Now that the college basketball season has ended it is time for decisions. The top college basketball prospects around the nation decide if they want to take their talents to the NBA. Many have already declared and many more will.
This year’s draft will be full of freshmen, including Kansas guard Andrew Wiggens and center Joel Embiid, as well as Duke forward Jabari Parker.
Other touted freshman such as Syracuse guard Tyler Ennis have yet to make a decision if they will stay in school or pursue a professional basketball career.
The real question is, are the freshman who do declare ready?
New NBA commissioner Adam Silver has proposed a rule that eliminates the one-and-done player. The rule is that college basketball players will have to be at least 20 years of age and two years removed from their high school graduation. In most cases, this means players will have to stay two years and maybe more.
This will be beneficial to not only college basketball as a sport, but the player as well.
This allows college basketball as a sport to flourish with the better players staying longer, thus making the sport more entertaining than it already is. Also, it allows the players to develop on and off the court.
Nowadays, players use college simply as a stepping stone to get the NBA level.
However, with this rule it will allow the player to get a better education by staying in school longer.
It may also give more meaning to the term “student-athlete.” By age 20 athletes will already be two to three years into their college studies.
This will give the athlete the incentive to finish out his undergraduate studies.
Now there are those who will say that an athlete who is clearly ready to take the plunge to the professional level should leave, especially if he comes from a low-income family.
However, once he gets his paycheck, will he know what to do with it?
According to an article written on munkee.com, 60 percent of NBA players file for bankruptcy within five years of retirement. Athletes who stay in school will be smarter with their money.
The NFL adopted the three-year rule in which college athletes have to go to school for three years before entering the NFL draft.
The NBA should make the age limit and two-year rule official.
Overall, it will benefit the player as an athlete and an individual.
Julian Mininsohn, a junior journalism major, is sports editor of the Campus Times. He can be reached by email at julian.mininsohn@laverne.edu.
