Big Red
Well-known member
- Mar 16, 2019
- 1,355
- 0
"Hello Darren, I have a question better suited for the Phoenix Suns, but unlike the Cardinals, they don't have an intrepid beat writer who engages fan questions. I know you're a basketball fan, and also I suppose this question can be applicable to football in some regards. In college basketball, the norm is one-and-dones, with 18-year-old kids who go from high school, play college ball for one year, then jump to the pros. Those guys are the premiere players, usually. The entire first-round might be freshmen. If a guy were to stay til his senior year, he's almost viewed as damaged goods. Why is that? I do understand a player in either sport has a shelf life of ~12 years (if he can make it). That extra one-to-two early years helps. But in my mind, play on the court (or field) should be top priority. Yeah, the kid is young. And he stinks as a result. No disrespect but you're a child, competing against grown men. Only in pro sports do we say a 24-year-old is old. I understand Lebron and Tom and Larry are outliers, but hasn't technology and medical science made it so 30 isn't a death knell to your career anymore?"
Pretty heavy topic this deep into the mailbag. I am a basketball guy, I'd like to think. I disagree that a player who stays until his senior year is seen as damaged goods in the NBA. I do think he's seen as a guy with a limited ceiling, because otherwise he would've gotten out and started his money-making clock. I don't blame that -- if you are going to go pro, nothing wrong with starting the clock on your locked-in rookie money to get to the big money ASAP. It's not always one and done. Saben Lee went to high school with my son, and went to Vanderbilt. Left after his junior year. Could've stayed as a senior but a) knew the school had other good players coming in and after injuries forced Lee to have a huge junior year, he likely wouldn't have the opportunity to top it; and b) while he wasn't going to be a first-round pick, he was never going to climb into the first round after another year. So he went pro, was a second-round pick, yet it's working out for him with the Pistons.
Younger NBA players -- and to an extent, younger NFL players -- can be in over their head when they show up. D.J. Humphries, for instance. But for these guys, it's not about (directly) making the fans happy. It's about making a living and maximizing their earnings in their short shelf life. Medical science has gotten better. You might go longer. But that doesn't mean you'll make top dollar longer. That will still be reserved for the studs in their prime, and that remains 24, 25, 26 years old in most cases, in every sport.
From Jason Allen via azcardinals.com:
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