Turning Pro Young

[erpowers]

I think their is a double standard in sports when it comes to going pro at a young age. Many people make a big fuss when teenagers decide to play professional basketball, but very few people seem to say anything when people of younger ages turn pro in other sports. Years ago Steffi Graf became a professional tennis player at the age of 13. Mia Hamm was playing for the Women's National Soccer team when she was 15. Freddie Adu turned professional in men's soccer at about 14 or 15. Lately, Michelle Wie turned professional in golf at the age of 16 and now people are asking if Morgan Pressle(17) along with Wie will be allowed to join some association. So, why the double standard? It seems to me that basketball is the only sport where people get upset when young people turn professional before finishing college. I am not even sure if Steffi Graf finished grade school.

I know some people on this discussion board will claim that basketball is different than other sports. I do not basketball is that different. At the age of 15 Mia Hamm was traveling around the world playing soccer. There could have been many men who wanted to sleep with Hamm at that time and we have no way of knowing if she slept with them. We know that many women are trying or will try to sleep with Freddie Adu and maybe they have. I mention this in that the sex issue is one of the reasons some people bring up for saying teenagers are too young to turn professional in basketball. So once again why the double standard? Maybe I am just missed criticism in the other cases, but it seems to me that people do not have a problem with kids going pro as long as it is not basketball for which they become a professional player.

[henslee]

1. And I thought this thread was about hookers and pimps...

But seriously... I agree with you. Definitely a double standard. Many folks are just haters. I really think the benifits of turning pro is a case by case thing. When I think of all the guys that turned pro and didn't make it but still ended up with more cash than they ever dreamed of, well there's something to be said for that too.

[rpannier]

2. That's not entirely true

Some young people have tried to get into the NFL without completing at least two years of college, case in point: Williams of USC and Clarett of Ohio State. They have tried using the arguement that other sports, like hockey and baseball, let people in at 18.
Where the football arguement falls flat is two-fold:
1) The restriction on the age of the player was negotiated between the Union and the NFL. Almost noone who plays in the NFL will tell you it's a good idea to let 18 and 19 years olds into the league.
Which brings me to my second point
2) They aren't ready to play in the NFL. They NFL is an extremely complicated game that requires maturity and experience to play. The nature of the game being such, an 18-year old is likely not going to be drafted because the teams cannot afford to wait four or five years for the player to develop. In addition, they just aren't big enough and they haven't matured physically enough to be in the league.

As to basketball...I don't know why there is a lot of hue and cry from people about playing in the league.
But, basketball is not the only sport where this discussion goes on.

[jobycom]

3. I don't think that's the case.

I used to hear a lot of complaining in the media whenever an underclassman tried to go pro in football, and then when basketball began drafting all the way down into high school. I never heard the sex issue raised. I always heard that players that young didn't have the maturity to handle the sudden wealth and fame and the adult team setting they would be in. But that wasn't a big morality issue, that was a fear that the player would quickly melt down, then be left with nothing--no job, no money, and no college degree.

The complaints were more about the unscrupulous team owners luring the poor helpless kids out of college with no gaurantee they'd make it, in other words. If players were drafted out of high school or before they finished college, they might not have the experience to succeed, and they couldn't go back to college because they'd have lost their eligibility.

This didn't apply to individual sports, although I remember a lot of complaining years ago when teenagers began turning pro in tennis. Same complaints-- they were too young to make it, they would be left out to dry within a year.

I haven't heard that complaint much in any sport in the last decade. Kobe Bryant shut up a lot of that. Also, people realized that these owners wouldn't draft someone out of high school if they weren't extremely likely to succeed at that level, and that meant they would make a ton of money in a short time, so even if they failed, they'd have a lot to show for it. And the overwhelming majority of players would need to develop their skills in college before turning pro, so there wouldn't be hordes of players lured to the NFL or NBA before they went to college only to be abandoned later.

Maybe the sex argument is something new, but what I always heard was that the players wouldn't be able to develop, and would be left without a career. That didn't apply to baseball, where the farm leagues would pay the players as they developed.

[erpowers]

4. Herd It

I have heard in on some occasions. As recently as the Lebron James draft. The main issue regarding sex is the having of children and if these guys would be able to take care of their children. Some of it also focused on them not having to maturity to have safe sex and deal with the consequences of the decisions they would make. So, mainly it was the issue of having the maturity to not go out and make babies they could not take care of.

[jobycom]

7. Oh, well in that case

Yeah, I'd say that's a race issue, then. The continuation of the old white fantasy that all black men were going to rape the clean white women. Now it's all black youths are going to get bunches of girls pregnant and get them on welfare.

If that's the current issue, I agree there's a double standard. It's just not an issue I've heard talked about.

[wysi]

5. I've never heard the sex argument...

... I suspect a lot of the arguments are grounded in the fact that if players bypassed college football and basketball, then these sports would lose a lot of $$. It's critical to those who make money off these sports that they are the main route to pro contracts... so much so that the NCAA has different rules for football and basketball than they do for other team sports.

[northzax]

6. yes, there is a double standard

of course there is. but it is between a team sport and an individual one. it is much easier to determine the success of an individual in an individual sport than a team one. An exceptional 14 year old can play professional tennis, and you can make a reasonable expectation of success (and the window for professional success is much shorter, by 22, you're washed up) no one seriously objected to LeBron James, for instance, because he could reasonably be expected to achieve success in his chosen career.

