05-21-2014, 08:47 AM
Nah, NBA is fine with high school stars going to college for a year or two -- they let Durant and Oden do it. And they let Wiggins et al. do it too.*
* (yes, the current one-and-done crop didn't blow anyone's minds this year. But they were perceived -- coming into the year -- as one of the best classes in ages.)
The reason's fairly simple -- NCAA does free promotion of players, and max players have fewer contracts. Dante Exum is one of the top five prospects in the upcoming class, but I'll bet most fans of his next team will go "Who?" when he's drafted. What would really disrupt this model would be the next high school superstar deciding to get paid and learn his craft abroad for a couple years. (It's my suspicion that Europeans are teaching the game better than college coaches, so I'm a bit biased here.)
* (yes, the current one-and-done crop didn't blow anyone's minds this year. But they were perceived -- coming into the year -- as one of the best classes in ages.)
The reason's fairly simple -- NCAA does free promotion of players, and max players have fewer contracts. Dante Exum is one of the top five prospects in the upcoming class, but I'll bet most fans of his next team will go "Who?" when he's drafted. What would really disrupt this model would be the next high school superstar deciding to get paid and learn his craft abroad for a couple years. (It's my suspicion that Europeans are teaching the game better than college coaches, so I'm a bit biased here.)