Is the Era of the One-And-Done Finished in College Basketball?
The answer to the title question is that the so called "one-and-done" era could be coming to a halt. Many believe that this issue of players only playing in college for a single season before jettisoning their way to the NBA draft is thanks to the NCAA, but in fact, quite the opposite is true. The one-and-done came about when the NBA decided to institute an age minimum to enter the NBA draft in 2005. Players were required to be at least 19 years of age or be at least a year removed from high school. The ramifications were swift and immediately premiere NBA-level prospects flocked to schools that embraced their NBA aspirations such as Kentucky, Washington, and recently Duke, to showcase their skills in the college ranks before quickly announcing they would leave following their freshman year for the NBA draft.
It's nearly impossible to know whether the rule worked or not. Sure we missed two years of Ben Simmons thanks to the one-and-done rule, but who knows how many other players would have been completely overwhelmed by an immediate jump to the NBA. We can't extrapolate results for things that didn't happen, but what we can conclude is that a tweak to the current system is a necessity.
Who knows if Kevin Durant would have survived his rookie year without that year at Texas?
According to this article, released yesterday by ESPN's Brian Windhorst, NBA commissioner Adam Silver has announced that he is working on a proposal that would eliminate the one-and-done rule and would allow players to enter the league straight out of high school. While this change would have large ramifications, another piece of the announcement will likely have a longer lasting effect on the quality of future NBA player development.
"We're spending a lot of time on [youth basketball]. I think there is a big opportunity, on a global basis, focus on elite players in terms of better training, better fitness, so that they ultimately can be successful at the highest level," Silver said during All-Star Weekend. "That is something from a league standpoint, together with our teams, we're putting an enormous amount of energy and resources into."
Intersecting in the lives of potential NBA-level prospects with the goal of better developing players physically, mentally, and emotionally will have a far superior impact on the quality of players entering the league than simply allowing high school players to enter the draft again. According to the report, the NBA will look to host camps, tournaments, and other development opportunities for players on track to play in the NBA.
The NBA will also look to beef up the developmental G-League in order to give younger players a better opportunity to develop and showcase their skills against other NBA-level talent on a night to night basis. A more robust G-League will help to remove the need for college basketball to act as a "farm-system" for the NBA and hopefully help to clean up the corrupt college basketball system in place.
The first reported change to the G-League will be to find a way to increase the funding for the league so that players can make a living wage playing basketball for one of these teams. Currently, the maximum G-League salary is $26,000 per season. Sure, teams do have the luxury of signing two players to the "two-way" contracts in which the player is allowed to jump between the NBA team and the franchise's G-League affiliate, but there is still a huge number of players that aren't given one of these contracts and are thus stuck earning far less than their NBA counterparts.
An increased G-League salary could help develop young players here in the US
"We realize that the whole issue of the one-and-done is that we don't operate in isolation, and where we choose to set with our players' association, the minimum age has a direct impact on college basketball as well," Silver said. "We're not by any means rushing through this. I think this is a case where, actually, outside of the cycle of collective bargaining, we can spend more time on it with the players' association, talking to the individual players, talking to the executive board and really trying to understand the pros and cons of potentially moving the age limit."
According to the report, the NBA has no plans to create an "Academy" style of platform for NBA teams like those in Europe and other countries, but the G-League could potentially act as an in-between for players that are good enough to play in the NBA, but just need some extra time and focus to hone their skills. This could be a huge change to the league and as commissioner Adam Silver has said, there is no need to rush to make half-hearted changes.
I hope you enjoyed this article about the potential changes coming to the NBA's one-and-done rule and I would love to hear your comments about what you think of the potential changes. If you did enjoy the piece, please give it an upvote and a resteem. If you'd like to receive a curated email of the best NBA content the internet has to offer every week, please sign up for Swish Weekly at https://mailchi.mp/dfef9429318a/swish-weekly-signup.
I think that it is better to have one-and-done rule because players need to prepare for NBA better. Some height school games are bad and some
˝great ˝players play with kids who are younger than them.
No one rule is going to be best for every single player. Sure LeBron James was great straight out of high school, but think about Kwame Brown who was absolute garbage. There are going to be guys that need the extra time, so why not let NBA teams mold them to their liking rather than have a single year of a college coach running a completely different system try to do so?
