New NBA commissioner Adam Silver has brought up the idea of changing the NBA’s age limit, making high school seniors wait two years before entering the draft.
Although coaches have used one-and-done players to win a title (See Carmelo Anthony at Syracuse and Anthony Davis at Kentucky), all coaches wish they had more time with those players.
According to Billy Donovan, the coach of the top-ranked Florida Gators, colleges assume all of the risk with one-and-done players.
“College basketball coaches and programs are taking on all the risks,” Donovan told Mike Bianchi of The Orlando Sentinel. “The kid doesn’t want to be in college and wants to be in the NBA, but because of the rules, he has to stay in college. Now you’re opening yourself up for potential NCAA violations. … You’ve got players like Jabari Parker [Duke] or Julius Randle [Kentucky], and there is so much coming at these kids. If a kid takes something he’s not supposed to take or he is enticed into something, it’s the colleges that are put in harm’s way.”
Donovan brings up an interesting point and sounds like he is arguing players should be allowed to enter the draft out of high school if they are not interested in attending college.
A one-and-done player will almost assuredly be the top pick again in 2014.
Whether that’s Joel Embiid or Andrew Wiggins of Kansas or Jabari Parker of Duke is the question.