Jermaine O'neal- master of rhetoric

[mookie2001]

man Jermaine is smart, he makes the arguement why you don't need college
on NBA Nation tonight

"that situation in Detroit wasn't what it was"

"NBA basketballl is just like any other business, if they ain't getting the job done, they gots to go after the younger, brighter, smarter players, thats just the nature of the game"

"was the highest ratings since the post-Jordan era"

"in college, they teach you about college"

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

I posted about this in the NBA forum.

he younger, brighter, smarter players,

There is very few HSers turning pro that you could say are brighter or smarter than anyone who's been in the league for at least a year.

I want to see Jermaine explain to me:
Leon Smith (living on a street corner somewhere?)
Sean Livingston (yeah, he's gonna be a player, but he's been hurt all year b/c he's too thin for the league)
Robert Swift (yeah, he's making a huge impact in Seattle)
Ndudi Ebi (really helping the Wolves)
Kendrick Perkins (bench fodder in Boston)
Tskitishvili (bust)
Kwame Brown (for a #1 pick... bust)
DeSagana Diop
Kedrick Brown
William Avery

That's going back to '98. Some of those guys were college fish or sop res. None would have been eligible to be drafted if the NBA had an age limit of 20.

Suck it Jermaine.

[adidas11]

A list of players who went to college for 4 years:

Anderson Hunt (UNLV)-- didn't make it past preseason with the Celtics
Trajan Langdon (Duke) ---jerking off in Alaska
Cherokee Parks (Duke)---didn't he used to play for the Spurs?
Bobby Hurley (Duke)---he struggled even before his car accident
Chris Carawell (Duke) ---bust

And the list goes on, and on, and on....

Some players make it, and some players don't. Doesn't matter when they jump to the pros.

[Guru of Nothing]

I posted about this in the NBA forum.

There is very few HSers turning pro that you could say are brighter or smarter than anyone who's been in the league for at least a year.

I want to see Jermaine explain to me:
Leon Smith (living on a street corner somewhere?)
Sean Livingston (yeah, he's gonna be a player, but he's been hurt all year b/c he's too thin for the league)
Robert Swift (yeah, he's making a huge impact in Seattle)
Ndudi Ebi (really helping the Wolves)
Kendrick Perkins (bench fodder in Boston)
Tskitishvili (bust)
Kwame Brown (for a #1 pick... bust)
DeSagana Diop
Kedrick Brown
William Avery

That's going back to '98. Some of those guys were college fish or sop res. None would have been eligible to be drafted if the NBA had an age limit of 20.

Suck it Jermaine.

There isn't.

Why are we questioning the intelligence of players and not the GMs who draft them?

[spurs_2108]

Parks use to be my main man....

[boutons]

I caught him tonight on ESPN. Forgetting about the racism issue, the guy really has troubles getting his thoughts and mouth together. If he wants to be a spokesman for a cause, he's gotta spend some time preparing his thoughts, rather than taking an emotional stance and s it up try to articulate it extemporaneously.

[dcole50]

A list of players who went to college for 4 years:

Anderson Hunt (UNLV)-- didn't make it past preseason with the Celtics
Trajan Langdon (Duke) ---jerking off in Alaska
Cherokee Parks (Duke)---didn't he used to play for the Spurs?
Bobby Hurley (Duke)---he struggled even before his car accident
Chris Carawell (Duke) ---bust

And the list goes on, and on, and on....

Some players make it, and some players don't. Doesn't matter when they jump to the pros.

they have college degrees, though (assuming they graduated). these other guys who went pro lost their potential scholarships. they have nothing to fall back on, except playing in the nbdl or overseas. i'm not saying you can't make a good living without a college degree, but it's always helpful to have the opportunity to obtain one.

[Guru of Nothing]

I caught him tonight on ESPN. Forgetting about the racism issue, the guy really has troubles getting his thoughts and mouth together. If he wants to be a spokesman for a cause, he's gotta spend some time preparing his thoughts, rather than taking an emotional stance and s it up try to articulate it extemporaneously.

It's contagious!

[Guru of Nothing]

they have college degrees, though (assuming they graduated).

Please diagram your sentence.

[bonesinaz]

At the very least, raising the age to 20 will give young players a chance to mature a little before the pressure of the NBA hits them, college or no college.

Of course there are exceptions, as I think JO would have always been ignorant, even if he had attended college. But that has more to do with his at ude, not the color of his skin. He comes off as unprofessional in a professional league.

[hunter-thereckoning]

guru youre a guru of s

[Guru of Nothing]

guru youre a guru of s

It helps to have one.

