Alright, if you didn't see this coming, raise your hands. C'mon, get em up high in the air. If you didn't see anything dirty surrounding a kid that wanted to go to school at USC because of the "marketing exposure" he could receive while in school, then I have some prime beach front property in Antarctica that I'd like to sell you.
Mayo is accused of accepting around $30,000 and gifts from a "friend" by the name of Rodney Guillory. That is some sort of friend! I wish I was good enough at anything to where my friends would want to give me 30K, a flat screen TV, and feed me too!
Now, Mayo isn't fully to blame for this. The kid has had people coming at him for as long as his name has been in SLAM magazine. Shoe people, clothing people, boosters, alumni, coaches, anyone that can get a quick taste of his lifestyle...they all want in. They all want a piece of a kid that can play a game. However, Mayo knew the rules. He knew that he couldn't accept any of the "benefits" he was receiving.
It all goes back to the NBA making kids go to school for at least one year. If Mayo didn't have to go to school this year, this wouldn't have been an issue. Some say that early entrants ruin the NBA. Who cares about the NBA? Making kids go to school just for show is ruining the college game. AND for those of you that care, it is also ruining schools graduation rates. If a kid goes to a school and either leaves early for the NBA or transfers schools, then that hurts their schools future.
But what do I really know? I'm just a fan.
|
Comments
Telling a kid he has to go to college for a year is horseshit. If a guy wants to be a carpenter they don't tell him that. It costs them about a million bucks to skip the pros for that year. If we told anyone else in America they had to miss out on a million bucks they would sue us. In the end, who do we tell that to? Poor black kids from the city...and Greg Oden.
I agree.
I see it two ways:
1) The NBA is a business and as a business, they want the best product they can put out.
2) You have to be 16 to drive, 18 to smoke, 21 to drink, and you can go into the military with a high school diploma or a GED, but you have to be 19 to play in the NBA?
If Freddy Adu can play soccer for money at 16 and Michelle Wie can get paid for her golf scores at 16, then kids that can tear up a basketball court should damn well be entitled to getting paid for that at 18. Double standards are everywhere in sports. They might as well just put things back to how they were a few years ago and stop messing with it. It makes sense for the college football/NFL world to have the rules they have in place due to the physical needs of football, but having age requirements in other professional sports is unnecessary. (Yes, I know I am admitting to a double-standard of the NFL versus the rest of pro sports, but the NFL situation is justifiable.)
The basketball is better in the NBA when the kids are forced to stay in school.
Just like the NFL standard that the kids have to wait because they aren't ready physically and mentally, neither are most of the youngsters coming into the NBA.
If that is the case, and the NBA is on board with that ideal, then they need to do the same as the NFL. Make kids play at least 3 years in college before they can be drafted. Meaning, come out as a junior by playing the first three years or as a sophomore after a redshirt and two years of playing. I personally don't mind either way, but with the one-and-done philosophy not really working, the powers that be need to come up with something new to improve the cleanliness and academic aspects of the NCAA side and the basketball product on the NBA side. If it can work efficiently in football, then it should be just as viable for basketball.
Does it work efficiently in football though? Look at all of the scholarships that teams lost from football this season. Just off top of my head, San Jose State lost 18 scholarships. I do think that was the most of any team though.
I think that the NCAA really needs to get their hands dirty and clean up the whole system. But, then again, when there are ways to cheat, people will find them.
I think from a football standpoint the rules do work in the NFL. How many of those scholarships lost at San Jose State are due to players leaving for the NFL? There is no way that that many scholarship losses from a poor APR are as a result of players leaving early for professional football. I would imagine that SJSU's issues are from a lack of oversight of their player's academics and that is a problem that they've allowed to come about themselves. I'm not sure how NCAA regulations factor in to players leaving early for the NFL, since the regular season is always finished in the fall semester. For the teams with games into the 2nd week of January, do their players have to go to class in the 2nd semester if they're entering the NFL draft? Or can they stop after the fall semester and leave in good academic standing? That would be the main question from the football side since the workouts and draft are well before the end of a spring semester. In basketball it is damn near impossible to keep kids "in good academic standing" in the spring semester if they know they're going pro. Diamonds in the rough like Eric Gordon hold true to their commitments and keep going to class after winter break, but most NBA bound kids just stop going after they've earned their spring eligibility from their fall semester work.
So, what is the solution?
We want cleaner college programs with the best NBA action possible.
How many kids that go straight from high school to college that actually contribute to a professional team? Most (not all) end up riding the pine for a couple years and if they don't prove themselves then they may get cut and now they can't go back to college to improve their professional education and go back to the NBA. They can go to the NBDA or the European League but if a kid goes from high school to a company and it doesn't work, he can go back to school to improve his trade and his company may even provide tuition reimbursement. Plus I would hate to hear people complain how the NBA needs to protect the 18 year old rookies from the nightlife. So only a few kids have the ability to contribute the first couple years in the NBA after leaving high school but the entry age whether 18 or 19 or 21 or even 16 has to be fair across the board no matter ability. I would implement a 2 year wait. With a 1 year wait, the freshmen that plan to leave after the year can accept the gifts and presents because the next year they don't have to worry about the penalties. I doubt the Mayo cares what penalties are handed down to USC next year, he won't be there.
Telling a kid he has to go to college for a year is horseshit. If a guy wants to be a carpenter they don't tell him that. It costs them about a million bucks to skip the pros for that year. If we told anyone else in America they had to miss out on a million bucks they would sue us. In the end, who do we tell that to? Poor black kids from the city...and Greg Oden.