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[QUOTE="pfister1, post: 1806527, member: 285"]
I think what many people fail to acknowledge is that the NBA has set up a system where a certain number of previously amateur players "have to" get paid each year.    Every year a minimum of 30 previously amateur players get a guaranteed contract as first round picks.  Teams can't pass on their picks.   Just because you are in a position to be one of the lucky 30 does not mean that you are going to be a successful NBA player...ever.     In other words a guy who is identified as one of the lucky 30 this year, may never actually have what it takes to make an NBA roster, but for being in the right time and at the right place to be one of the lucky 30.

So does JB owe his players an obligation to tell them when he thinks the iron is hot, absolutely!! or he is not doing what is in their best interests and will quickly begin to have difficulty recruiting top players.     There are lots of guys that may by circumstances be in a position to be a first round pick in a given year, but have no real chance of making a roster in later years.    Not because they didn't improve, but because there were 30 better options for the NBA to blow its money on.

The system isn't truly set up for NBA teams to simply take the 13 best players available x 30 (390 players).   Instead at least 30 of those slots each year goes to a previously amateur player.   Many of them are taken by guys with who weren't not among/or are no longer among the best 390 players in the world, but have a contractual commitment from a club.

So your comparison to MCW, Dion or Grant is not a good one either.  Did those guys truly have the opportunity to jump as freshman?   What would have happened if they had stayed until they were juniors?    If you recall JB advised against Grant going as a sophomore.

Except for guys that are transcendent talents the question is more one of timing than it is ready/not ready.    Mal may be more physically ready next year, but that doesn't mean there will be someone interested in giving him the opportunity next year...for any number of reasons.
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