NBA Draft Needs a "Minimum Basic Skills Test"

At the annual NBA draft this Thursday, at least five of the top six picks will be "one-and-done" players. These are players who, blocked by NBA's collectively bargained 19-old year age limit, unconsciously play a year of college ball then go straight to the pros.

The age limit is a blatant restraint of trade and I can't believe somebody hasn't taken it to court. The New York Times sportswriter William C. Rhoden sees collusion, calling the restriction a

"three-tiered maneuver by the N.C.A.A., the N.B.A. and the players union to prevent talented high school players from going directly to the N.B.A."

I tend to agree.

Proponents of the rule say that the 365-day gap between high school and the pros helps prepare the players who are somehow not ready for the NBA. Well, some are ready and some aren't. For every Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James there is an equal or greater amount of players who come straight out high school, languish at the ends of NBA benches or are quickly out of basketball altogether. The NBA doesn't really have much of minor league per se. So on draft day, it falls on the NBA GM's who must gamble whether a high school post-grad has the skills necessary to immediately compete in the league or whether that youngster's raw physical talent will quickly mature into professional material. Either way, it's hard to pass up on the unrealized potential which is being identified younger and younger every day.

Rhoden calls 18-year old high school star Brandon Jennings a "trendsetter" for his "brilliant" idea to snub his nose at the NCAA and play for pay in Europe for a year. That solves the restraint of trade problem but not the quality of basketball issue.

Even with the forced one-year, pre-NBA apprenticeship -- be it in Europe or the NCAA -- the problem remains that many young players arrive in the NBA having missed an entire level of basketball education. The NBA shouldn't be a place where one learns basketball fundamentals for the first time. Shouldn't draftees be close or near professional grade already? Isn't that what we pay for -- to see the craft performed at its highest level?

I say, scrap the age limit but administer an "NBA Minimum Basic Skills Test." Like any profession where you earn of lot of money commensurate with highly skilled expertise and requisite education -- medicine, law, accounting -- make NBA players wanting to earn the league minimum $200,000-plus submit to a licensure exam. Electricians, plumbers, contractors and teachers all have licenses. Why not NBA players?

Establish a licensing board of coaches and legends that put player-applicants through a battery of tests and determine whether they have mastered the necessary skills to be certified as an NBA player. Who would question a Regents-like panel of Magic Johnson, Morgan Wooten, Bob Hurley, Sr, Larry Bird, Lenny Wilkens and Oscar Robertson?

Proficiency areas to be tested would include: rotating on defense, fighting through a screen, the pick and roll, boxing out, successfully executing a 3-on-2 fast break, etc. If they pass they get their NBA Draft card which permits them, upon being drafted, to automatically become a "Licensed NBA Professional." If they fail, they can work on their skills wherever they want - Europe, NCAA, NBA D-League, Nike Camp - and take the test again. But they can't come in until they've passed.

Licensing doesn't stop a team from signing a player or paying them. It just keeps them off the NBA court until they prove they can play the game according to league standards. And the league should have standards.

Putting a prophylactic age limit doesn't ensure professional standards. Requiring that the word "professional" means something does.

Comments

[RedWhiteandBlueState]

And who pays for this? Seriously, I've heard some ridiculous ideas but this takes the cake. It is a private league, it can make its own rules.

[uheardme]

I'm surprised its taken this long for the kids to figure out that they can play in other leagues besides making some college coach filthy rich (Mike K). Good for Brandon.

[myhomeo]

In most cases it's more a question of maturity than a question of skills. If the player doesn't have the skills then it really doesn't matter anyway.

[Dave Hollander - Huffpost Blogger]

See Dave Hollander's Profile

You also need to distinguish between "skills" and "talent." Talent is something you come by naturally. You're born with it. Skills are something you acquire through hard work and practice. I contend that the NBA is loaded with talent and not enough skill. I believe this is a function of drafting talented players who, at a relatively young age, have not acquired enough skill to have themselves called "professional" basketball players. Some talented players drafted straight out of high school have acquired the skills they needed to elevate them to superstar status. Others are riding on mostly talent but it seems to get them only so far. Most did not have enough talent, never got the skills and remained on the margins of the NBA or were out of basketball not too long after their draft year. The problem is that the drafting frenzy for young talent considerably reduced the skill level in the NBA. And, I believe, the lowering of professional standards in the NBA has a trickle-down effect on collegiate and scholastic levels of basketball, lowering the standard of play there too. We soon may arrive at a point where nobody cares about skills and all they care about is raw talent. My solution is to create a standardized licensing procedure at the professional level to ensure quality or, to it another way, to ensure that there is as much skill as there is talent.

[Dave Hollander - Huffpost Blogger]

See Dave Hollander's Profile

You've got it backward. There are plenty of star NBA players with serious maturity issues who have been in the league for a long time. I'd say the NBA is a case study for not only keeping but touting players with maturity issues.

[Dorraj]

Most of the suggestions including from the author of this article sounds very stupid. If they did not have minimal skills they would not get drafted. If the players are not ready for the NBA dont draft them. Really how hard is that? The author who would question a stellar panel of former legends? The answer is the first one held back by the panel. Sports is a crap shoot no one knows for sure, what athletes will do.

[candlegravity]

Wow, I disagree totally with this. I don't think the NBA needs any more kids in the NBA. In fact, I think they should have not only a basketball test, but some kind of general character proficiency test. With the exception of Labron James, I find the younger players to be way too emotionally inept. I think you can tell a pretty big difference, especially when they are interviewed, between those who have attended some college and those who have not. I think since we've been letting in players at younger and younger ages, you've seen a change in general character that lowers the quality of the game in areas like arguing with the refs. Some people think of it as a sign of the times, but i think there may be a direct correlation between the ages of the players, and more recent problems on the court. Call me old fashioned, but instead of letting in younger players and then having to force referees to spend more time making calls on reactions to calls, I think it would be beneficial on a multitude of levels to have some kind of age regulation.

[radmul]

The NBA has become pro wrestling with the games reffed to get the TV ratings up so who gives a rats ass if the players have no skills.

[UnknownSoldier]

This maybe the begging of the end for the NCAA Basketball programing

[starboymikey]

I'd much prefer to see a real minor league system, like baseball and (to a somewhat lesser extent) hockey have.

You can draft any player over 16 or so, but only in rare cases would younger players come right to the NBA. They'd get a signing bonus that befits the round and position in which they are drafted, be paid some minimal salary, then work their way up through the minors until they're good enough (if ever) to reach the NBA.

Actually, I'd prefer the old system where players had to wait until their college class would have graduated -- i.e., 4 years after they leave high school. But I realize this is no longer viable in the modern, big money era of sports.

I love college basketball, but it's not the same game it used to be when you could watch players develop to the point where they were really ready to rumble with the pros. But college basketball as I knew it is dying, and a minor league system would be better than watch a bunch of second rate kids who will never be good enough for the NBA.

[Nommo]

The league hasn't had standards in decades, if ever. Early on they were so busy keeping players out of the game that the league could not have improved. I don't know if you're paying attention but it seems that fundamentals are no longer part of professional sport play.

I would expect an electrician, a plumber and those in general who would have some impact on my life or the life of my community to be subject to professional standards. Of professional athletes, it does not seem that big an issue. The seats are not emptying because of the level of play, except maybe in Madison Square Garden, where no amount of licensing or speculation is going to help there. Since, it seems, just about any idiot can own a sports franchise, why should we expect any smarts from the players?
Look who hires them in the first place!!!