Kids entering the NBA

A recent trend has developed in the NBA. The top young talents destined for the NBA, are spending one season in College programs. They are enticed by the money and endorsement deals they can make if they rush into the NBA draft. NBA greats of the past, in most cases spent at least 2 years in collegiate programs. It wasn’t until 1995, that players began to regularly enter the NBA from High School. Before that only three players entered the NBA straight from High School, Moses Malone, Darryl Dawkins and Bill Willoughby.  [1][2][3]

In 1995 Kevin Garnett started a trend for young players that would have an impact for 10 years. After going the NBA straight out of High School in ’95, 38 other players followed his lead until 2005. This is when Commissioner David Stern made a rule that players could go directly from High School to the NBA.

The purpose of this article is to outline the pros and cons of players creating a mandate for NBA hopefuls to spend atleast 2 years in other programs, before entering the NBA. I think this is better for the maturity of the players, both physically and mentally. It teaches them responsibility, and how to better themselves for the next year. with the current one and done trend, players really have nothing to play for if their season starts getting rough halfway through.

Let me try to prove how important being a part of a college system is. Historically one of the best drafting organizations is the San Antonio Spurs.

2014- Kyle Anderson: 2 yrs at UCLA

2011- Kawhi Leonard: 2 yrs San Diego State

2009- Dejuan Blair: 2 yrs University of Pittsburgh

2008- George Hill: 4 yrs Indiana University- Perdue University Indianapolis

1997- Tim Duncan: 4 yrs Wake Forest University

1987- David Robinson: 4 yrs United States Navel Academy

To me the benefits of staying in school as much as possible outweigh the financial advantages. Players learn responsibility, which is a quality each of the 30 NBA franchises value.

1.  “Moses Malone Bio”. NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Retrieved July 28, 2010.
2. Jump up ^ “Burden, Dantley top list”. Lawrence Journal-World. May 9, 1975. Retrieved July 28, 2010.
3. Jump up ^ Broussard, Chris (November 16, 2003). “Why Pros Spent 20 Years Shunning High Schoolers”. The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved July 28, 2010.

The NBA..2015 & Beyond

The 2014-2015 NBA has come to an end. Filled with surprises all the way to the final whistle of Game 6 of the Finals. I have some insight of how this season has become pivotal to the ever-changing  NBA environment. It seems like “team” ball developed mostly in the West is overpowering superstar rosters. We all know what these superstar rosters are made of. 2-3 max deal all-NBA type players, surrounded by a cast of one dimensional talents. The obvious examples of recent Big-3 Teams are this year’s Cavs, and last year’s Heat. The alpha male has been Lebron on both rosters. With strong talent in Bosh-Wade and Kyrie-Love duo’s, there wasn’t much after that. Let’s look at the teams that beat them in the past two Finals.

San Antonio had a real system, where each player had a relevant role in defensive and offensive schemes. 1-10 were all ready for big moments. For example the players that averaged the sixth most minutes per game for the Spurs and Heat  during the 2014 Finals were Danny Green and Rashard Lewis. Their stat line?

	Mins	Points	Rebounds	Assists	Steals	Blocks	3s	FG %	FT%	Tos
Green	21.2	9.2	2.0	1.2	2.0	0.4	4.0	0.531	0.750	1.2
Lewis	22.9	8.6	1.6	0.4	0.0	0.4	2.0	0.500	0.500	0.2

Green was the more efficient and valuable player, and was fighting for minutes with players like Ginobli and Patty Mills. To me it seems like the players on the Heat last year, other than the Big 3, were fillers. They were just playing because there was no other option.

This idea was illustrated to a higher degree during the 2015 playoffs. This time there was no Big 3, due to injury, allowing GSW to focus 99% of their effort against The King, and the remaining 1% to “fillers.”

This year’s catchphrase for the NBA playoffs was “Hero-ball”. Ironic isn’t it? Hero-ball does not win championships, but it might win a couple games or even a series. This season proved that it takes a full team to go through a 82 game season, and win 16 playoff games. GSW might have ended Big 3 basketball brought back to life by the 08 Celtics. Only thing left to do now is wait.