LeBron James. Tracy McGrady. Kevin Garnett. Amar'e Stoudemire. Moses Malone. Kobe Bryant. Dwight Howard. As you are looking at this list you will be surprised with what these players all have in common. These are some of the best basketball players of all time, but they also came straight out of highschool.
In the NBA Draft all thirty teams get assigned one draft pick for each of the two rounds. It used to be that if you were a player you could jump right from highschool to the pros, but in 2005 the NBA made a rule change.
After 2005 you had to be at least nineteen years old and you had to have graduated high school and spent at least one year in college to enter the draft. This is called the one and done rule. In my opinion this rule made no sense for players that were talented enough in high school. The negatives outway the positives from this perspective.
Most people that support the one and done rule will say that high school players are not ready for the NBA Draft because they can't handle the pressure and physicality of the league, but this is a complete lie. The amount of high school players that have successful in the pros is astonishing. Players such as Kevin Garnett, Amar'e stoudemire, Tracy McGrady, Kobe Bryant and Darryl Dawkins had long NBA careers which saw them earn millions of dollars and earn several individual awards.
Another example of a player who was ready for the NBA is LeBron James. LeBron came into the NBA with sky high expectations and delivered. He is a 4 time MVP, has been in 13 all star games and has won 3 championships. He responded to the pressure by winning Rookie of the Year. He easily debunked the physicality by increasing his weight to 250 pounds to join his 6 foot 8 frame.
Colleges are hurt by the one and done rule also. Since most of the top players are only there for one year they don't care about their college.
Ben Simmons the number one pick by the Philadelphia 76ers this year achieved a GPA of less than a 2.0 and was stripped of contention for National Player Of the Year Awards. It is a big threat to the college game if we keep letting people like Simmons in because he can ruin a school's reputation.
So next time you think about the NBA Draft just think about all the great players that came out of highschool and how they make the NBA so much more entertaining.
Credits:
Created with images by jurvetson - "LeBron James"