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Prep stars need draft protection
© St. Petersburg Times, The NBA draft is less than a week away, which means the fine folks at the league office probably are getting more than a little antsy. They are bracing for what is likely going to be the biggest arrival of high school talent ever. A record six prep stars have thrown their names into the draft pool, a trend that is growing along with the proliferation of college underclassmen bolting early. The league is worried, and frankly, it should be. The joke is that NBA scouts will soon start scouting middle schools for their next franchise player, with elementary schools not far out of their sights. But it's a little late to try to stop these prep schoolers from making such a quantum leap. It has become fashionable. Kids see Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett and think they can do the same thing. They forget DeShawn Stevenson and others who have run into trouble. Most of these kids are better off playing at least a season or two of college ball, if only for the lasting experience of college life. I mean, I wouldn't trade my days at Florida State for anything. "None of them are ready (for the NBA)," North Carolina coach Matt Doherty said by telephone Wednesday. "None of them will be able to make an immediate impact." That's true. But with our society's propensity to take everything to court, if these kids want to skip college for the NBA, nobody is likely to stop them. So, instead of fighting it, the league and the NCAA should work on trying to protect them. Even from themselves. The way it is now, if a high school player declares himself eligible for the draft and doesn't get picked, he is prohibited by the NCAA from playing in Division I. Basically, the kid is stuck. No NBA riches and no full ride to a major college to fall back on. It happens. Remember Ellis Richardson and Taj McDavid, prep stars who a few years ago took a gamble on the NBA and lost when they went undrafted? You probably don't, and that's the point. Neither is playing college ball or is likely to wind up in the NBA. Granted, no one is forcing these kids to go straight to the pros, but we should remember these are 17- and 18-year-olds and they don't all come from the best environments. Sometimes they get good advice, and sometimes they don't. "It's a big mess," NBA commissioner David Stern told the Washington Post. ". . . Kids are now bouncing the ball in the school yard thinking, 'I'll get to be 17 and (the NBA) is where I'll be.' School is an irrelevancy. It's bad for kids, bad for the college game, bad for the business of basketball." The NCAA and the NBA are right in trying to discourage kids from going pro right away. But instead of leaving them out in the cold if they go undrafted (assuming they don't sign with an agent), how about penalizing a high school kid a year of college eligibility instead? That might keep high school seniors from frivolously testing the NBA waters and protect some of the ones who roll the dice. Clearly, banning prep players from skipping college isn't the answer. Neither is instituting an age limit, an idea that has been kicked around the past couple of years and one that appeals to Stern. As daunting a task as turning pro is, some kids can handle it. It's done in tennis, baseball and golf. Look at Bryant, Garnett and Tracy McGrady. It hasn't been easy for them. All have talked about the challenges of being a teen in a man's world. But they have been every bit as good as advertised. No solution is going to be foolproof. The jump from preps to the pros is a tricky proposition dotted with plenty of pitfalls. Invariably, some kids are going to fall. But with a little compassion from the NCAA, the fall doesn't have to be so disastrous.
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