ZoomSlowik

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Feb 14, 2013 -> 02:49 PM) Are NBA GM's so bad that they need a hard rule to prevent them from being bad at their jobs and prevent the occasional pro-ready HS grad from playing, though? Um, yes? It's extremely difficult to project what an 18 year old playing against inferior competition is going to do at the NBA level. Even if you determine that they're one of the best 20 or so high school players in the country, there's a huge difference between similarly rated players from year to year. Your "elite" SF might be Kevin Durant or Carmelo Anthony, or it might be Harrison Barnes or Darius Miles. You just don't know, so they made the rule to get their scouts out of high school gyms and focus on guys that are more likely to help them when they join the league.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Feb 14, 2013 -> 02:41 PM) How about the notion that the if the NBA recognizes that drafting high school players is too big of a risk, the teams figure that out themselves and stop doing it? Allow market forces to determine what the League or its teams are willing to bear financially and what they aren't. Um, that's pretty much what they did. Do you think David Stern just randomly pulled this out of his ass at the negotiating table? The owners, which make up the league, wanted it.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Feb 14, 2013 -> 12:35 PM) Zoom, I was using hyperbole. I dont know how much money these teams have access to. But the NBA doesnt want players being paid in NCAA, for a variety of reasons. I really don't think they care because a college is not going to be able to sustain a $70 million roster like the NBA can.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Feb 14, 2013 -> 12:22 PM) In this fantasy world where NCAA is allowing payment, I presume you can find that type of money. How much is a player like Rose worth to a school for 1 year? It would be interesting if its open season. "Fantasy world" is the right term to use. The payout for making the Final Four is like 250k. Obviously there's TV money, gate receipts and merchandise sales, but I seriously doubt it's enough to sustain that kind of model, especially if you also have to continuously spend on upgrading your facilities and fill out the rest of the roster. The boosters are probably your best bet, but how many schools have enough people to willingly flush north of $10 million per season down the toilet? I also picked the low end of your number, $50 million is just absurd. There's far more money in football based on bowl payouts and much bigger stadiums, but there are also far more roster spots and it's less obvious who the studs are when they're still in high school (for just two examples, Andrew Luck and Johnny Manziel were both 3-star recruits).

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Feb 14, 2013 -> 12:21 PM) You know, it wouldn't even have to be salary from the school or from boosters. You could just let these kids sign endorsement deals like pro athletes. That would make the most sense, which of cousre means it's not going to happen.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Feb 14, 2013 -> 12:19 PM) No the NBA would care. Because they would then have to play NBA players more. If a college kid is making $10mil a season, then a NBA player has to make $10mil +. If LSU is going to pay Shaq $50mil to stay 1 more year, how much does the Magic have to offer to get him to leave? So it could very well impact the NBA salary ranges, which the NBA is trying to deflate. How the hell are schools going to be able to pay guys $10 million a year? A lot of them run in the red as it is...

Guys have alternatives to going to college, kids just don't use them. A bunch of people mentioned Europe. Granted there are a bunch of reasons not to do it, but it's an option that has been done. Brandon Jennings chose to go to Europe for a year because he didn't qualify at Arizona. He ended up as the 10th pick in the draft. There was actually a high school JUNIOR named Jeremy Tyler that went this route and was later drafted in the second round. However, here's a more pertinent one: the D-League DOES allow high schoolers. Latavious Williams didn't qualify at Memphis and went straight to the D-League. He was picked in the second round of the NBA draft the following year. So they're not 100% "forced" to go to college, but it's the most popular choice for a variety of reasons. Especially with the D-League, I would imagine it's because there's far less fame and prestige involved than if you're playing for Kentucky, possibly a less profitable alternative too.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Feb 13, 2013 -> 05:17 PM) Im not sure what you mean "this is the point" as you quoted 2 different points. The first point is about the fact that there is no "public policy" concern. Regular people arent going to die because they went to a NBA game and Kwame Brown was playing. But they surely could die if a "Doctor" doesn't know what they are doing. As for the part about the NBA protecting their investment, that is exactly the point and why its completely unfair to the 18 year old. The NBA is a billion dollar corporation, it should be the one to carry the risk. Otherwise it should have to pay into an insurance fund for kids in college who get injured so that they have some money. This is a subject Ive been strongly against for like 8 years now. I really hate barriers of entry. Ha, bad copy and paste. Allowing high school kids to declare let them screw themselves in a different way that wasn't really fair. Guys declared for the draft and hired an agent because they thought they were good enough but most of them aren't. So now the kid made a horrible decision based on bad advice and he can't go to college anymore because he killed his eligibility. They never really had a chance because they tried to skip a step competitively. There were more people that did that than blew out their knee like Noel. Drafting kids out of high school just isn't good for anyone unless you're that one guy out of thousands that can handle it. The NBA just isn't going to stick their neck out on something like that for the rare guy that can handle it. A year in college isn't that big a deal for most of these guys, it's not like they have to actually pass courses and if they're good enough it's a minor roadblock at best. The only guys that get hurt by it are the guys that weren't good enough in the first place or the rare person that gets a career-altering injury (which again, likely isn't the case for Noel).

