Time has come for one-and-done change

Right now, as the NFL continues to undergo major reformation with Commissioner Roger Goodell, the NBA is still putting off fixing its major problem.

The NFL has its overtime issues and character questions, while the NBA has the biggest rule flaw in all of sports — the age rule.

How many more DeMarcus Cousins, Derek Roses, Eric Gordons or Greg Odens will it take for Commissioner David Stern to realize what this rule is doing to — or really, taking away from — basketball.

With the age rule how it is, requiring prospective professional basketball players to be one year removed from high school graduation to enter the league, the NBA is really showing kids the easy way out.

One of the lesser-publicized side effects of this insane clause is that kids don’t even have to show up for classes during the second semester before they put their name in the draft. There’s no sense of liability.

Hey, show up for the fall semester, play your 30-40 games, sign your agent, pack your bags and adios — on to train for the pre-draft camp.
It’s just that simple, isn’t it?

Kids can go in with no motivation except to meet minimum grade-point average requirements — which at some of the premier programs require a decimal point and one figure — to succeed in the classroom. Is that what the NBA wants in its future employees?

Moreover, is that what it should want?

Here’s another brain-buster: Let’s say next year’s John Wall tears his ACL in an exhibition game against Northeastern State and kisses his career goodbye.
That one year of college was forced upon him, thus bypassing guaranteed money in marketing, contractual and endorsement deals. Remember that in the NBA, teams are liable for their players’ contracts, unlike the NFL.

You’d have to have a Johnnie Cochran-esque argument to convince me that those three-and-a-half months living in a dorm and risking millions upon millions was worth it, especially given the fact that legitimate one-and-dones can compete at the highest level right out of high school. There’s always a player’s post-career for coming back and finishing a degree.

What about the maturity aspect? Sending these types of players to college for one year or one semester makes them immature in many cases.

Think about everything coming along with the decision to go pro, with which agent to sign, what outfitter to bring on and countless other questions.

Is that player really thinking about the team?

Jermaine O’Neal said it best back during his time with the Pacers when he said if an 18-year-old man can go overseas and fight and die for his country, he should be able to make money playing professional basketball.

Look at it from college coaches’ perspectives. Rebuilding has been taken to a whole new level. There are the John Caliparis of the world who will always recruit the types of players that will opt for the draft after their freshman year. There’s no consistency from year to year, no cohesiveness.

Right now, the NBA has to make this giant step forward and spare us all from these wasted few months we watch these superstars suit up in the amateur ranks.
It’s the biggest problem on the NBA’s plate, and now it’s time to fix it.