2008 Woodie Awards
Drama Sports
Jose Ortiz
Issue date: 10/30/03 Section: Sports
- Page 1 of 2 next >
The start of the new NBA season kicked off on Tuesday the 28th of October, and the wait is over. Lebron James will finally take the court on Wednesday against the Kings, and the reign of "King James" begins.
Not since a man named Kareem Abdul Jabbar, has there ever been so much hype over a rookie coming into the pros. Not Magic, not Bird, not Jordan, not even Shaq came into the league with so much expected of him. This 18-year-old is already worth 120 million dollars, and he's never played in an NBA game.
In recent years then NBA has been flooded with players who have left college early, and now even more recently, the NBA has opened its doors to seniors in high school, and are even starting to look at juniors.
What's the problem with this? When you have players like Carmello Anthony, Dwayne Wade, and of course Lebron who come into the pros before finishing off their college years, the NBA sends the message that if you are good at basketball, you don't need to go to school.
Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, Tracy Mcgrady, Jermaine Oneal, Shawn Kemp, and last year's rookie sensation Amare Stodamire, all came out of high school right to the pros.
Most of the players take until their third or fourth year in the NBA to really break out, funny how that time frame coincides with when they would have graduated from college.
The NBA, unlike the MLB has a virtually free farm system in college basketball. But the association is ruining that by taking players before they are ready. Not even Wilt Chamberlain was allowed to forgo hi last college season at Kansas, he was made to play with the Harlem Globetrotters for one season before turning pro.
If Wilt "The Stilt" or Michael Jordan didn't come out at least until they were juniors, what makes Lebron James so different? Is he a better player? Is he special? No, its just that ever since the departure of the Jordan era, the NBA has been in desperate need for new heroes. But instead of looking for new heroes, the NBA should be telling the children, because that's what they are, to go and get an education, and help out college TV ratings, who have been a long time in waiting for another Vince Carter, or Allen Iverson.
Not since a man named Kareem Abdul Jabbar, has there ever been so much hype over a rookie coming into the pros. Not Magic, not Bird, not Jordan, not even Shaq came into the league with so much expected of him. This 18-year-old is already worth 120 million dollars, and he's never played in an NBA game.
In recent years then NBA has been flooded with players who have left college early, and now even more recently, the NBA has opened its doors to seniors in high school, and are even starting to look at juniors.
What's the problem with this? When you have players like Carmello Anthony, Dwayne Wade, and of course Lebron who come into the pros before finishing off their college years, the NBA sends the message that if you are good at basketball, you don't need to go to school.
Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, Tracy Mcgrady, Jermaine Oneal, Shawn Kemp, and last year's rookie sensation Amare Stodamire, all came out of high school right to the pros.
Most of the players take until their third or fourth year in the NBA to really break out, funny how that time frame coincides with when they would have graduated from college.
The NBA, unlike the MLB has a virtually free farm system in college basketball. But the association is ruining that by taking players before they are ready. Not even Wilt Chamberlain was allowed to forgo hi last college season at Kansas, he was made to play with the Harlem Globetrotters for one season before turning pro.
If Wilt "The Stilt" or Michael Jordan didn't come out at least until they were juniors, what makes Lebron James so different? Is he a better player? Is he special? No, its just that ever since the departure of the Jordan era, the NBA has been in desperate need for new heroes. But instead of looking for new heroes, the NBA should be telling the children, because that's what they are, to go and get an education, and help out college TV ratings, who have been a long time in waiting for another Vince Carter, or Allen Iverson.