Howie Schwab, who gained notoriety for his ESPN game show “Stump the Schwab,” comments on the number of college players leaving for the NBA.
It’s hard to argue with the sentiment, but Howie doesn’t name any names. Sure, he says O.J. Mayo and Eric Gordon should leave early, but he doesn’t identify any of the guys that he thinks he should stay in school. That’s kind of a cop out. It’s like saying if you’re good enough to be drafted in the first round, you should go to the NBA, but if you’re not, you should stay in school. Wow, what a nugget of wisdom. That’s exactly how those players who are declaring for the draft but aren’t hiring an agent are approaching this. If they don’t get a good response from teams, they can still go back to school.
The conventional thinking is that the longer a player stays in college, the better he’ll be when he reaches the NBA. While this is true for most, there are those players whose apparent potential is greater than their actual potential. For those players, if it looks like they’ll be drafted in the first round, it’s smart to leave early and get that guaranteed money. It’s not good for the quality of the NBA or college basketball, but you can’t blame a kid for taking a shot at a multi-million dollar contract if someone’s willing to give it to him.
