College hoops is slowly becoming less about teenage and early adults fostering positive relationships and competing for the love of the game, and more about a platform to groom top prospects and experience a small slice of Hollywood lifestyle while on campus for a year.
The NBA faces a supremely difficult situation going forward.
The advent of this rule was due in part to the critics who cited high school phenomenon's turned professional busts as a red flag. For every Kevin Garnett or Kobe Bryant there is a Kwame Brown and Leon Smith—high draft picks who have faded into mediocrity and anonymity.
Now critics are chastising the NBA for this rule, drawing comparisons to tennis and golf where teens and even pre-teens are entering the pro-circuit.
The NFL has managed to find a rule that appeases the players, coaches, and the league; and this certainly puts pressure on the NBA.
The MLB and NHL are assisted by formidable minor league systems that allow teams to invest in a player and let him grow and mature while playing with other players around his skill level.
Meanwhile, the NBA opens the door to "hit or miss" investments and wretched criticism from many different angles.
Going forward there are a few options that the NBA can investigate.
The first is to just abandon the one year rule and re-implement the stipulation that a player must only have graduated from high school to play in the NBA. In doing so, the NCAA is relieved of its diluted nature that arises from having colleges essentially "rent" a player for a year.
This also eliminates the risk of a player suffering any significant injury or legal issues that could occur during his freshman year—which in turns hurts the NBA as well.
The NBA does however open up the door to more prospects jumping ship from high school and forgoing his eligibility in college, and not being drafted or never finding success.
The NBA draft has exactly 30 guaranteed contracts built into its collective bargaining agreement. With the infusion of international players the NBA draft pool has never been larger. Any player, regardless of nationality or age runs the legitimate risk of not being drafted or missing out on a guaranteed contract.
The NBA could adopt a plan similar to or identical to that of the NFL, which states that a player cannot become eligible for the draft until three years after his high school graduation.
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