Mark Cuban says 'horrible' state of college basketball hurting NBA

[Knicks411]

Oh, so the littany of high school entrants that followed Lebron / Kobe were all superstars? Most of them were washouts who flamed out quickly. Trying to get superstars is the goal of every NBA team. Drafting Kwame Brown or swinging for the fences with Lasagna Flop or Ndubi Ibi wasn't rational at all. Those were desperation moves, hoping to catch lightning in a bottle.

Also, Redd could shoot; I would figure you'd have a scatterplot poster dedicated to him somewhere in your cube.

It was basically a catch 22 for the teams, after the guys you mentioned became superstars teams really didn't want to miss out on the next big guy, plus also that lead more talented players to want to leave early since KG, Kobe, etc did it.

At the same time, the gut feeling I have right now is that the late 90's early 2000 drafts weren't full of great players of any age, so it's possible no strategy may have worked out real well. I randomly looked at 1998, no high schoolers taken till 26, and Olowakandi was a 4 year player and one of th ebiggest draft busts in a long time. I mean, my god, look at the 2000 draft. Kawame was definitely a bust in 2001, but Chandler went #2 overall and he's been a hell of a player.( let's not talk about Curry or Diop)

Edit: Now i'm randomly looking at drafts, 1999 draft was really pretty strong at the top. Good thing my team took Freddy Weis that year.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

I swear to God the anti NBA comments are spoken from people that must only be watching the Knicks and then extrapolating that crap to the rest of the league.

Ive never seen "team ball" like I have started to see the last few years from many NBA teams. Atlanta, Golden State, Spurs, Rockets, Cleveland...these teams pass the ball around like its a hot potato and get great looks.

Harden is thought of a a ball hog but check out his assist totals.

That old NBA iso crap is long gone from the repertoire of actual good teams.

The perceive notion that they dont play defense is out there because the players make scoring look easy. Its really hard to defend when everyone on the court can shoot from outside and has enough handle and strength do go inside as well.

 

[Lawrinson14]

Not sure where you get 25-28 years old from what I posted. The 3 year guarantee was for kids straight out of high school to make sure they have a chance to develop before the NBA throws them away. Guys coming after 3-4 years of college would be business as usual, guaranteed contract for first rounders, no guarantee for second round.

Sorry. Brain fart.

 

[Lawrinson14]

I guess what I'm about to say will come off sounding not so PC, but who the heck really cares.

Another issue I have with college basketball has to do with the fact that I used to enjoy watching it for at least the facade of innocence. Remember when players actually looked like they were just teenagers fresh out of high school? Baggy, non-form fitting uniforms flowing with each sprint up the court? Clean, non-tatooed arms, necks, etc?

Pepperidge Farm remembers...

 

[HOFCeluck]

The perceive notion that they dont play defense is out there because the players make scoring look easy. Its really hard to defend when everyone on the court can shoot from outside and has enough handle and strength do go inside as well.

People here have become so accustomed to the college game that it's inconceivable that a player can have more than one skill.

 

[sufandu]

I guess what I'm about to say will come off sounding not so PC, but who the heck really cares.

Another issue I have with college basketball has to do with the fact that I used to enjoy watching it for at least the facade of innocence. Remember when players actually looked like they were just teenagers fresh out of high school? Baggy, non-form fitting uniforms flowing with each sprint up the court? Clean, non-tatooed arms, necks, etc?

Pepperidge Farm remembers...

That's part of why I reluctantly want the NBA to just develop a real farm league. As much as I'd love to watch the best players play college ball, I'd rather see the kids that don't give a crap about college to just stay away altogether. Give college basketball fans the opportunity to develop a fanhood for and get to know college players that stay 3-4 years and for those guys, most of which will never be heard from after college, spend that time in the lime light rather than have a new crop of one-and-doners hog the spotlight every year.

 

[jncuse]

NBA Draft is becoming more like the MLB draft and less like the NFL draft by the year. I mean see potential in some of these guys but if my team is struggling I don't see a top 5 NBA player in this class for like 3-4 years.

It's been the exact same draft mix (in terms of classes) for about 10 years.