Article:Trizz vs. The One Year Rule

First and foremost...alalalalalalalalala i dont wanna hear anything about the the NBA alalalalalalalalala, okay i'm done now on to the topic...

One of the biggest controversies in the NBA, is its new rule to make players wait one year before declaring for the NBA Draft. But why is it one year, can one get a degree in a year? No. Does that one year in college really help improve star players? No. So what does it do? It gives the NCAA the ability to showcase these once in a lifetime players and milk in millions doing just that. What benefit does it serve the player, a lot of people say they get a free education, but bear in mind between practices and traveling with the team they barely find themselves in a lecture hall, what education are they getting. Not to mention, most people go to college to get a degree so they can get great careers, what's a better career than an NBA player.

The NBA think by keeping these high school prospects in a glass dome that nothing can get to them. Then we have people like O.J. Mayo who receive benefits while in college and suddenly a new can of worms regarding how much a player brings into a school and what he's getting out in return. Soon enough players are going to demand more and more for their services possibly corrupting one of the few pure sport organizations we have left.

While many feel what Mayo did was wrong but I wholeheartedly disagree. Mayo didn't demand these things in return for signing with USC, he did it the right way he went to a program that could use him and on the side agents trying to get ahead gave gifts trying to get a head start in grabbing a potential NBA star. Its like in "He Got Game" when the agent was offering Jesus a bunch of gifts and of course since it was a movie Jesus said no but behind closed doors, how many people would've honestly turn those things down. Bear in mind,  most of these prospects are inner city youth, its not everyday they see 30 grand sitting in front of them so of course they take it.

Of course if there were harsher penalties, players would be more skeptical to accept lavish gifts from kind strangers. But also if there was no one year rule in the first place, then there would be no problem. There are plenty of student athletes who are students first athletes second, for instance Duke's roster has no high NBA prospects but good players who are willing to commit 3-4 years. Now these guys are becoming rarer because most teams bypass them for the big name all because the NBA wouldn't let them declare sooner.

There is no reason for it. Let them declare if they come in the league and fall on their face then its on them, its not the NBA's job to coddle these people. If they wanted to shield high schoolers for possibly ruining their lives, I have one better, don't allow high schoolers to hire agents, so then maybe after they don't make an NBA roster, they can go back to school. That would make a lot more sense, don't cha think...

What makes even less sense is that the NBA ALREADY HAS a minor league system yet they insist on using the NCAA as theirs, when they can make high schoolers spend some time in the NBDL, it could help bolster that league. Agents likely wouldn't bother them, and colleges can recruit players that actually want to be there. Its called a development league but instead the NBA is letting it become an organized pick up league for free agents.

The NBA may think their helping but it one year business is either going to end in one of these scenarios: A)Players are going to keep one and doning, collecting "gifts" along the way B)Players are going to demand more than a scholarship to play Both of these scenarios does not hurt the NBA, but the NCAA. So is it really worth holding these guys back from declaring early...I don't think so