Kentucky's John Wall is a pro while Eric Bledsoe needs more work.

There is nothing in college for John Wall but glory.

When you are projected as a top ten pick, never mind top two, you have to take advantage of this situation.

Coming back to college is great for the fans, bad for the knees.

Most colleges will insure their marquee players but mostly to the tune of $1 million.

Consider that Blake Griffin is making just over $4 million this year as the number one pick in the 2009 draft or Brandon Jennings, makes $2.5 million as the tenth pick.

Blake Griffin suffered a season ending injury early at the start of the season. If this injury had occurred in his junior season at Oklahoma he would have lost $3 million after collecting the insurance.

More if it was a career ending injury like Ronald Steele.

Another factor athletes have to consider is time.

How many years of going full throttle can the body take? I estimate the average playing time for someone under 6’8” to be an even ten years (maybe too generous) on average.

Centers, like Robert Parish or Shaquille O’Neal, are able to make reinvent themselves as serviceable big men long after their reign of dominance has expired.

On the other hand, players who depend on their quickness will find themselves out of a job at thirty unless they adopt an iron man like intensity to keeping fit like Steve Nash.

Allen Iverson and Stephon Marbury were the only other point guards drafted ahead of Nash in the1996 draft. Today Steve Nash at 36 is still a significant contributor and the only one still in drawing a salary from the NBA.

In my research for this article I could not find five guards over thirty, whose productivity is on the same level ten years ago or better.

This is why I would always accept the likes of Derrick Favors, Demarcus Cousins or John Wall’s decision to go pro. His team mate Eric Bledsoe, not so much.

Bledsoe is quick, shot 40% of his threes but is turnover prone as a shooting guard. If he wants to play point guard at the next level he needs to show some consistency at this position in college.

Anything can happen when it comes to the Draft. Last year Philadelphia took a chance on Jrue Holliday and at the moment he still looks promising.

He has increased his scoring average every month, so far. Like Bledsoe, Holliday played off guard at UCLA and came out his freshman year even though his stats were severely underwhelming.

There is talk of him being their future point guard, it maybe a long shot but he will have plenty of chances to prove his worth on that lottery team.

Based on Bledsoe’s physical ability, it is a safe bet that he will make it in the NBA. Point guard is one of the most difficult positions in the NBA.

Players drafted in the first round will get a guaranteed contract of two years with a third year option.

This will give a budding point guard the security and time he needs to learn his craft.

If Bledsoe stays another year in college he could be a top five pick next year.

However if he stays in the draft and falls to the second round he could be cut in the first week of training camp or face the possibility of fighting veterans for a roster spot.

Take Darius Washington and Sebastian Telfair for example. They were in the same high school graduating class and even had a rivalry.

Telfair was able to ride his hype to a 13th pick in the 2004 draft and two years later Washington went undrafted out of Memphis.

While it is now clear that neither player are gong to the hall of fame, Telfair was able to used his guaranteed status as trade bait allowing him to remain in the NBA.

Meanwhile Washington is now a naturalized Macedonian basketball player.

Washington had his chances but rookies trying to make it as free agents do not normally work out.

The fact that Coach Calipari is currently trying to recruit two more MacDonald’s all America point guards further complicates things.

Bledsoe might be faced with the option of transferring or turning pro. If turning pro is the only option it might not be a bad thing if he slipped to the second round.

This is a likely scenario as most of the bottom NBA teams are set at point guard.

In 2002 Carlos Boozer was drafted 34th overall in the second round by Cleveland. He played two years in Cleveland and was able to negotiate a bigger contract before the overall pick, Yao Ming.