Southern California Basketball gasps for breath, steadily hemorrhaging players and credibility. The program has become a crime scene with a search for telling clues as to the perpetrators of this disgrace.
There's plenty of irresponsibility and shortsightedness from which to choose, but David Stern's fingerprints aren't anywhere to be found. Don't blame the recent college Basketball scandals involving "one-and-doners" such as the Trojans' O.J. Mayo and Memphis' Derrick Rose on the NBA's minimum age requirements for draft eligibility. That's nothing more than a cheap dodge.
The NBA shouldn't relax its 19-year-old eligibility rule. It should make the requirement 20 years of age, sending the strongest message yet that it won't acquiesce to the whims of these young men and the agents who commission the "street runners" courting them.
They all know the rules, but they willingly ignore them.
Since when should ignorance be rewarded?
And now that the NBA offseason has officially begun, the increasing of the draft eligibility age assumes a high priority on the NBA commissioner's summer agenda. Stern has every right in establishing the NBA's own specific work rules through collective bargaining.
It isn't a civil rights issue. It's strictly a business matter.
Those who opt against college can choose a two-year paid internship in either Europe or perhaps as an NBA Developmental League free agent before going into the draft upon their 20th birthday.
It's also an opportunity for the NCAA to rediscover some long lost backbone, holding those players financially liable should their blatant disregard for the institutional law demanded in their athletic scholarship trigger enduring NCAA sanctions long after they've departed for the pros.
USC's demise isn't the NBA's fault.
Blame the players for selfishly portraying themselves as helpless victims of an admittedly imperfect system supposedly denying them of their civil rights. But their impatience and immaturity only offers more evidence as to why Stern is justified in increasing the age limit to 20.
Blame the coaches for compromising their integrity for the prospect of immediate competitive and long-term financial gain. Are you telling me that former USC coach Tim Floyd didn't understand the mess he got himself into when he recruited Mayo under Mayo's terms? Floyd allegedly gave cash to a Mayo associate for the promise of landing Mayo's services even though Floyd knew he would only have Mayo for one season.
Blame the high-powered university boosters for facilitating a win-at-all-costs culture that bred the backdoor corruption that triggered Floyd's actions at USC and the reports of academic fraud involving Rose not actually taking his SAT admissions test. Rose led the Tigers to the 2008 national championship game. He was the first player drafted in last year's NBA draft, winning rookie of the year honors for the Chicago Bulls.
Michigan State coach Tom Izzo believes the NBA should follow the pattern of Major League Baseball, which allows draftees to sign at 18, but once they commit to playing college baseball, they aren't draft-eligible again until completion of their junior year. It's a compromise that gives those like LeBron James, Kobe Bryant or Dwight Howard the opportunity to try their luck immediately following high school while protecting coaches from losing highly recruited prospects from bolting after one or two years.
It's a good plan.
It'll never happen.
The agents would apply too much pressure on the NBA players' association.
But it's apparent that 19 isn't the best compromise. That doesn't mean the NBA should soften its stance. It should toughen its position.
Drew Sharp writes for the Detroit Free Press
