Foregoing senior year to play pro basketball

[allies]

Originally posted by: brunell8

Originally posted by: glenn beck
and if he gets injured what does he have after that????

Exactly. He's hiring an agent, which means he cannot play in college, ever. He had better hope that whatever contract he initially signs, there is alot of guaranteed money. If he blows his knee out on the first day of practice and can't play, this kid has absolutely NOTHING that he can fall back on.

Except.... going to college like many non athletes do?

 

[SunnyD]

Momma's all fo' dis. Her sez' "Son..." - she call me dat chuno... her sez' "son... you go-on witch yer bad-azz self to play dem hoopz in EW-ROPE. Donchu worry none 'bout dat schoolin... youz gonna be might-EEE rich fo' you no'z it, den' you can be takin' care yo momma."

 

[Cuda1447]

Seems like a smart option.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

he's old enough to drop out anyways. Good for him get paid for what your good at.

 

[Playmaker]

Great move ... you should read some of the jealous comments by the idiots in the espn article.

 

[Saint Nick]

Originally posted by: vi edit
Baring serious injury he'll probably make more money by the age of 22 than I'll likely see in 40 years of slaving away.

Isn't that just wonderful? -_-

 

[Modelworks]

Originally posted by: glenn beck
and if he gets injured what does he have after that????

If he has money in the bank then he can still get some of the best education that would have been out of his reach before.

 

[oddyager]

I don't see anything wrong with this.

 

[FDF12389]

Some people here sound jealous

 

[vi edit]

Originally posted by: NightDarker

Originally posted by: vi edit
Baring serious injury he'll probably make more money by the age of 22 than I'll likely see in 40 years of slaving away.

Isn't that just wonderful? -_-

I actually did some quick math on it just because that didn't sound right.

Last year Oden got I think a little over 8 million over two years. He was 19 or 20 years old.

$60,000 * 40 = 2.4 million.

So he'd actually make about 4x the amount I would in 40 years by the time he's 22.

 

[xboxist]

This is ridiculous. He's going to miss his SENIOR PROM. A six or seven figure salary cannot buy back that missed memory.


/mega-sarcasm

 

[tk149]

Just curious. What is the NBA's reasoning behind barring high school drafts? Health? Making players get an education?

 

[IceBergSLiM]

Originally posted by: tk149
Just curious. What is the NBA's reasoning behind barring high school drafts? Health? Making players get an education?

legal hurdles. liability etc...

 

[vi edit]

Originally posted by: tk149
Just curious. What is the NBA's reasoning behind barring high school drafts? Health? Making players get an education?

It's self serving to both the NBA and the NCAA. For the NBA it gives them a year to evaluate talent on a more competative scale. It also lets them see how they handle tougher schedules and off court behavior away from home. The college hype also rolls into a bigger fan base come draft time.

How many people heard about Dwight Howard or Amare Stoudemire when they came right out of high school vs. Oden or Durant when they were playing in the NCAA tournament the spring before they were drafted?

For the NCAA it puts butts in seats an gives them some talent to make a push for a championship. They can sell jersies and maybe recurit better if they lock in top prospects.

The "education" slant is nothing more than sugar coating to make it seem nobel. It's all about the money.

 

[Miramonti]

Originally posted by: IcebergSlim

Originally posted by: tk149
Just curious. What is the NBA's reasoning behind barring high school drafts? Health? Making players get an education?

legal hurdles. liability etc...

...protecting the NCAA money-machine racket...

 

[darkxshade]

Originally posted by: brunell8

Originally posted by: glenn beck
and if he gets injured what does he have after that????

Exactly. He's hiring an agent, which means he cannot play in college, ever. He had better hope that whatever contract he initially signs, there is alot of guaranteed money. If he blows his knee out on the first day of practice and can't play, this kid has absolutely NOTHING that he can fall back on.

You make it sound as if he can never go back to school if it doesn't work out. Every year, thousands of kids his age ditch school to join the army and many come back in worse shape. How is his predicament any worse than that? He has a shot of making millions at the risk of a career ending injury while the others just get shot at and risk losing their lives for whatever reason they joined.