Great post! I think the changes are needed and would be very positive for both the NBA and NCAA. While, it has created in one sense, added excitement around who gets the top recruits, etc, obviously it has fed into and helped create the corrupt system that is now in place in college bball. I think the NBA game will benefit greatly from the changes, especially the added funding to the G-League. It's nice to see the League being so pro-active about this and understanding the impact their rule change has had in a very negative way on college basketball. Admitting that this rule has led to the corruption we now see in college bball and then taking these steps to help fix it is the right way to go. It'll be interesting to see all of the changes as they unfold. Great info!
That's definitely something I'm happy about with the new NBA regime. They seem to genuinely care about players, fans, and the organizations and are actually making changes to better the entire NBA experience. While the changes will be great, just the fact that the NBA isn't digging in their heels and is actually open to change is a huge step in the right direction.
Well said. I couldn't agree more!
When the 2017-18 season began, there were few college basketball fans outside of Oklahoma that knew who Trae Young was. But 14 games in, the young point guard has drawn comparisons to Steph Curry. When your game is drawing comparisons to one of the NBA’s best, you’re draft potential is high.
Maybe college basketball fans had no idea who he was. But certainly the nba GM’s and anyone who follows basketball knew who he was. He scored over 40 points a game, was a McDonald all American and there was plenty of “hype”around him. If anything..,,his latest struggles have HURT his stock. He’ll be picked pretty early. But with Ayton, Bagley, Doncic, Porter Jr, Mamba, Jackson and others. Plus the questions about his body holding up to NBA defenders.....he may end up around 6-9. Depends on team needs and evaluation obviously.
But last season? He may have gone higher.
Just my opinion. : )
This is also a pretty deep draft class so maybe he potentially waits a year and tries to be a top three pick next year? I don't see it happening, but it's a definite possibility.
Without a doubt the rule was never put into place to "protect" young men that were not mature enough yet for the professional life. Nor was it because the kids were not ready physically. We all know that the players union did this to hold onto those last years of aging role players. The old vets were being thinned out from young talent and the rule itself has probably saved a dozen or so jobs a year.
The rule is silly, unlike the NFL where you can make a case for their bodies not being ready to take the brutality of the NFL game. Soccer, NHL and MLB all allow you to make a living as soon as you are able and willing to make the leap. I really believe in light of what's happened with the payouts in the college game....lots of eggs on faces right now and this would be a "quick fix". I'm sure the NCAA and NBA are discussing this. Yes it's the NCAA that is in hot water right now. And I understand that this is a NBA rule. But the embarrassment could be gone quickly with allowing players to have endorsement deals and also being compensated for their likeness being used in products and projects. Add the one and done rule going away.....and it's problem solved. Of course there will be consequences of this that I won't get into now. But this will smooth things over in the short term.
BTW-I totally agree with the funding of the G-league needing to be raised to pay these guys a decent wage. Between the G-League and overseas opportunities, players can develop while not starving.
Great post!!!
: )
I agree -- to put more time, energy and money behind the G-League. I think that'll have a long range effect as long as Silver continues thinking progressively and is willing to make the right changes -- which it appears he's open to. (Btw, upvoted and followed.)
To be honest, I never agreed with this rule in the NBA. Since although it is true that the intention was that at university level players expand their horizons and not make wrong decisions. We will never know if this rule was successful or not, because as you say, we can not know what did not happen. I personally believe that many of the players and current stars of the NBA as Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, Blake Griffin and many more, were already prepared to go to the NBA since high school, and that year by the NCAA despite Give them a little maturity, it did not greatly influence academically speaking if it was what they wanted. The G-League seems to me a more formal proposal, as it would be more related to the NBA and players could through this improve to debut in the NBA. With better salaries in the G-league no doubt the players will be more comfortable with this plan, and something if I'm sure is that they must make a decision on this issue, as we are once again witnessing young talents that from the high school are ready for the NBA, Zion Williamson is one of them. Here I leave my humble opinion, everything about the NBA I like to discuss it.
I agree that there are definitely the Kyries, KD's, and Blake Griffin's of the world, but think about all the guys that went straight from high school and completely flamed out (Sebastian Telfair, Kwame Brown, Eddy Curry, etc.) . The hope is that the new system will be able to build a better process for guys that need time to better themselves and their game in order to play at the highest level.
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I agree with you that the current system is a necessity.
I do not think the players are 19 years old too bad. .
Thank you for your info
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Excellent piece. I fully agree. It's starting to look like we might see some changes to this system and the age limit is probably the first target for reform of some sort.