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<sup>2</sup> Bodenburg, Rob, Ryan Canner-O'mealy, Jon Mahoney, and Ben Sylvan. "Scouting the Nation." High School Hoops 2005: 16-17.

<sup>3</sup> Mahoney, Jon. "Next Question?" High School Hoops 2005: 38-39.


==External links==
==External links==

Revision as of 06:17, 3 March 2008

The NBA Draft is an annual North American event in which the National Basketball Association's (NBA) thirty teams (29 in the United States and one in Toronto, Canada) can select players who wish to join the league. These players usually come from the college level, but in recent drafts a greater number of international and high school players have been drafted. As of the 2006 NBA Draft, high school players gain eligibility for draft selection one year after their graduating class has finished high school, but only if they also are at least 19 years of age as of the end of the calendar year of the draft.[1]

Selection process

All American players are automatically eligible to enter the draft at the end of their college eligibility. Through the 2005, American players were also allowed to declare eligibility for the draft at any time between high school graduation and the completion of their college eligibility. International players could declare eligibility in the calendar year of their 18th birthday, or later.

The collective bargaining agreement between the league and its players union, which took effect with the 2005-06 NBA season, established new eligibility rules to end the former practice of high schoolers jumping to the NBA. The 2006 NBA Draft was the first under these new rules, which are:

  • All players must be at least 19 years of age during the calendar year of the draft.
  • A player who completed basketball eligibility at an American high school must also be at least one year removed from the graduation of his high school class.

The agreement contains two draft declaration dates. All players who wish to be drafted, and are not automatically eligible, must declare their eligibility no later than 60 days before the draft. After this date, prospective draftees may attend NBA pre-draft camps and individual team workouts to show off their skills and obtain feedback regarding their draft positions. A player may withdraw his name from consideration from the draft at any time before the final declaration date, which is 10 days before the draft. A player who declares for the draft will lose his college eligibility, even if he is not drafted, if any of the following is true:

  • The player signs with an agent.
  • The player has declared for and withdrawn from a previous draft. Although the NBA collective bargaining agreement allows a player to withdraw twice,[1] the NCAA only allows one withdrawal.

When a player is selected in the first round of the draft, the team that selected him is required to sign him to at least a two-year contract with a team option for a third and fourth year. Teams own the rights to players selected in the second round for three years, but the teams are not required to sign them.

Impact on High School Players

Before the new rule was put in place due to the collective bargaining agreement, high school athletes who were potential draftees would have a load of stress in their final year before graduation. The big decision was whether or not to attend college or go straight into the NBA. In the past ten years (specifically when Kevin Garnett made the prep-to-pro jump), more attention has been put on high school basketball players. Now, with the collective bargaining agreement in place, requiring that those entering the draft must be one year removed from high school graduation, high school stars only have to worry about committing to a college.

In the third annual High School Hoops magazine2, the players weighed in on the subject. Many of them felt that it was a ridiculous rule to be put in place. Kansas state freshman Bill Walker, said (as a junior in high school), “I’m against it. I don’t see why you have to be 19 to play a game of basketball when you can be 18 and go to war for our country and die. It’s ridiculous.” Jerryd Bayless (now a guard at Arizona) said “It’s not fair at all. If a tennis player can go pro at 13, I don’t understand why a basketball player can’t go pro at 18.” The hands down number one pick, had the rule not been put in place, was Greg Oden (now with the Portland Trail Blazers in the NBA). When asked about the agreement he said “It’s unfair, but it’s over with now, so there’s no reason to complain.” In spite of the claims that the rule is unfair, Wayne Ellington, now a guard with North Carolina, said that “…I also think it’s going to help the league a little bit. Some guys who come in, like from this year’s draft, it will help.” Brandan Wright (now with the Golden State Warriors) said that “It may hurt guys who need money, but it will help people grow and develop.”

