Coaches are making millions and so are many of the larger schools(any most pro caliber players would attend). There are plenty of shady things going on with these programs. The last two programs Calipari coach were sanctioned after he lefted and you can go on and on.

Many pro coaches walk on egg shells with their star players. You won't see the Bobby Knights' of the college landscape anymore. You aren't going to see many college coaches really educate these guys like you may have 30 years ago. I think the mentoring angle is so watered down.

[23]

Re: Steve Kerr Makes A Case for 20 Y/O Age Limit in NBA

Are you denying college can help someone mature MUCH more than AAU?

Lets not just pick at stuff just to do it, and he gave plenty of examples.

[ehh]

Re: Steve Kerr Makes A Case for 20 Y/O Age Limit in NBA

College basketball is basically an extension of AAU these days, they are both a disgrace. AAU pipelines to coaches/schools, the runners handling things between players/agents, the ever-rising DI transfer rate, the growing demise of decent halfcourt basketball at the DI level. AAU has seeped it's way into college basketball, I'm not sure there's much of a difference anymore outside of the NCAA coming in and managing to **** things up even more.

[wwharton]

Re: Steve Kerr Makes A Case for 20 Y/O Age Limit in NBA

Without reading I totally disagree. If I can join the Army at 18, get a full time job at 18, be seen as an adult in the legal system at 18 then I should be able to bounce a basketball around a court and get paid at 18.

23 pretty much already covered it but lets also add that the military is set up to mold you to what they want you to be... much closer to college than any professional establishment. If we really want to compare the NBA to the military then the most promising 18 year old to enter the Army would be thrown on the front lines of combat shortly after joining, expecting to lead a troop. We all know that ain't happening. The NBA doesn't have the structure for this type of development. To use another sports example, the extensive minor league levels of MLB makes it easier for 18 year olds to go pro than with the NBA also. The NBA needs their players to be ready to contribute immediately or very close to it, and the current system isn't working for that.

[redsrule]

Re: Steve Kerr Makes A Case for 20 Y/O Age Limit in NBA

Would love to see it for a ton of reasons.
Would it be 20 though, or just 2 years in college, because if I remember Michael Kidd Gilchrist wouldn't be 20 till his junior year.