David Stern is pushing hard to raise the age limit for entrance into the National Basketball Association. Under current NBA rules, a U.S. player's high school class must have graduated in order for him to become eligible for the draft, while international players must turn 18 before the draft in order to be eligible. If Stern gets his way, and he often does in basketball matters, being old enough to vote or get drafted into military service won't be sufficient. He would prefer that NBA ballers be at least 20 years of age rather than going pro directly after the prom. In his vision of a Utopian basketball world, freakishly talented young men who don't yet need to shave regularly will either go to college or else enter the National Basketball Development League, using it as more of a traditional minor league system.
There are vocal critics of Commissioner Stern's proposal, such as Jermaine O'Neal of the Indiana Pacers who made the leap from high school to the NBA a few years ago. He points to his own success in the league as just one example of the relatively smooth transition from boy with a basketball and a dream to man with a mansion and millions in the bank. Last year, eight high school seniors were among the first 19 picks, including the number one overall selection. The last two NBA Rookie of the Year winners, LeBron James and Amare Stoudemire, were drafted straight out of high school. This year's All-Star game featured seven players - Kevin Garnett, Tracy McGrady, Kobe Bryant, Rashard Lewis, O'Neal, Stoudemire and James - who made the jump directly from the preps to the pros. Convincing evidence indeed that there's no time like the present to exchange a varsity jacket for a pro uniform. Many lawyers would agree with O'Neal's contention that a raised age limit would be unconstitutional. Does he make a valid point in suggesting that Stern's age limit proposal hints of racism, since the NBA is so heavily comprised of African-Americans, unlike sports such as baseball and hockey that do not have similar age restrictions? Or does Stern have a better argument in claiming that his plan is necessary because too many young urban Americans are looking at the NBA as a viable avenue to financial security for their families and a quick path to stardom for themselves, and the vast majority of them end up chasing a dream that will not be caught? It used to be that basketball players routinely graduated college before turning pro. Then they began entering the NBA draft after their junior year of college, then after their sophmore year, then after only one year of collegiate experience, and now increasingly more of these young men aren't even bothering to take advantage of athletic scholarships being offered to them. Why pursue higher education at no cost when Escalade ownership and several pounds of bling to accentuate arms full of tattoos is only a contract offer away?
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