NBAPA Lawyer: Double standard exists regarding age limit for black basketball players and white athletes in other sports

[ChosunX]

NBA age limit is asinine and arbitrary.

You can serve and die for your country but you can't play professional basketball?

It would be nice to say that race isn't an issue here but truth be told the group of people this is affecting is probably at least 95% Black. This is what makes it a race issue.

So if a white mugger robs 4 black people and 3 white people in a month that means that it's a race issue?

[Roy The Natural]

Most peoples sayings are dumb founded.

Most people go through ROTC before dying for their country, and all of them do boot camp.

Most people go to college before getting a job, and all of them generally do apprenticeships/jobs to work their way up

Most skilled jobs require work experience outside high school, cause there is a minimum standard.

I just consider 1 year of college ball the NBA Bootcamp. If you can thrive there, then you you can handle NBA. NBA is value based on how good the players are. There is a reason D-League isn't a booming money maker, cause the quality of play just isn't good.

It isn't about their age, it is about the experience. By not allowing teams to sign guys early it is basically saying "1 year minimum of college" to join.


Personally I just think it is about time the D-League becomes a "real" minor league and utilized for a better purpose, and make all players play 1 year in D-League before playing NBA. Cut out the middle man in NCAA, and start making big money from D-Leauge. It really needs its name changed to something like NBAJ. If these "18 year olds who deserve to play", then they don't need a college degree, cause their career is basketball. All these great players are leaving school after 1 season, and aren't graduating.

I gave you an And-1 because I'm basically doing all of that stuff.

I joined the military at 18... got out 5 years later.

Now I'm in my 3rd year in the UC system for my engineering degree.

I'm on the formula-SAE team in order to attempt to get some skills relevant to my dream job, and of course will have to intern while doing upper division mechanical engineering courses. (talk about unfair)


We basically all have to pay our do's. NBA caliber basketball players have a rare and unique talent, and every once in a blue moon a blue chip player will suffer some devastating injury in his one year stint in college and make us question everything. But as long as college sports are profitable schools will continue to hand out competitive scholarships to people who have no business in those schools in the first place, and in the end those who don't make it to the highest level of their respective sport, get a free education out of it... for what it's worth.

I mean... Marshawn Lynch went to Berkeley... I know they're liberal and artsy as all hell... but I mean... it's Berkeley.

Edit: I'm at UCSD btw, just FYI

[Roy The Natural]

Most peoples sayings are dumb founded.

Most people go through ROTC before dying for their country, and all of them do boot camp.

Most people go to college before getting a job, and all of them generally do apprenticeships/jobs to work their way up

Most skilled jobs require work experience outside high school, cause there is a minimum standard.

I just consider 1 year of college ball the NBA Bootcamp. If you can thrive there, then you you can handle NBA. NBA is value based on how good the players are. There is a reason D-League isn't a booming money maker, cause the quality of play just isn't good.

It isn't about their age, it is about the experience. By not allowing teams to sign guys early it is basically saying "1 year minimum of college" to join.


Personally I just think it is about time the D-League becomes a "real" minor league and utilized for a better purpose, and make all players play 1 year in D-League before playing NBA. Cut out the middle man in NCAA, and start making big money from D-Leauge. It really needs its name changed to something like NBAJ. If these "18 year olds who deserve to play", then they don't need a college degree, cause their career is basketball. All these great players are leaving school after 1 season, and aren't graduating.

I wish you could of had this conversation with DeMar DeRozan when he was 18 years old, NBA ready, and his mom was dying of Lupus.

Sounds like a healthcare issue to me, not much to do with the NBA. His mom should have affordable and practical healthcare to take care of her, and when the time comes DeMar can pay off all her bills with that money. Extrapolating a complete failure of this countries healthcare system unto the NBA draft rules seems like quite a reach to me.

[thizznation]

NBA age limit is asinine and arbitrary.

You can serve and die for your country but you can't play professional basketball?

It would be nice to say that race isn't an issue here but truth be told the group of people this is affecting is probably at least 95% Black. This is what makes it a race issue.

So if a white mugger robs 4 black people and 3 white people in a month that means that it's a race issue?