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Feb 13, 2013 -> 05:02 PM) One and dones suck for both college and the NBA. I'd rather have 3 years min or no min at all. How is it bad for the NBA? A lot of the worst draft misses were because of mis-evaluating high school kids. They also don't have to send scouts to high school games anymore or have these guys play limited minutes for several years before it pays off just in time for them to get a massive pay raise. I don't really see how it hurts the NBA, they're getting a more experienced and polished player than they would under the old system.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Feb 13, 2013 -> 04:51 PM) Because the point of the bar, isnt to protect lawyers, its to protect the public at large. And Im not sure what we are protecting the public from when it comes to basketball players getting paid at 18 as opposed to 19. That is merely just an attempt to protect the NBA from bad investments. Isn't that the point? They're keeping guys that aren't qualified to contribute to the NBA out of the league. You can count the number of guys that were ready to contribute right out of high school on one hand. It's far easier to send them to college for a year for further development and evaluation that trying to figure out if that high school kid actually has talent or is just way more athletic than the 6'5" centers he's playing against. It's a way to reduce the guesswork in drafts and not spend assets on guys that may or may not be any good. Some of the guys that WERE picked might have been significantly better off if they had developed for a few years in college. We'll never really know if Ndudi Ebi would have turned out better if he spent a year or two at Arizona. For every Nerlens Noel that got "screwed" by this (I used the quotes because he'll still likely go top 5 anyways), you probably had 2 or 3 guys like Korleon Young that blew threw whatever money they earned and have to try to find a real job now.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 13, 2013 -> 04:50 PM) I would imagine if they had it their way, it would look more like the NFL where they have to wait 3 years. College coaches would definitely want that, the NBA not as much IMO. No one will want to wait 3 years to get the next Lebron or Durant in the league. One-and-Done seems to serve their purposes, though 2 years wouldn't be the end of the world.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 13, 2013 -> 04:27 PM) That whole argument is silly. Every industry has standards and minimum ages to be hired. Why does the NBA have to be different. I can't just declare myself a lawyer. It's been good for the NBA, and since it's an NBA rule that's the only thing that matters. They probably love the new system. The NCAA works like a minor league system they don't have to pay for and it gives them a much better sample to use for scouting purposes. It also gives them free hype leading up to the draft instead of having a showcase of guys 95% of the population has never heard of. I don't see why they'd want to go back to the days when DeAndre Jordan, B.J. Mullens and Perry Jones III would be top-5 picks.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Feb 13, 2013 -> 02:06 PM) I wonder if these guys (projected lottery picks) get some kind of insurance coverage for this type of thing. On a lighter note, odds Illinois loses to Purdue tonight? IMO, 48% Some players do (I remember them specifically mentioning it when Willis McGahee got hurt), but IIRC the policies only pay out in the event of career ending injuries, not temporary injuries that simply cost you money because you fall in the draft.

Posts like the last several are why I haven't followed/don't give a s*** about any reports until the update is "Rose will be in the lineup tonight." You can't make any assumptions about injuries whatsoever. Just look at Dwight Howard this year for what a guy can look like if he rushes back.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 12, 2013 -> 12:46 PM) I think the difference between the mid 70's and mid 90's was a lot larger than the difference between the 90s and today. Look how skinny everyone was in the 70s. In the 90s, they hit the weight room. I do think the NBA has become 1000 times more enjoyable vs. 8-12 years ago when many times the scores were in the 70s and 80s. That's not really saying much, the late 90's/early 2000's were horrid. All of the stars had retired/declined and there weren't nearly enough good players from the late 80's/early 90's drafts to replace them. That's the main reason they put in the hand checking rules, no one could score.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 12, 2013 -> 01:50 PM) Teddy Greenstein ‏@TeddyGreenstein Jared Swopshire (knee) is done for the year. Tough break for a great kid. #Northwestern I swear, Welsh-Ryan Arena was built on an Indian burial ground.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Feb 11, 2013 -> 03:56 PM) Who are these 6'10 forwards that move like guards? Kevin Durant and? The players are stronger now (although the average size of an NBA player hasn't really changed since the 90s) and the league as a whole is probably a little faster but I don't think that has changed all that much. I'm not even sure I'd say "stronger" depending on how it's being used. Weight room strength, yeah, probably so. On the court? I wouldn't be so sure. Games used to be significantly more physical and post-up play isn't emphasized as much anymore.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Feb 10, 2013 -> 02:34 PM) Except me cause I'm perfect. Random question of the day: there are only two teams in the country that are in the top 10 in offensive and defensive efficiency according to Kenpom, one is Florida, who is the other? B>W you don't get to answer. Very odd team, then again their efficiency has looked a lot better than their results and talent all year.

