The Onion draft column

[pfrduke]

I know it was tongue in cheek (every player in college declaring for the draft), but it got me thinking, why shouldn't this be the rule?

Everyone who has completed one year of college is eligible for the draft. All of those individuals who do not sign agents retain their eligibility to play in the NCAA (contrary to the current rule, where you can only declare and return once). Contracts must be signed by August 1, or the player goes back to college. The NBA team retains the rights in the individual drafted until before the next season's draft (remember, this happened with Larry Bird, who was drafted by Auerbach and then played his final season at Indiana St.). This (largely, though not completely) could provide a lot of protection for individuals who make the mistake of declaring too soon.

I guess here are some potential problems:
1) Increased risk for NBA teams - e.g., drafting Jason Williams with a 2001 lottery pick, but he comes back to school. Delays Williams' entry with that team for one year (but the team does have him locked up).
2) Increased risk for college teams - e.g., Duke has no guarantee that Williams won't be persuaded by being taken #2 overall in the draft, even though he's declared his intention to stay. The lateness of the decision means there's no ability to compensate for his unexpected departure. This is likely to have minimal overall impact - almost certainly no more than 10 players, per year, but more likely in the neighborhood of 5 or fewer (I'm not talking about underclassmen who get drafted in total, but underclassmen who have told their coaches, unequivocally, that they're returning, but then leave after they get drafted).
3) Players deciding whether or not to sign contracts without representation. This is hugely mitigated by the NBA salary structure. It is my understanding that draft positions (at least in the first round) have guaranteed contracts at fixed value, so there is no negotiation. Second round contracts are not guaranteed, but I think are capped at a certain limit. So, a player has no wiggle room to negotiate the terms of his contract, diminishing the need for an agent (at least in terms of the team contract - endorsements are a whole other ballgame).

Thoughts?

[Indoor66]

I know it was tongue in cheek (every player in college declaring for the draft), but it got me thinking, why shouldn't this be the rule?

Everyone who has completed one year of college is eligible for the draft. All of those individuals who do not sign agents retain their eligibility to play in the NCAA (contrary to the current rule, where you can only declare and return once). Contracts must be signed by August 1, or the player goes back to college. The NBA team retains the rights in the individual drafted until before the next season's draft (remember, this happened with Larry Bird, who was drafted by Auerbach and then played his final season at Indiana St.). This (largely, though not completely) could provide a lot of protection for individuals who make the mistake of declaring too soon.

I guess here are some potential problems:
1) Increased risk for NBA teams - e.g., drafting Jason Williams with a 2001 lottery pick, but he comes back to school. Delays Williams' entry with that team for one year (but the team does have him locked up).
2) Increased risk for college teams - e.g., Duke has no guarantee that Williams won't be persuaded by being taken #2 overall in the draft, even though he's declared his intention to stay. The lateness of the decision means there's no ability to compensate for his unexpected departure. This is likely to have minimal overall impact - almost certainly no more than 10 players, per year, but more likely in the neighborhood of 5 or fewer (I'm not talking about underclassmen who get drafted in total, but underclassmen who have told their coaches, unequivocally, that they're returning, but then leave after they get drafted).
3) Players deciding whether or not to sign contracts without representation. This is hugely mitigated by the NBA salary structure. It is my understanding that draft positions (at least in the first round) have guaranteed contracts at fixed value, so there is no negotiation. Second round contracts are not guaranteed, but I think are capped at a certain limit. So, a player has no wiggle room to negotiate the terms of his contract, diminishing the need for an agent (at least in terms of the team contract - endorsements are a whole other ballgame).

Thoughts?


An interesting twist I hadn't considered. On first blush it would place a great deal of pressure on programs to cover positions that might be opened by leavingt players. On the other hand, those drafted in the 1st round would have been the players who might have left under the present system, thus the program would have been looking at recruiting at that position.

