Congressman to NBA: Leave age limit out of next CBA

[Dekko1]

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/story/11816994

U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) wrote a letter Wednesday to NBA commissioner David Stern and NBA Players Association executive director Billy Hunter that asks them to eliminate the league’s 19-year-old age minimum for U.S. players to enter the draft.
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CBSSports.com obtained a copy of the letter from Cohen's office.

"I am writing to express my deep concern over the policy of the National Basketball Association [NBA] to bar athletes from playing in the league on the basis of their age," Cohen's letter to Stern begins. "The '19 plus 1' policy, which requires American players to be at least 19 years of age and one year removed from their high school graduating class, is unfair restriction on the rights of these young men to pursue their intended career. I also believe that it has played an important role in several recent scandals involving college students who were prevented from entering the NBA upon high school graduation. I ask that this policy be repealed when the NBA completes its new collective bargaining agreement with the NBA Players Association."

Cohen expanded on his thoughts in an afternoon interview with CBSSports.com. He said though he represents a district that includes Memphis, the timing of his letter is unrelated to recent news that the University of Memphis men's basketball program has been charged with major violations by the NCAA. Rather, the timing is connected to Thursday's start of the NBA Finals, and Cohen said he has long planned to send his letter this week because he expected two stars who never attended college to be participating on the sports' biggest stage.

"We've been looking at the issue since April, to be honest," Cohen said by phone. "We were expecting a Kobe-LeBron Finals, but we got a Kobe-Dwight Finals, which is just as fine because we've got two players who went straight from high school to the NBA [in the Finals], and it didn't seem to hurt them at all in their development as players."

Cohen said he talked with Al Harrington about the issue at the Kentucky Derby.

Harrington entered the 1998 NBA Draft after graduating high school and has made more than $40 million as a professional.

"He brought it up," Cohen said. "He said it ought to be changed."

The age-limit rule first affected high school players who would've otherwise been eligible for the 2006 NBA Draft, specifically Greg Oden, Kevin Durant and Thaddeus Young. It is also considered the primary reason why O.J. Mayo and Derrick Rose spent one year each in college -- a year that subsequently caused Southern California and Memphis to deal with allegations of NCAA violations.

Cohen reiterated that he believes the age-limit rule is responsible for these scandals. He added that he's "looking into proposing legislation on the issue" and that he wants Stern and Hunter to appear before Congress and "explain what their position is."

"It's a restrain of trade on these kids, and you see it in the NFL and NBA," Cohen said. "You don't see it in Major League Baseball. I was watching the [Memphis] Redbirds play ... and I was looking at the field and there wasn't an African-American player on the field when the Iowa Cubs played the Redbirds [in a Triple-A baseball game]. I didn't see one on either team, and I thought, 'This is a white sport. And tennis is a white sport. And golf is a white sport. And swimming is a white sport. And hockey is a white sport. And they don't have these restrictions. But basketball and football are predominantly African-American sports, and that's where they have the rule that forces players into college [instead of] going straight to the pros. Something here doesn't compute."

[wd707]

I agree you GOT to take the age limit 1 year college rule out. It's crap all it does is water down college sports by making a player go to college or overseas for a year. It's just a formality. So get rid of the age thing. If you want to come out of high school then thats fine. But to force them to go to college is complete stupidity.

Why they implemented this rule? I have no idea. THe only idea I can think of is that for some reason stern thought the guys would end up going for 3 or 4 years to college (yea right, like that would happen) but otherwise I don't understand.

[FGump]

I agree the 1-year wait is lousy in creating 1-and-dones, but they need to make the rule two years not one. Why is this rule good? Because it moves some of the "not yet ready to play" development from the NBA to someone else, and also creates anticipation for fans waiting for players to get eligible.

Delaying an entry into the NBA doesn't water down the product, in fact it makes it stronger because you still will have the same players, only some of them they will have a year or two more experience and notoriety before they hit the NBA. And having an extra year of maturity doesn't hurt either.

One more thing: the oft-stated idea that this forces players into college is a bogus objection. They can choose between college, Europe, the D-league, or whatever else they want to do. They just have to get to a certain age before the NBA wants them in the league.

This congressman is an idiot. Turning it into some sort of racial issue? Sheesh.