Mark Cuban has an idea

[midtown]

Probably not all that original, but it could be an alternative to the NCAA.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/2014/03/01/mark-cuban-ncaa-stars-better-off-in-d-league/5934735/

Cuban said there's no reason for a player to attend college as a freshman "because he's not going to class, he's actually not even able to take advantage of all the fun because the first semester he starts playing basketball."

The billionaire owner said his idea is not yet a well-researched proposal, just an opinion. He said agreements with colleges could still give players a shot at an education.

"A major college has to pretend that they're treating them like a student-athlete," Cuban said. "It's a big lie and we all know it's a big lie. We can do all kinds of things that the NCAA doesn't allow schools to do that would really put the individual first."

[don7031]

MLB drafts high school kids. Each club has two rookie teams to handle the influx of new players each year.

There are 17 D-League teams. You would have to expand the D-League to have at least one farm team for each parent club. Then limit the number of high school kids that each team can draft.

[SamC]

97% of non-entertainer/ballplayer rich people live quietly off their wealth. The few of those I have met are decent people. You see a lot of these in Palm Beach county.

1% cannot handle it and generally end up with an OD.

1% think their wealth entitles them to run the country and go into politics (Rockefellers, Kennedys, Pelosi, etc)

1% are not happy with just being rich, and want to be FAMOUS, so they go around talking about stuff and trying to draw attention to themselves (Cuban, Trump, Buffet, etc).

I would be happy with just the 97%.

[ajwest92]

If these one-and-done kids are so wanting to play in the NBA, I say let's give it to them: Start a basketball team solely of these HS players and have a traveling all star team.

Have the best 15 HS seniors who are wanting to play in the NBA after they their freshman year of college to sign them up for one year of this program. This frees up scholarships for players who actually want to go to school instead of going to bide their time for eligibility.

Set them a schedule of 50+ games throughout the season with NCAA teams, D-league teams, even a few international teams. Have their bodies ready for the rigors of NBA travel.

Give them a salary, but only allow a certain percentage to available to them. Put the rest of the money in escrow.

Hire former NCAA/NBA coaches to teach them basketball 24/7/365. They only get X amount of hours practicing with the NCAA rules.

Teach them "real world" values (financial literacy, drugs, avoiding gold diggers) from former players. Teach them everything from keeping your circle of friends small to planning for retirement. They can also take college courses as well if they choose to do so.

It might sound far fetched, but it might curtail the "one-and-done" players in the NCAA...thoughts?

[millrace]

The problem is that kids that are really really good are used to being adored, are used to packed houses and exciting games. They want the "showtime" aspect of college but they aren't really smart enough and serious enough to be real students. So what do you do? To me, what you do is protect the college game by punishing teams that lose players. My system would include a point system (4=senior, 1=freshman) and a scholarship tally the following year as a direct reflection of what happens, hence incentivising the recruitment of a healthy balance of dependable 4-year student athletes along with a few elite 1 or 2 year guys. Bet the farm on freshmen and pay for it the following year with reduced scholarship numbers allowed. You break the chain so the Calipari's of the world can't do the same thing every year.

[jkeener24]

They want the "showtime" aspect of college but they aren't really smart enough and serious enough to be real students.

Give me a break. Some may not take it seriously since they know they're only going to be there for a year, but this is a statement laced with ignorance (at best).


I don't see where the problem is in allowing those who are good enough to go pro straight out of HS and then allowing those who do not get drafted to either enroll in junior college or 4 year schools. Make it similar to baseball in that if you go to juco, you can get drafted after a year or two years, but if you go to a 4 year, you'll be there until at least your junior year or you reach 21. You could even make a rule that after you enter the draft twice, you forfeit any remaining college eligibility. There's a few ways you could tweak it, but allowing those skilled enough to make a living to do so and those who want to play for a big school to commit to three years would satisfy most everyone, I think.

If that's not something that will work, Cuban's idea isn't bad. You can have the people who want to make a living playing basketball get that chance. Then you'll (hypothetically) only have college rosters be full of guys who want to be there- i.e. guys who aren't good enough to make it to the pros. Of course people will then complain about the quality of the college game. Sounds just like the IndyCar forum... always complaining.

[BADGER]

Why would the NBA or anyone else want to start a league that is unlikely to make money when they can have the current system of college basketball which is hugely popular and doesn't cost them a dime to run. Doesn't a minor league already exists or are they unable to sign players right out of high school?

[jkeener24]

Why would the NBA or anyone else want to start a league that is unlikely to make money when they can have the current system of college basketball which is hugely popular and doesn't cost them a dime to run. Doesn't a minor league already exists or are they unable to sign players right out of high school?

To my knowledge, they aren't allowed to draft out of high school. There is a D-League, but it seems to be made up of fringe players rather than a true minor league where prospects are groomed. What actually surprises me is we haven't seen more kids to play pro internationally for a year and skipping college.

[comfortably numb]

The problem is that kids that are really really good are used to being adored, are used to packed houses and exciting games. They want the "showtime" aspect of college but they aren't really smart enough and serious enough to be real students.

Throw in the words 'some' or 'many' or 'a number of' and you have a very true statement.

[midtown]

What actually surprises me is we haven't seen more kids to play pro internationally for a year and skipping college.

That's what I don't get either. Brandon Jennings did it but I can't think of anyone else. Maybe playing overseas in a foreign country is a bit too intimidating for most kids. Talk about getting homesick.

[MoparsRule]

Bob Knight was on ESPN's Mike & MIke this morning... his proposal (if you want to call it that) is for a minimum of 3 yrs of college prior to entering the NBA draft.

http://espn.go.com/espnradio/podcast/

[mattndallas]

1500 minimum SAT to play D1 sports.

Problem solved.

[jkeener24]

Throw in the words 'some' or 'many' or 'a number of' and you have a very true statement.

Some. I don't know if you can go as far as to say "many." I would suspect that approximately the same percentage of athletes are not smart enough to be college students as that of the non-athlete population. Though it's not that hard to be smart enough to be a student at most colleges these days.

That's what I don't get either. Brandon Jennings did it but I can't think of anyone else. Maybe playing overseas in a foreign country is a bit too intimidating for most kids. Talk about getting homesick.

That's the only thing I can think of, also.

[comfortably numb]

Do you think it is fair to say that many college scholarship athletes would not have gone to college with their respective sports did not provide them with a free ride?

"according to the four-year federal numbers, only 47 percent of men's basketball players and 58 percent of FBS football players graduated. Football Championship Subdivision players came in at 56 percent. Of the 35 sports that were measured, only three others -- baseball (48 percent), women's bowling (53 percent) and wrestling (56) -- had grad rates lower than 60 percent." ~~ESPN, October 2013

[MoparsRule]

Do you think it is fair to say that many college scholarship athletes would not have gone to college with their respective sports did not provide them with a free ride?

"according to the four-year federal numbers, only 47 percent of men's basketball players and 58 percent of FBS football players graduated. Football Championship Subdivision players came in at 56 percent. Of the 35 sports that were measured, only three others -- baseball (48 percent), women's bowling (53 percent) and wrestling (56) -- had grad rates lower than 60 percent." ~~ESPN, October 2013

Without a doubt.