Sign Out of High School to the NBA? Andrew Bynum Answers the Question

Injuries are common in professional sports and in football, injuries are often thought of as “part of the game.”

Professional basketball, particularly in the NBA, might take a close second to the turf injuries suffered in the NFL.

When Andrew Bynum, 21, center for the Los Angeles Lakers, went down with an injury, the answer to fans' questions about the NBA decision was to ban signing players out of high school and this may well have been answered.

The decision was a proper one.

It was Jan. 13, 2007, when Bynum went down in a game against the Memphis Grizzlies in human grasping his legs in tremendous pain. He'd been injured on a play involving one of the normal injuries that NBA and other “balers” suffer: landing on the foot of a teammate during play while attempting to garner a rebound.

In this case it was Lamar Odom.

The kneecap was severely injured, perhaps even rotated.

What had been diagnosed as a six to eight week’s rehabilitation, resulted in surgery and being lost to the Lakers for the remainder of the 2006-2007 season …

Kobe Bryant, who wants to win an NBA title, as much or more than any man playing the sport, was the Laker who collided with his young Center, causing a partial tear in the Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL).

Doctors have said that surgery is not necessary and that Bynum will perhaps be able to rejoin the Lakers in time for the playoffs.

The question for the Lakers owners, Bynum and the fans, as well as his teammates, is an early return to the hard court advisable for the Lakers and Bynum?

A number of reasons were given as to why the NBA decided that high schoolers could not be drafted directly from high school, as they had been in the past.

One of those reasons cited is that the rigors of a full NBA schedule was too much for the young and not-fully-developed bodies of those playing the sport.

On the other hand, it is pointed out, some players out of high school have been successful in NBA.

Furthermore, should a person who is otherwise and adult be constrained from earning a living in his or her chosen profession?

In fact some suggested that it might even appear to be un-American to make such and edict.

One has only to look as far as the Lakers to gain a clue as to what is happening with injuries to the youngest players.

Currently, point-guard Jordon Farmar is back a full strength after surgery to repair a torn lateral meniscus suffered in a game against Miami.

He was to be out for two months but returned miraculously after only a month and amazed onlookers, scoring 14-points and dishing off two assists in a blowout against the San Antonio Spurs. Injuries also occurred to Kobe Bryant early in his career, limiting his action at times for the Lakers.

Darryl Dawkins, the "man-child," as he was known in his career, would for example, not be a typical example of an underdeveloped underclassman declaring for the NBA out of high school and Andrew Bynum may be considered to be the more typical of the young NBA players.

Andrew Bynum now faces the prospect of rehabilitating his knee in an effort to get ready for the NBA playoffs in his fourth professional season, having thus far never played a minute in a post-season game.

Apparently, surgery will not be required. Scar tissue will likely be the result of the rehabilitation period and medical opinions vary as to how long rehabilitation should take for the supporting tissues for the MCL ligament to be fully at their strongest.

Whatever the decision that Bynum, the doctors and the Lakers might make, one thing appears to be clear: the youthful body, right out of high school, perhaps particularly for the taller players may not be ready for the rigors to the NBA.

Perhaps the development of the body and not just of the game and the moves it requires, are what is needed most by the youngest and tallest of the players of the game of basketball.

Ultimately, if these great athletes would stay in college and develop themselves, perhaps even obtaining degrees before marching off to the long, grueling season of the league, both they and their teams might be the better for it.