Mark Cuban is back in the media today, campaigning for the NBA to change its draft eligibility rules and make players ineligible until after their third year of school.
The benefits to the NBA are obvious; the pros would get a much longer look at prospects, reducing the possibility they'd whiff on a lottery pick. They'd also benefit from the additional name recognition that players might build up in three years of college ball.
The benefit to the NCAA would be even greater. After all, who wouldn't want to see Anthony Davis or Michael Kidd-Gilchrist defend Kentucky's national title.
Of course... this change wouldn't benefit everyone. As usual, the players would get screwed... forced to perform for the benefit of their schools, ESPN and the other media partners without a penny of compensation. And I've yet to hear a good reason why basketball players shouldn't be allowed to leave school and make money in their chosen profession; that worked out pretty well for Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg, after all.
If it were left to me, I'd re-write the eligibility rules to mirror Major League Baseball's. Let players enter the draft out of high school. But once they enter college, they are ineligible to re-enter the draft until after their junior seasons. That would allow the Kobe Bryants and LeBron Jameses of the world to enter the league out of high school, while lesser talents have the opportunity to improve in college.
And wouldn't it be entertaining to hear some superstar prospect tell Mark Cuban, "I'm sorry, I can't accept that contract offer, so I'm going to go to school for the next three years and then re-enter the draft."
- Mavericks' Mark Cuban -- Make players stay 3 years in NCAA - ESPN Dallas.
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