[hunter-thereckoning]

your mom would know that

[IcemanCometh]

Jermaine speaks more coherently and with greater intelligence than most of you

[hunter-thereckoning]

iceman your mom speaks my

[hunter-thereckoning]

hunter this is a family site

[boutons]

"young players a chance to mature a little"

There was study of varsity athletics a couple years ago. Varsity players were seen to isolated from general student life, practicing and training year round in their varsity tunnel life, pampered living and dining together in privileged facilities separate from academic students. Taking cakewalk courses, all the tutoring they want, and getting C's or less. And the angle about sports builiding character is pure BS in the high-pressure atmosphere where winning at any cost is the only value.

All of the above tends to worsen every year as major varsity teams become huge businesses with 10's of $Ms sloshing around above and below the table. Character, maturity? more like corruption of values and ego inflation to maniac levels.

More basketball maturity and physical growth? ok, but emotional growth? no way.

[hunter-thereckoning]

thanks

[Guru of Nothing]

hunter this is a family site

Mouse has jumped the shark.

[adidas11]

So NBA players need "more maturing" before they come into the league, but baseball players and tennis players don't? Very interesting.

Heck, what about entertainers like Brittney Spears? Her redneck ass is already pregnant, to some guy who already has a kid with someone else. No one seemed to care when she was a teenager who need "more maturing" before hitting the big time.

Come to think of it, I see the distinct line, and it's precisely the point that Jermaine O'neal hit on. Race.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

adidas,

Baseball has a minor league system, where basically every HSer ends up. And 90% of them don't make it to the pros. I had two teammates in HS who also played baseball who went "pro" right out of HS and rode around the country playing A, AA ball for a few years, now they're back in my home town with not much to show for it and going to a local juco.

Tennis? The average age for the end of a career for a tennis player is 27. The really old ones make it to 31. NBA players don't hit their prime til' they're 29 or so.

HSers can't come straight into the NFL, they shouldn't come into the NBA either.

[Guru of Nothing]

So NBA players need "more maturing" before they come into the league, but baseball players and tennis players don't? Very interesting.

Heck, what about entertainers like Brittney Spears? Her redneck ass is already pregnant, to some guy who already has a kid with someone else. No one seemed to care when she was a teenager who need "more maturing" before hitting the big time.

Come to think of it, I see the distinct line, and it's precisely the point that Jermaine O'neal hit on. Race.

With regards to fans, it's racial; but insofar as Stern is concerned, it's all about bad contracts. Again, it's not about 18 years-old vs. 20 years-old; it's about 22 years-old vs 24 years-old and max contracts.

[bonesinaz]

"young players a chance to mature a little"

There was study of varsity athletics a couple years ago. Varsity players were seen to isolated from general student life, practicing and training year round in their varsity tunnel life, pampered living and dining together in privileged facilities separate from academic students. Taking cakewalk courses, all the tutoring they want, and getting C's or less. And the angle about sports builiding character is pure BS in the high-pressure atmosphere where winning at any cost is the only value.

All of the above tends to worsen every year as major varsity teams become huge businesses with 10's of $Ms sloshing around above and below the table. Character, maturity? more like corruption of values and ego inflation to maniac levels.

More basketball maturity and physical growth? ok, but emotional growth? no way.

You are stereotyping now.

I can do that too. Let's replace 'rich kids' with your varsity althetes study. Rich kids at college don't go to class either and they have tutors and don't eat with the general population of the colleges. Rich kids take easy classes and get Cs or Ds and still pass (BTW- a C is a passing grade- even in medical school).

Secondly, a 'study' that you pull out of thin air means little to me.

Maturity is taught by time, experience and patience. Waiting 2 years won't kill anyone and hopefully they will be better prepared to act in a professional manner when they can play.

[adidas11]

Well Aggie, let the GM's of the teams determine who they can and can not pick. As far as I can tell, the high school kids have been doing just fine in the NBA since Kevin Garnett jumped, with a success rate equal to the players who come into the league after several years in college.

And I agree Guru, Stern's stance on the issue isn't racial by any means. But I don't agree about the age limit (seeing as the NBA doesn't provide a true minor league anyhow), and they'll run into trouble the second the next Lebron James decides to take the league to court over this issue.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Gimme a ing break adidas.

The GMs of the league that are stuck in the lotto year after year draft on potential, not who can help them in year 1.

There's a perfect minor league for the NBA. It's called college basketball. , things were so much simpler when Magic and Larry were going at it in the Final Four.