Pardon me but I do not wish to partake in silly strawman shenanigans.


Good day.

[thizznation]

Most peoples sayings are dumb founded.

Most people go through ROTC before dying for their country, and all of them do boot camp.

Most people go to college before getting a job, and all of them generally do apprenticeships/jobs to work their way up

Most skilled jobs require work experience outside high school, cause there is a minimum standard.

I just consider 1 year of college ball the NBA Bootcamp. If you can thrive there, then you you can handle NBA. NBA is value based on how good the players are. There is a reason D-League isn't a booming money maker, cause the quality of play just isn't good.

It isn't about their age, it is about the experience. By not allowing teams to sign guys early it is basically saying "1 year minimum of college" to join.


Personally I just think it is about time the D-League becomes a "real" minor league and utilized for a better purpose, and make all players play 1 year in D-League before playing NBA. Cut out the middle man in NCAA, and start making big money from D-Leauge. It really needs its name changed to something like NBAJ. If these "18 year olds who deserve to play", then they don't need a college degree, cause their career is basketball. All these great players are leaving school after 1 season, and aren't graduating.

I wish you could of had this conversation with DeMar DeRozan when he was 18 years old, NBA ready, and his mom was dying of Lupus.

Sounds like a healthcare issue to me, not much to do with the NBA. His mom should have affordable and practical healthcare to take care of her, and when the time comes DeMar can pay off all her bills with that money. Extrapolating a complete failure of this countries healthcare system unto the NBA draft rules seems like quite a reach to me.

18 years old, die for your country, but no professional basketball, please.

[Roy The Natural]

I wish you could of had this conversation with DeMar DeRozan when he was 18 years old, NBA ready, and his mom was dying of Lupus.

Sounds like a healthcare issue to me, not much to do with the NBA. His mom should have affordable and practical healthcare to take care of her, and when the time comes DeMar can pay off all her bills with that money. Extrapolating a complete failure of this countries healthcare system unto the NBA draft rules seems like quite a reach to me.

18 years old, die for your country, but no professional basketball, please.

I was in the military man... you don't have to tell me that. As a previous poster stated, I was required to do quite a bit before actually doing anything in the field. Most people will have to go through 6-9 months of training overall before they are eligible for deployment... so going through a year of college before the NBA really isn't that far off.

Having to actually go to college before going to the NBA is a far less egregious issue than having to wait for 3 years to drink alcohol after joining.

[thizznation]

It's just dumb. I don't even know why people are comparing other jobs to basketball, it's like comparing apples to oranges. Hello? Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, LeBron James, Moses Malone, Dwight Howard. These kids could play ball with the big boys, let them play. Does anyone know what the official reasoning for the 19 year old rule really is? Is it to "keep the quality of play"? If that is the case what's up with what the 76ers and the Knicks been rolling out for a few years now. Is it to protect the stupid owners who can't keep their hands off any 7 foot athlete no matter what the warning signs are and end up with huge busts? Is it to force these ultra talented kids to partake in the NCAA Multi Million Dollar industry? Does NCAA need their cut before the cow goes to the NBA? What is the official reasoning for the arbitrary 19 year old cut off?

[Roy The Natural]

It's just dumb. I don't even know why people are comparing other jobs to basketball, it's like comparing apples to oranges. Hello? Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, LeBron James, Moses Malone, Dwight Howard. These kids could play ball with the big boys, let them play. Does anyone know what the official reasoning for the 19 year old rule really is? Is it to "keep the quality of play"? If that is the case what's up with what the 76ers and the Knicks been rolling out for a few years now. Is it to protect the stupid owners who can't keep their hands off any 7 foot athlete no matter what the warning signs are and end up with huge busts? Is it to force these ultra talented kids to partake in the NCAA Multi Million Dollar industry? Does NCAA need their cut before the cow goes to the NBA? What is the official reasoning for the arbitrary 19 year old cut off?

What's the official reasoning for an engineering job asking me to have an engineering degree and a minimum of 2 years of experience? Why should a doctor have to go to school if he/she has a natural aptitude for surgical procedures? Or what if a lawyer already knows law like the back of their hand, why should they have to go to law school or pass the bar?

