As a huge fan of college basketball, the NBA's decision to keep high school players from being eligible for the NBA draft is great. I loved watching Kevin Durant, Greg Oden, Thaddeus Young, Brandon Wright, and other freshman whom, if not for the new rule, would probably have gone straight to the NBA. The best thing was being able to watch them as dominant stars, as opposed to seeing them as rookies in the NBA with limited playing time.
Having said all this, I do, however, believe that this rule is not fair. Those kids should have had the right to declare for the draft out of high school. Rather than listing the boatload of reasons for feeling this way (for example: this is America, if you're qualified to do a job, then you should be allowed to do said job), I want to focus on how things might change in the future because of one global icon: LeBron James.
The decision to bar high school kids from the draft is part of the NBA's collective bargaining agreement (CBA). How did this controversial rule become a part of the most recent CBA? To make a long story short, the NBA Players' Association (NBAPA) negotiated those terms into the NBA by-laws when they negotiated the last CBA with the owners. Translation: Commissioner David Stern used his considerable power to force the high school ban into the CBA. Why was Stern able to strong-arm the NBAPA? Simply put, the NBAPA is weak. Stern pushes them around like they're his children.
In 1998, Stern convinced the NBAPA to support a player salary ceiling because he promised the NBPA that he would grandfather in those contracts that were already above the salary ceiling. The NBPA was led by veterans who had one more contract left in them (like Patrick Ewing and Charles Oakley) so they took care of themselves and left future players virtually powerless.
During the next CBA negotiation, in 2005, Stern then bullied the high school ban into effect because he knew he could defeat a weak NBPA. Last summer, King James (along with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh) signed a maximum extension to his rookie contract but only for 3 years with a player option (his option) for a 4th year. Not so coincidentally, the end of his 3-year contract coincides with the end of the current CBA. I think King James will then position himself among the leaders of the NBPA for the next round of CBA negotiations in order to drive the NBPA to get rid of the player salary ceiling in the NBA. To overpower David Stern in the next CBA negotiation will take an incredible amount of power -- a power only a King can provide.
If King James has attained MJ-like status by this time, he may have enough power to make changes. If he does have this power, I hope that he remembers his own entrance into the league and will fight for the rights of high school players being draft eligible. Kings before him have built empires and moved mountains -- but what this King must do may be even more difficult.
* Rod is a contributing writer to GBOA who will share his rants and opinions about the world of basketball.
LBJ is too concerned about being the richest athlete in the world. i think that tells you right there that he doesn't really worry about the rest of the league. he wants to make $1Billion. i don't think he wants to waste his time not making money.
