HMMM. Have we all lost balls?

[PhillyDC]

man, im not even gonna argue wit u. smalls things and big things count. but whatever, i can respect ur argument and others and wont call u stupid, cant make u respect his w/o calling him stupid. whatever, i still think race has somethin to do wit it. no one has presented an argument to the contrary.

[PhillyDC]

whatever man. stop b!thcing. u tryin to make it something out of nothing. the way i type has nothing to do with my intelligence. lazy with the typing yes, intelligence, no. yall got issues on this board.

[PhillyDC]

wow. sounds like u got some bent up stuff inside. im always happy when one of my people's get $$4, unlike others. call me whatever, but i want other black to succeed.

[Wretch]

Regardless of what color they are. I respect people who work hard and earn what they get - instead of walking around with a hand out. If I had an issue with pampered millionaires playing a game, there is no way I'd spend so much time involved with it. And I damn sure wouldn't pay money to watch them. So it's pretty much dead where you're trying to go with that whole argument about "underlying issues."

The only issue that I take is with my people working hard to finally get to a place in socieity where they can say something and be heard...and they rattle of the most ignorant, unfounded, bullsh#t.

It was racism upmty million years ago when we couldn't play the game or even WATCH it up close. It is not racism when the league wants to implement a rule that prevents PEOPLE OF ALL COLORS UNDER THE AGE OF 20 from coming into the league without some semi-pro or collegiate experience.

[Diesel]

Quote:

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reach out to the europlayer? how so? because, under their system, if they get older, they get more pt, and thereby more polished???

isn't that what making guys go to college or the Nbdl accomplishes as well? getting (most) more pt (in college) than they would garner in the pros.

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That's just it, they don't get old enough to get playing time. This yr it's Marty A. Years before it was Weiss, Vuljacic, that Greek Guy, and even Big Jake. These guys declare for the NBA Draft and they really don't have much playing time to their credit. However, because Stern wants NBA to be international, he will accept most anything from Europe.. and shows some disdain toward the HSers? It's funny because the best players in the league right now are the HSers... and Duncan and Shaq.

[Diesel]

Who cares about the Euroleagues? Stern does. He's mandating that HSers go to college but he would allow Europlayers to go pro... If it is true that Stern would be willing to lift the age limit for Europlayers, I think it's definitely some type of racism there.

[Diesel]

Quote:

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he bottom line here is that firstly, nobody is telling these kids that they HAVE to go to college.

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C'mon Wretch.. By putting an age limit on the NBA, what choice do these kids have if they want exposure? What Stern is in effect doing is funneling kids into college. The problem is what is his basis for doing it? He can't say that going to college will make them better players? The last 2 maybe 3 HSers were the rookie of the year. The track record on those who make the jump is much better than those who didn't. Lastly... Guys like Olowakhandi who finished 4 yrs of college and was draft 1st overall puts a dent in the credibility of college players.

So why does Stern want this age limit?

[Diesel]

You're looking at the wrong end of this. You're looking at the effect. A kid waiting 2 yrs before being drafted..

That's the effect. In the effect, you have to consider where will the kid wait?

AH? If he wants to be considered for the draft, he has to play somewhere... Either in College or in Stern's NBADL...

So... let's take it back to the purpose..

The Purpose is to save the NCAA system.

You can't make the argument that the purpose is to make these guys better players... Right now HSers are dominanting the rookie classes. Last 2 ROY have been HSers and Howard is in the running for this one.

You got to look at who will profit more. The biggest winner is the NCAA.. They get at least 2 yrs of the phenoms that they had been missing.

To me that's crap! College isn't for everybody. Moreover, they don't get paid in college. It makes a mockery out of the word scholarship and in the end, colleges makes MILLIONS of dollars off of tv contracts because of these kids. It's like enslavement.

However, CHillz... If the league collectively bargain to do this, then it's LAW.

However, this was JO's whole purpose. He wanted to get to the purpose of stopping HSers from making the jump... He called racism, but the truth is, before they go into a new collective bargain, he needs to have this discussion with Stern (if he is a player rep).

[chillzatl]

He's not mandating that highschoolers go to college. He's mandating an AGE REQUIREMENT FOR ALL PLAYERS. Show me some facts that backup your claim that he would let this slide for euro players.