If the level of competition that you are playing at can reasonably be expected to make you better, you should stay. If there is nothing to be learned from playing lesser players, then move to the next level.

I am not sold on Wie, as I think another year of playing amateur golf, and the amateur competitions would make her better, in the long run, but I can't judge her for going for the money.

[safi0]

8. When you get

Players like Lebron and Kobe and KG its really a no-brainer, these guys can come in and achieve a certain high level of success immediately. It gets murky when you being talking about guys like Rashard Lewis and Jermaine O'Neal even Tracy McGrady, these 3 guys are very good players now, but they were very raw when coming into the league.

I understand both sides of this arguement, what I don't like though is hearing owners talking about how these players aren't ready to handle the lifestyle and things like that. Because, I don't think owners give a rats ass about that. The reason owners want an age limit is that they don't want to spend a high draft pick and a lot of money on someone who's going to take 2-3 years to develop

[northzax]

9. that, and they don't want someone blowing up

wasting their money. I have no doubt that there are some owners who care about their players as people, just like some CEOs care about their employees as people, but it's a business, for every Kobe, LeBron or KG, there's a Kwame Brown, who really wasn't emotionally mature enough to handle it. and boom, twenty million down the drain.

even in individual sports, For every Andre Agassi, there's a Jennifer Capriati.

[safi0]

11. Even guys who are

Now having successful careers like the 3 I listed above went through growing pains. They may care about them as people but there first priority is the business.

Obviously they don't want players who are going to be busts, but there are always going to be players who are going to be busts, irregardless of how much college they went to. Look at Reece Gaines for instance, played 4 years at a very good school at Louisville, played under 2 Hall of Fame coaches and was a player of the year candidate in his Senior year. Yet he's never been able to play consistently in the NBA, has played for 3 teams in 2 years and might not make the Bucks roster this season. There will always be busts, but even players like Rashard Lewis and Tracy McGrady had serious growing pains before they were able to succeed in the league, and that is the difference between college and high school players.

[hasbro]

10. What gets overlooked

Is Baseball and hockey have minor league systems that season players before entering the pros. The NBA and NFL have just started this with their developmental leagues.

[safi0]

12. That's valid.

But the complain a lot of people have is that these players aren't going to college, and whether there playing in some minor league or playing in the NBA they're still not going to college

[hasbro]

13. People are a bit too eager to brand the different opinion of

Hockey and Baseball as racism. College isn't the primary feeder system for either hockey or Baseball. A great deal of players come from there, but they have other options like the minors and junior leagues.

Thing I like about college hockey is the drafting team holds the players' rights and tells them if the should leave or not. It's not the all-or-nothing decision that happens in basketball and football. I really don't think the NBA has been well served by having an 18 year old #1 pick taking up a roster spot and getting 2 minutes a night.

I like they are getting developmental leagues, I'd like to have a set up where guys could hone their game even if college isn't for them.

[safi0]

14. Well football should

be excluded from this conversation entirely. A player can't come in untill 3 years after HS. Again your statement is valid, but the arguement that generally comes up for players to not go straight from High School is that, there missing out on college and things like that. Which again, whether there playing minor league or not not there still not going to college.

As for the NBA's minor league, unless there is a huge increase in the number of teams the league will fail

[hasbro]

15. I agree with that

It's not so much "missing college" is the problem is that players get forced way too young to compete over their heads. Basketball has to get more serious about finding ways to develope younger players, some of which includes college ball and some of which is other avenues.

Actualy the argument is sometimes reveresed in hockey that players aren't well served going to school and would be better off in Major Junior.

[safi0]

19. This minor league

Or D-League as its called is a good step, the problem is there are only currently 8 teams. That number has to be increased to atleast 15 and preferrably 30, if the league wants to be successful. Right now it won't be successful with 8 teams because we mentioned Kwame Brown and he's the perfect example of why the league won't succeed right now. Your not going to send your #1 pick or a high draft pick to be coached by someone who has no loyalty to your organization.

[erpowers]

17. Didn't Say Racism

Race was not mentioned in my post. The main point I made was that people always complain about teenagers going pro in basketball, but even when younger players in other sports goes pro their is not as much if any complaining. People from the ages of 15-19 have gone pro in other sports and very few people have complained about them doing so. On the other hand every year a high school graduate is considered as the number one draft pick or even considered to play in the pros there is much complaining and questioning.

[hasbro]

18. Sorry I didn't mean you were calling it racism

but that comes up alot in this discussion.

[Bluzmann57]

16. A lot of people who get upset about teens going pro in hoops

have never set foot on a college campus in their lives. As far as I'm concerned, if the money is out there, may as well go for it. The major concern though, is that they should probably have someone honest to help them handle their money, because the basketball, or whatever sport, career won't last forever. Baseball is another sport notorious for signing very young people to pro contracts. The Cubs, my team, have a kid named Felix Pie (pronounced Pee Ay) who got signed at age 16. He is now 20. Hopefully, he will have a fine baseball career and be able to live comfortably forever. But if not, then what? That is a major concern about youngsters going pro early.