Durant Durant Rant

I'm with you Boom. Maybe not stay all four years, but at least stick around for two or three. It's the single most reason I stopped watching college ball except for the tournanment. If a kid goes to college he's gone in a year or he doesn't even go at all. I don't know who's who b/c all the big names aren't in the college game. Yeah it's different now, but there's no way guys like Durant and Oden stay past this year.

All these kids see is the money and fame. What happens to the ones who fail? You're telling me Livingston wouldn't have benifited from a year or two at Duke? Please. Yeah he got hurt this week, but he wasn't doing shit excepting teasing everyone. LeBron and Amare ~ those guys were physically ready. Garnett, McGrady and Kobe weren't and they didn't play much early on for that reason.

What's better sitting on the bench or playing in college? And it's not just playing b/c once you skip college you'll never be able to have that same experience again even if these guys go back in their 30s. It's the same thing with kids enrolling in college early to partcipate in spring football practice. The last half of those kids' senior years of high school are gone forever and they never even lived them.

 

Durant shouldn't stay past this year. He's way too good for college basketball, and millions of dollars are waiting. Why the fuck would he stay?

Durant will be an NBA All Star by 2009.

 

I'm way too good for Podunk Press, and hundreds of thousands in circulation are waiting. Why the hell would I stay? I'll be a regular APSE winner by 2009.

 

I'm 31, so I should be old enough to have Ewing and Mullin as a reference point. I remember those days. I also know that I'm loving how this college basketball season has gone. So many good freshmen who ordinarily wouldn't be there (Durent and Oden come to mind) have made this great to watch.

Thing is, even if those freshmen stayed, I don't know if that would make the college game better persay. Are the Gators that much better for the sport because everyone returned from last season? Does Durant or Oden's departure once the season ends make this season any less enjoyable? Just enjoy the season for what it is.

Personally, I don't see any reason the sport should change. Say you go to college. You freelance some on the side. If someone offers you good money to write a book or a Hollywood script or write computer programs -- whatever it might be -- you might be foolish to pass on that chance, knowing you can always go back to school anytime. Using that as an example, I would hate to see Oden or Durant play four years in college, simply because it might be seen by some as better for the game when it's definitely not better for themselves.

 

He should go and get his millions but it does not make the game better.

College baskeball was a much better product when the best players stayed around for 3-4 years. The NBA was a better procuct because because the were getting players with a fully developed game.

Look at journalism- are you a better writer after 4 years of college writing for student newspaper. I would guess you would have a more well rounded view.

 

The NBA should get off its pooch already and not mooch off the NCAA and put together a real minor-league system, or at least a real AAA-level league.

The players who would need to develop would get the time to do so if they didn't want to go to school. Colleges wouldn't be hurt tremendously, because 90 percent of the kids would want to go to college anyway to screw the cheerleaders and go for their moment of March Madness glory. Guys who didn't want to be on campus and who were pocketing agents' cash wouldn't be causing scandals and they'd be happier. And they'd have to work to get to the next level.

Win-win for everyone.

 

Except the NBA, which would have to pay for something it's now getting for free.

 

It's already propping up a crappy NBDL, so the framework is there.

 

Knight said it best.

Going to school for one year is a giant waste.

If you're good enough to go straight out of high school (as is Durant, Oden) just go.

 

It's not the LeBrons and Kobes and T-Macs and Garnetts that make the case, it's the many others who shouldn't be suiting up for an NBA team at their stage of development. But it's a vicious circle -- a few superstars emerge, then a whole lot of high school seniors and college freshmen come out, then you're drafting them because their upside is still higher than the seniors on the board. Problem is, you have nowhere to stow them while they get the training they would be getting were they in college still.

Problem is, the system is so entrenched now that it'd be hard to sell, say, Brandon Rush or Acie Earl IV on playing a year or two for the Yakima Sun Kings or Birmingham Ball Bearings when their older brethern got right into the show at similar draft spots.

 

I don't ask this to be a jerk, but is Leon Smith still alive? Example No. 1.

 

On the other side of the argument, there's Len Bias. Bad decisions and leaving school early aren't necessarily mutual.