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Originally posted by Hawks Coach
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Originally posted by ChuckElias
I think that he would be able to learn a lot from a good college coach, don't you? You think his HS coaching taught him all he needs for the NBA?
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Originally posted by Dan_ref
Well, let's see...odds are he'll go first in the NBA draft. Evidence seems to indicate the answers to your questions are "no" and "yes".
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Kwame Brown went first in the draft, and you can't answer either of those questions the way you did with respect to his game. He would have benefited greatly from some NCAA prep, and he didn't learn everything he needed for the NBA in HS. It is ridiculous to assert that HS play can prepare a kid for an 82 game pro season where, every night, the worst guys on the bench are bette than the guys you played last year. And you are not expected to be at the level of those bench players, you are supposed to be taking it to the other team's starting line-up every night - that's why you are the #1 pick.
NBA teams take a LeBron James because they feel they have to, since a kid with his raw talent doesn't come around every day. Even if he isn't ready yet, they will never have a kid with his talent if they don't pick him first (or so they believe). Clearly, many of the direct to pro players like Kobe, KG, T-Mac, and Jermaine O'Neal are at the top of the league now, but it took time to get there. And not everyone does it. It's worth the investment if you can hang onto them long enough to benefit from them.
It is extremely rare for a HS kid come in and be productive his first year the way that Jordan did, or any other strong post-college #1 pick. Amare Stoudamire is exceptional because he is the lone exception.
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The problem is not that these kids need more *basketball* experience/education. The problem is they need more *life* experience (and usually 30 more lbs of muscle). It's a rare HS kid that can compete with men in the high pressure, high stakes, high visibility world of pro sports. To a large degree they might be just as well served if they joined the plumbers union & matured for 2 or 3 years. Or even the Navy for that matter. So, what you're really saying here is that big time NCAA basketball serves as the minor leagues for the NBA. Could very well be true. Anyway, I'll stick by my original statement but change it slightly, because the maturity issue is a major problem for many of these kids: there is nothing LJ will learn in college
that he couldn't learn on the job that he'll need to be a succesful pro.