[baki]

It's just dumb. I don't even know why people are comparing other jobs to basketball, it's like comparing apples to oranges. Hello? Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, LeBron James, Moses Malone, Dwight Howard. These kids could play ball with the big boys, let them play. Does anyone know what the official reasoning for the 19 year old rule really is? Is it to "keep the quality of play"? If that is the case what's up with what the 76ers and the Knicks been rolling out for a few years now. Is it to protect the stupid owners who can't keep their hands off any 7 foot athlete no matter what the warning signs are and end up with huge busts? Is it to force these ultra talented kids to partake in the NCAA Multi Million Dollar industry? Does NCAA need their cut before the cow goes to the NBA? What is the official reasoning for the arbitrary 19 year old cut off?

How about talented 16 year olds then or 13? You complain about strawman tactics but don't seem to notice that there is an obvious and legitimate reason for an age limit.

[thizznation]

baki could you coherently lay out the reasoning for 19 year old age limit in the nba? Thank you.

[Roy The Natural]

It's just dumb. I don't even know why people are comparing other jobs to basketball, it's like comparing apples to oranges. Hello? Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, LeBron James, Moses Malone, Dwight Howard. These kids could play ball with the big boys, let them play. Does anyone know what the official reasoning for the 19 year old rule really is? Is it to "keep the quality of play"? If that is the case what's up with what the 76ers and the Knicks been rolling out for a few years now. Is it to protect the stupid owners who can't keep their hands off any 7 foot athlete no matter what the warning signs are and end up with huge busts? Is it to force these ultra talented kids to partake in the NCAA Multi Million Dollar industry? Does NCAA need their cut before the cow goes to the NBA? What is the official reasoning for the arbitrary 19 year old cut off?

How about talented 16 year olds then or 13? You complain about strawman tactics but don't seem to notice that there is an obvious and legitimate reason for an age limit.

Well, I think the natural thought would be, when you're an adult... you can make your own decisions and do what you want, so why can't you join the NBA at 18. Here's the bigger concern though, why are professional sports somehow worthy of quarantine from other highly specialized fields. What give athletes a pedestal to not meet basic and fairly minimal organizational standards, yet other specialized fields should have to jump through legislative and administrative hoops for their fields.

[baki]

baki could you coherently lay out the reasoning for 19 year old age limit in the nba? Thank you.

No, your complaint is that there is an age limit, so I just simply threw a question back at you to answer your own question.

[thizznation]

baki could you coherently lay out the reasoning for 19 year old age limit in the nba? Thank you.

No, your complaint is that there is an age limit, so I just simply threw a question back at you to answer your own question.

Wow, thanks for contributing so much to the discussion.

Well, I think the natural thought would be, when you're an adult... you can make your own decisions and do what you want, so why can't you join the NBA at 18. Here's the bigger concern though, why are professional sports somehow worthy of quarantine from other highly specialized fields. What give athletes a pedestal to not meet basic and fairly minimal organizational standards, yet other specialized fields should have to jump through legislative and administrative hoops for their fields.

I disagree. So since we have tons of legislative and administrative hoops in other professional fields that means professional basketball needs more as well? That doesn't make sense. If anything we should be tearing down nonsensical rules that help obstruct people from providing for their families, not erecting new ones.

[Roy The Natural]

baki could you coherently lay out the reasoning for 19 year old age limit in the nba? Thank you.

I would say that, because the NBA as an organization has a right to ask it's prospective employees to meet basic and minimal requirements before joining their organization. If the organization wants to see you function as an adult for a year before allowing you to join I don't really see much of a problem with it. Every single organization out there has regulations and requirements, professional sports just have this ridiculous notion that, "they are different" because they are in the limelight.

I would imagine if the surgery channel was as popular and somehow a competitive entity that garnered fans, people would ask the same questions, and make the same excuses. Healthcare is different than other jobs they'd say, apples to oranges. I can hear it now, "Doctor Smith was born for open heart surgery, with his steady hands and meticulous attention to detail, I don't understand why he couldn't be performing at a high level at 18 straight out of highschool."