Despite the players disagreement with the new rule, there is a lot of pressure that is now being taken off of their backs. The first question that these stars would get was, “Are you going to the NBA?” The instant fame and money is what is so appealing to many of these young players. Now that the NBA question will be put on hold until, at least, they have finished their first year of college, the next question is, “Where will you commit?” Most of the players, even those who intended on going straight to the pros, made college visits and verbally committed somewhere. Most of them had a back up plan if they decided at the last minute not to go pro. Greg Oden was in the spotlight his senior year about where he would go to college. Once he decided, he was able to work on his game, dominate his opposition, and have fun in his last year of high school. Jack Keefer, Oden’s high school coach at Lawrence North, Indiana, said, “I really think he thought he was going to college. He seems to be more at ease with himself right now. I think the stress came with worrying about the NBA.”

Even though many of the players thought the collective bargaining agreement was unfair, it does relieve a lot of pressure that they have to face in their final campaigns as high school athletes. It allows them to make a decision about college, and then move on with their lives.

Sociological Impact

High profile athletes have a huge role on the perspectives and impact of a league. However, the NBA has taken a new line a precaution towards its younger upcoming athletes. They have implemented a new rule concerning eligibility of athletes allowed to enter the draft. This new rule is mainly focused to athletes graduating high school in a hope to pursue there athletic careers into the professionals. Many think that the road to college is unnecessary and they can jump straight to the NBA. Commissioner David Stern has been trying to have a new rule put in place and he finally did that in the 2005 season. This new rule made it that high school athletes have to attend at least one year of college in order to declare for draft.

There are many impacts that this new rule will have on the game of basketball, both on and off the court. The first obvious change will be that there will no longer be high school athletes entering or being selected in upcoming years drafts. This rule was mostly put into place after many years due to the 1995 draft. This is where high school phenomenon Kevin Garnett was drafted with the fifth selection by the Minnesota Timberwolves. Since then the majority of draftees taken in the first round over the years have been straight out of high school. This is totally different because in the past the percentage of athletes leaving college early was minimum. In the 1970’s, 1980’s, and early 1990’s the chance of a player leaving before his junior year was absurd and graduation rates were a lot higher then today.

For the standpoint of college basketball fans, the number of high profile athletes coming out of high school will now be forced to sign that letter of intent to play for one of there favorite college organizations. This will raise the amount of fan base for certain college programs. When high school players were being taken right away the amount of complaints from not only college fans, but colleges in general was at its highest due to the fact that the collegiate atmosphere had become less exciting. Also colleges are known for giving athletic scholarships to those athletes they seemed fit and deserving. However, when these high profile athletes decide to go to college they know in there minds that there not staying for all four years or even three as a matter of fact. When this happens organizations are wasting scholarships that could be given to athletes who are more deserving and will use then to benefit them the most. Because of this coaches are now more inclined to think more about whom they give these scholarships to. They only get a certain amount ever year and if players decide to leave after one or two years those scholarships are lost forever and the program is thus worse off. Players who leave early hurt the graduation rates at there particular college, and many schools are looked at based on graduation percentage. High prestige schools such as North Carolina, Texas, Kansas, UCLA, Arizona and others have great programs but horrible graduation rates because players are leaving early and going to the NBA. However schools such as Texas Tech, Indiana, Duke, Florida and others have both great programs and graduation rates because of the coaches there. These coaches recruit players that are yes good, but want to learn to better themselves for the future.

List of first overall picks

Main article: NBA first overall draft pick

Past NBA drafts

Some of the most famous NBA draft years were 1984, 1996, and the 2003. Each of those is often referred to as one of, if not the, best NBA Draft ever, though the 2003 Draft was too recent to accurately compare. The 2000 NBA Draft is generally regarded as the worst in history. The 1986 Draft was notable for the number of solid and even outstanding players selected in later rounds, partly because of drug problems that claimed the life of second overall pick Len Bias and affected the careers of several other first-round picks.

Similar Topics

Notes and references

  1. ^ For example, under current NBA Draft rules, late 1980s and early 1990s star Brad Daugherty would not have been eligible until two years after his high school graduation, because he graduated from high school while still 16. On the other hand, highly-touted USC freshman O.J. Mayo turned 19 six months before graduating from high school, but will not be eligible until the 2008 draft.

2 Bodenburg, Rob, Ryan Canner-O'mealy, Jon Mahoney, and Ben Sylvan. "Scouting the Nation." High School Hoops 2005: 16-17.

3 Mahoney, Jon. "Next Question?" High School Hoops 2005: 38-39.

External links

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