[Bulldog]

A few of my observations:

1. i dont think anyone is suggesting that under 20 americans would not be allowed and under 20 euros would be allowed. I dont see any logic in that at all.

2. By the way - if the limit was introduced these High Schoolers STILL CAN go pro if they want to...In Europe. They still have that choice and that freedom.

3. Higher ratings and merchandising does not equal better basketball. I do not think that it can be disputed that OVERALL the quality of basketball in the NBA has diminished. There are more teams and more dilution of talent. Pearl Harbor sold more tickets than Pulp Fiction...and I know which has the better quality content.

4. Johnson paid market rate for the Bobcats. If Bill Gates was buying the Bobcats that would have been the price he paid. P Diddy isnt an owner because he doesnt want to be as he clearly has the money.

5. I do not see the age limit as racist at all. It applies to people of all races and creeds. I think it really is to stop the draft being SUCH a huge crapshoot as it is now, and back to the mild crapshoot of before.

6. Having said that I oppose the age limit - teams dont have to draft high schoolers. they can take who they want to. And I agree that if you can die for your country you should be able to play pro ball in that country (and have a beer for that matter).

[chillzatl]

If you want to claim intelligence, take the type to type out your words. This isn't yahoo chat for 12 year olds and we're not text messaging love letters. We're discussing basketball and your l33t style makes your posts annoying to read and makes you look like an unintelligent kid.

[PhillyDC]

if u think someone is unintelligent by the way they type on a message board then u have deeper issues. u acting like we at the UN discussing world hunger. like u said we r only talking b-ball, so lighten up. i dont sit here and point out the mistakes in your posts. thats childish. if u dont like the way i type on the board and find it annoying there is a simple solution, dont read it!

[chillzatl]

pointing out mistakes is one thing, though you won't find many in my posts. Typing like a 12 year old is another.

Maybe a simpler solution would be preventing you from posting at all, so I don't have to read your unintelligible gibberish.

[PhillyDC]

im not gonna change the way i type. i know how intelligent i am. do what u gotta do.

[chillzatl]

you type the way you learned to type and you obviously learned to type chatting on yahoo or your cell phone. Is this how you type in your professional life? Assuming you have one. How much longer does it take you to type legibly?

And sorry, the way you type does reflect on your intelligence. It shows that you don't have enough pride in what you're saying to care that it looks like it came from a child.

But as you said, I'll do what a gotta do!

[PhillyDC]

like i said b4 i see the audience im dealing with. i know what i have a degree in, i know who i work for, and i know how much i get paid. u can rant all u want about the way i type. u can think u r more intelligent than me b/c of the way i type, whatever, i dont really care 1 way or the other.

i know myself.

[Weez]

no, the HSers can easily turn pro LONG before they even graduate HS~ they simply have to go overseas to do so. I'm not sure if anyone has actually done this, but hte option is there.

Ok, so Euro's turn pro at 15, getting paid over there (but generally not getting a ton of pt)~~and can do so until the age of 20, when they can elect to try the NBA if they want...

I see no difference. The only conclusion that could be drawn from that is simply that the 'Euro Leagues' in general are 'not racist' while the NBA/US is because players, be they Michael Pietrus, Diaw, or Marty A can turn pro at and earlier age, and, by doing so, gain an un-fair advantage over US players when trying to enter the NBA.

[chillzatl]

Don't be upset. I never said I was more intelligent than you. I only said that I appear that way because I type like an adult.

I also know where you work and I'm surprised that you educated yourself to that level and don't have more pride in the things you type.

[PhillyDC]

end of that discussion, let's just stick to talking hoops.

[Brxa]

Philly you forgot undrafted HS players when you were listing those. Lenny Cooke, Jackie Butler off the top of my head, but there were more. Also when you compared Deshawn Stevensons class and mentioned Cooke, Bell and Howard you failed to mention the college players that left early for the NBA, after 1,2 or 3 years in college.

There were also many European players coming into the league that were 20 and under: Biedrins, Milicic, Sztiskitishvili, Pavlovic, Podkolzine, Planinic and more. This rule hurts the Europeans just as much. Because when their junior contracts expire they will prolly be forced to sign long term contracts with large buy-outs that they will end up paying if they want to come to the NBA, as the NBA team can only pay 350,000.