 

[vi edit]

Originally posted by: darkxshade

Originally posted by: brunell8

Originally posted by: glenn beck
and if he gets injured what does he have after that????

Exactly. He's hiring an agent, which means he cannot play in college, ever. He had better hope that whatever contract he initially signs, there is alot of guaranteed money. If he blows his knee out on the first day of practice and can't play, this kid has absolutely NOTHING that he can fall back on.

You make it sound as if he can never go back to school if it doesn't work out. Every year, thousands of kids his age ditch school to join the army and many come back in worse shape. How is his predicament any worse than that? He has a shot of making millions at the risk of a career ending injury while the others just get shot at and risk losing their lives for whatever reason they joined.

In his situation he could get a college degree for free if he was so inclined while playing ball.

I doubt many that enlist right out high school have that same luxury provided to them.

Really though - how many college basketball stars can we name ended their future pro careers with injuries playing in college? Sure the risk is there, but not like in football.

 

[waggy]

i can't blame the kid. sitting through another year of high school, then another year of college to maybe get drafted? why not take the cash now and get experiance and then maybe picked up by a NBA team next year or so?

then again he may not be mature enough for the pro's yet and fail or get hurt. best bet would be to take the majority of that money and put it away in case.

 

[Miramonti]

If he's smart, he'll set aside funds for college should he need/want to go that path in the future.

Granted he won't get the same grade-manipulation and booster fund benefits that top athletic scholarship students get, but it will still be a viable plan B.

 

[trmiv]

Originally posted by: brunell8

Originally posted by: glenn beck
and if he gets injured what does he have after that????

Exactly. He's hiring an agent, which means he cannot play in college, ever. He had better hope that whatever contract he initially signs, there is alot of guaranteed money. If he blows his knee out on the first day of practice and can't play, this kid has absolutely NOTHING that he can fall back on.

If he gets hurt bad enough that he can't play basketball anymore, he likely isn't going to play in college anyway so hiring an agent doesn't matter. He can still go to college for the education part if it comes to that.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Not to smart a move. Professional athletes will eat him alive regardless of his talent. His lack of emotional maturity will leave him wide open for all the pitfalls of professional sports. He'll either wind up broke, in jail, have a drug problem or, all of the above. Smart has little to do with it. How on earth does basketball talent have anything to do with being smart enough, tough enough and yes, lucky enough to avoid the multitude dangers of professional sports? He's a tabloid story waiting to happen.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: MagnusTheBrewer
Not to smart a move. Professional athletes will eat him alive regardless of his talent. His lack of emotional maturity will leave him wide open for all the pitfalls of professional sports. He'll either wind up broke, in jail, have a drug problem or, all of the above. Smart has little to do with it. How on earth does basketball talent have anything to do with being smart enough, tough enough and yes, lucky enough to avoid the multitude dangers of professional sports? He's a tabloid story waiting to happen.

thats my gut feeling as well. i suspect we won't hear about ever again. Maybe a breif post on thesmokinggun.com

 

[trmiv]

Originally posted by: MagnusTheBrewer
Not to smart a move. Professional athletes will eat him alive regardless of his talent. His lack of emotional maturity will leave him wide open for all the pitfalls of professional sports. He'll either wind up broke, in jail, have a drug problem or, all of the above. Smart has little to do with it. How on earth does basketball talent have anything to do with being smart enough, tough enough and yes, lucky enough to avoid the multitude dangers of professional sports? He's a tabloid story waiting to happen.

Do you know how many european players start their pro careers at 16?

 

[Mo0o]

Good move on his part. Wont get any better in high school, might as well get paid to play basketball rather than do it for free for a year or two in the ncaa. Spain has a good d-league so if can't adjust right away, they can put him in the under-18 league until he's good enough.

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: TallBill

Originally posted by: glenn beck
and if he gets injured what does he have after that????

He'll have a GED and a few hundred thousand $$$'s or more in the bank to pay for college.

Sounds like a great plan.

college?