Thinking of the Deng situation, as it developed, he left after his draft position became clear. the same with Dunleavy. Both left the Duke program with a hole in the roster that could not be filled. I need to think more about your proposal.... :confused:

[dukeENG2003]

even with the current system, its not a terrible idea to declare and go undrafted. Ask Randolph Morris (considering he will NOT be subject to the rookie salary cap if I'm not mistaken). Why NOT declare after your first year in school, if you get drafted, cool, if not, you can be a free agent once you are worth something to an NBA team. . .

[Classof06]

I don't like this idea of kids leaving and then deciding to come back, etc., because the majority of the kids who declare but don't sign an agent aren't ready to be in the NBA to begin with. I think it should be that once you declare, agent or not, you're done with NCAA eligibility (though you can still pursue your degree).

Each spring, everyone and their mother declares, and I think schools are being taken advantage of in a way. It's like the school being used as a hotel almost. My line of thought is that if you really don't think you need to stay in college anymore, then you better be pretty darn sure. The first person that comes to mind is Daequan Cook for Ohio State. What on earth makes him think (based on his performance last year) that he's ready for the NBA? He's a perfect example of the fact that this sign-without-agent thing is out of control. With Duke, most of the players that leave early sign an agent from the get-go and I think that's how it should be. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Dunleavy was the only Duke player in recent memory that declared without originally signing an agent (could be wrong).

I'm sure there are some downfalls to this method, because there are always going to be kids who think they're ready but are not. But that's how it is now and I think that number would be substantially reduced if stricter guidelines were enforced. I know people might not agree with this method, but I just think this "no-agent" thing is way out of control.

[johnb]

I tend to think we should have really good reasons to impose legal barriers to the pursuit of happiness and employment. We are talking about a handful of guys who might get drafted early in a given year. Further, if the player has the option of returning if he's drafted, then teams will be less likely to use a late 1st round pickon a freshman when they could pick a senior whose eligibility has expired. Even more risky would be picking someone high in the draft who might elect to stay in college. As it stands, there are a bunch of kids who go early and then don't get to play in the NBA. Some of those don't want to go to college, but some have just forfeited their scholarships, and that seems unecessarily damaging to me. Does that leave some lame duck players? Yeah, I suppose, but as it stands, most elite players are hoping to have a breakout season that will allow them to penetrate the lottery. Why should the undergrads take all the risk?

Everyone outside of sports and the military gets to choose when and if to continue college and pursue a job. Leaving holes in college rosters doesn't seem like an adequate rationale for closing off the option.

[pfrduke]

Even more risky would be picking someone high in the draft who might elect to stay in college.

If you're a traditional lottery team, probably. But what about a team like Phoenix (could end up drafting #4 this year) or Chicago (drafting #2 last year). I know he wasn't eligible last year, but if you were the Bulls, would you rather have Tyrus Thomas right away, or take Oden, wait a year, and then add him to an experienced roster? I could see a lot of incentives toward the latter, particularly if you're a good team who happened to get a high pick through the Knicks' or Hawks' front office incompetence.

[CDu]

even with the current system, its not a terrible idea to declare and go undrafted. Ask Randolph Morris (considering he will NOT be subject to the rookie salary cap if I'm not mistaken). Why NOT declare after your first year in school, if you get drafted, cool, if not, you can be a free agent once you are worth something to an NBA team. . .

That approach is fine if you get drafted in the first round or if you don't get drafted. But what if you get taken in the second round? Then, you don't have a guaranteed contract, you can't go back to college, and you don't get to choose the team that's the best fit.

It can be said that being an undrafted free agent may actually be better than getting drafted late in round 2. This would be especially true if you have considerations of returning to school.

In other words, if you have any interest in coming back, entering the draft (and staying in it) is a bad idea.

[phaedrus]

if oden could have been drafted when he was 15 he would have been. maybe even earlier.

[johnb]

I think the team would lose the rights to the player after 1 year.