QUOTE (GoodAsGould @ Feb 6, 2013 -> 09:30 PM) Yeah I don't feel like people care much about Sacramento to try very hard to bring a team back there. I concur. They've only been in Sacramento since '86 and even with a few solid years they still only have a .432 winning percentage.

QUOTE (Brian @ Jan 30, 2013 -> 06:45 PM) This is my first time seeing NW in length. I like Swopshire. Was he touted or come out of nowhere? 5th year transfer from Louisville.

Can't be surprised that the Bulls had a game where they struggled to score, especially with Deng out too. That will occasionally result in odd losses like the Wizards game. Luckily they've been able to grind out wins against most of the league with their defense. It helps that the East has been highly uninspiring and now the Celtics are basically done.

QUOTE (danman31 @ Jan 24, 2013 -> 12:19 AM) Yeah, wtf is up with this team? Really makes you play the what if game regarding Crawford. That said, it's still a team that lost to UIC so... They wouldn't be Northwestern if they made it through a season unscathed. Obviously they're not going anywhere without several miraculous wins. They'd be SOOOO much better offensively with Crawford getting huge minutes instead of the Marcotullio/Demps/Abrahamson trio. You could probably say the same thing about Cobb too. They're really only got four guys with any ability to score, and one of them frequently struggles to get his shot off (Sobo) and another is just starting to get more minutes now (Demps). I want to be optimistic about next year, but the two main reasons they've been better the last few games are Hearn and Swopshire: both seniors. I'm more worried about the latter since they don't really have a similar 6'8"-ish guy to play as a stretch 4 (Hearn it's more intangibiles that they're struggle to replace than production).

Man, why did I actually have to be working for once and miss the opportunity to add another three pages to this? A few random comments... 1) They used to actually be able to play defense and be physical with an offensive player. Bill Laimbeer would have been suspended more games than he played. It's a much different game. 2) The big men nowadays are horrible. They're athletic, but too many of these young guys spend more time shooting 3's than learning how to score in the post. Many of them are incredibly skinny too. Chris Bosh might have died if he had to guard Malone or Barkley. 3) The PG's are really good right now. Guys like Magic, Isaiah, Stockton, Kidd, Payton, ect would still be really good (Don't even give me the athleticism argument. Two words: Steve Nash). There just seems to be more depth to me than I can ever remember. Jrue Holiday is averaging 19-9 and he's not really in the discussion for top PG. The wing players kind of suck though once you get past the top 5 or so. Who are your #4 SG and SF right now (I'm going to concede Kobe/Wade/Harden and Lebron/Durant/Melo, even though two of them haven't always been this good). Manu is the only other wing with a 20 PER, and he only plays 24 MPG. Does Rudy Gay really scare you? Monta Ellis? Paul Pierce and his walker? Paul George and his 41% shooting? I'm too lazy to do the research right now, but it seems like there used to be more wings capable of 25 a night like the previously mentioned Pierce at his peak, guys like Allen, T-Mac, Carter, Redd, ect. That seems like a random lull more than anything though, especially given the freakishness of Lebron/Durant/Harden this year and Kobe refusing to fall off a cliff. 4) Come on now, you can't compare two guys with one ring between them to Jordan, at least not yet. Physically Lebron is more imposing, but isn't nearly the shooter and is still way behind in terms of playoff resume. Durant can score, but so could George Gervin. Let him win something of significance first. He's a brilliant scorer, but needs to get better in other areas of the game (creating for others, defense, getting better at getting open so he might actually get 20 shots a game). Again, phenomenal players, but we're talking about Michael f***ing Jordan.

Guess NU hit my over for Big Ten wins already. Didn't see that coming, it's not the end of January yet.

I liked the Reparations sketch, though Clayton Bigsby and Racial Draft were also good.