[thizznation]

You are comparing the medical field to the entertainment industry. I would like my doctor to not be 18 years old, players in the NBA? Don't care, not relevant.

And I don't know what's up with this guilty until proven innocent type of mindstate you have that players have to "prove themselves as a functioning adult". Do you have to monitor these guys for a year until they can "prove" to you that they are of character to be in the league? What is your criteria for being dubbed a "functional adult" over a 12 month waiting process?

[Roy The Natural]

You are comparing the medical field to the entertainment industry. I would like my doctor to not be 18 years old, players in the NBA? Don't care, not relevant.

And I don't know what's up with this guilty until proven innocent type of mindstate you have that players have to "prove themselves as a functioning adult". Do you have to monitor these guys for a year until they can "prove" to you that they are of character to be in the league? What is your criteria for being dubbed a "functional adult" over a 12 month waiting process?

We could extrapolate that example to almost any field though. I don't think you're asking the right question to begin with.

The NBA has decided that they would like to have their employees be the age of 19 before joining the organization, these prospective employees can always intern in the d-league if they would prefer to not go to college.

I don't think the proper question is, why shouldn't players be allowed to join the NBA at 18. I think a more apt question is, should the government be allowed to intervene and tell a company with fairly nondiscriminatory hiring practices who it can and cannot hire.

[-TheDocOfDenial]

How come people are not this out raged about the NFLs age rule? Same principal in my opnion. I think the league has the age limit to create a better product and a lot of people (blacks and whites) agree with that point of view. Racism does exist but not everything has to be about race.

[baki]

It's just dumb. I don't even know why people are comparing other jobs to basketball, it's like comparing apples to oranges. Hello? Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, LeBron James, Moses Malone, Dwight Howard. These kids could play ball with the big boys, let them play. Does anyone know what the official reasoning for the 19 year old rule really is? Is it to "keep the quality of play"? If that is the case what's up with what the 76ers and the Knicks been rolling out for a few years now. Is it to protect the stupid owners who can't keep their hands off any 7 foot athlete no matter what the warning signs are and end up with huge busts? Is it to force these ultra talented kids to partake in the NCAA Multi Million Dollar industry? Does NCAA need their cut before the cow goes to the NBA? What is the official reasoning for the arbitrary 19 year old cut off?

How about talented 16 year olds then or 13? You complain about strawman tactics but don't seem to notice that there is an obvious and legitimate reason for an age limit.

Well, I think the natural thought would be, when you're an adult... you can make your own decisions and do what you want, so why can't you join the NBA at 18. Here's the bigger concern though, why are professional sports somehow worthy of quarantine from other highly specialized fields. What give athletes a pedestal to not meet basic and fairly minimal organizational standards, yet other specialized fields should have to jump through legislative and administrative hoops for their fields.

The legal system only acknowledges 18 year olds as a adults where they can legally be made accountable in the eyes of the law, it doesn't teach or prepare them for anything in life that most adults take a lifetime to learn and get right.

My point is that if the age limit is really the factor that holds back everyone's potentials, lower it to 16 or 13. The youngest Olympic record holder was 13 years old, if this was the norm why set an age limit?

The issue is maturity, most kids can't deal with real world problems in such an accelerated period of time and no amount of "tutoring" around them is going to help them deal with that. That's why most teenage prodigies burn themselves out. They hit a wall, they get stressed, they get tired, they can't deal with the media, they do stupid things etc. Mind you, this is only about prodigies who excel in individual events like swimming, gymnastics, piano etc. Imagine the chaos of working in a team environment and compound the problems by 10-20 times over. Or imagine Justin Bierber in the NBA

I am a believer in education and those who pursue it, it shows their commitment and maturity to plan their life, and is good insurance in case the NBA career gets cut short from injuries or doesn't pan out.

[baki]

baki could you coherently lay out the reasoning for 19 year old age limit in the nba? Thank you.

No, your complaint is that there is an age limit, so I just simply threw a question back at you to answer your own question.

Wow, thanks for contributing so much to the discussion.

But you're missing the point. If the age limit is a problem lower it to 13, if that's not low enough lower it some more.

[thizznation]

18 seems more reasonable.