C Greg Oden (official thread)

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

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6/28/06

Age rule looks like good fit for league

By Michael Rothstein

The Journal Gazette

The obvious draft pick from Indiana won’t have that opportunity today, unable to be in New York City, walk up to the podium and shake David Stern’s hand.

It wasn’t left to his choice, either.

Lawrence North graduate Greg Oden will instead be in Columbus, Ohio, preparing for future trips to Champaign, Ill., and East Lansing, Mich., as a freshman playing for Thad Matta at Ohio State instead of Scott Skiles in Chicago or another NBA team possessing a high draft pick.

The NBA instituted a new age requirement for its draft before the beginning of the 2005-06 season, removing the opportunity to be the next Kevin Garnett or Kobe Bryant or Jermaine O’Neal for guys such as Oden. Now, all eligible draftees must be at least one year out of high school and at least 19 years old.

“You are dealing with more known commodities now,” said Donnie Walsh, Indiana Pacers CEO and president. “Players who have been coached. You are not relying on potential. It’s a little more certain, I think.”

Since 1995, when the Minnesota Timberwolves drafted Garnett, high school students have been a staple for NBA drafts with mixed results. The modern era of high school jumpers had 38 parachuting from proms to pros, its most notable successes Garnett, Bryant, Amare Stoudamire and LeBron James.

Then there have been the mediocre, such as Darius Miles, Tyson Chandler and former No. 1 pick Kwame Brown. Those, though, have been the names you remember.

Guys such as Ousmane Cisse, Ndudi Ebi, James Lang and Leon Smith also finished high school and tried to play professionally. None are currently in the NBA.

“It is a big difference with removing the high school kids and in my personal opinion it is an excellent rule,” said Jeff Nix, New York Knicks director of scouting. “In our league, it is tough enough for these kids to come in and compete physically but the mental aspect is even tougher.

“It’s better if they stay away for a year or two.”

This is what the rule does. It makes players more seasoned and gives professional teams a better idea of the players they are about to welcome into their companies. This is, after all, a business – one based so much on the decisions made off the court that put together the players on the court.

Now scouts and others in NBA front offices can stay away from sitting on wooden bleachers with tens of fans watching the next could-be-big high school kid. They can go back to being in college arenas, dealing with high-level coaches and being able to watch potential prospects on television more than an occasional ESPN high school game. Plus, it lessens the pressure for teams to draft off hype instead of proven statistics.

“No high school gyms, which is great,” Nix said. “I’ve always been a big proponent of staying out of the high school gyms. There will be exceptions with the Kobe’s and the LeBron’s, but we got kids who got bad advice and made bad decisions.

“It’s best the way it is right now.”

It sent Oden to Ohio State, where he declined an interview request through an e-mail because of an Ohio State policy not allowing freshmen to speak until after they’ve played in their first game.

While Oden won’t go today, three Indiana prospects might.

Neither Indiana’s Marco Killingsworth nor Notre Dame’s Torin Francis and Chris Quinn are locks to be drafted this evening.

They are the closest Indiana has to a college-produced talent this season. Mock drafts suggest the highest any of the three will go is in the middle of the second round.

“Some people say it’s better not to get drafted,” Quinn said. “Regardless, I’ll have the opportunity to play on a summer league team and have a lot more opportunities to show people I can play.”

He did that last season at Notre Dame, where the Irish endured a season of close losses – something NBA scouts mentioned often when working him out. He said that the season will be with him “forever.”

Quinn worked out for Boston, Cleveland, Houston, Indiana, New York, Sacramento and both the Lakers and Clippers.

“I think I’ve got a shot at getting drafted but I could not as well,” Quinn said from his home in Dublin, Ohio, where he’ll watch the draft. “I don’t have too high of expectations. I’m just excited to take another step in my life and see what happens from here.”

mrothstein@jg.net

[Bob Saccamano]

GregOden.com

NBA Draft - "Minimum age draft rule unfair" says Greg Oden

The minimum age draft rule means elite prospects no longer can jump directly to the NBA and most of them don’t like it.


After Amare Stoudemire was the only player drafted out of high school in 2002, five players went preps-to-pros in 2003. The a record-setting eight high schoolers were selected in the first round in 2004, which also marked the third time in four years that a prep player was the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft (Kwame Brown in 2001, LeBron James in 03’ and Dwight Howard in 04’).

Despite the success preps-to-pros players have experienced, basketball purists cried that something had to be done. NBA commissioner David Stern agreed.

So when the NBA and its players association negotiated a new collective bargaining agreement this past summer, Stern got his way, and an age minimum was instituted. Beginning in 2006, a player must be 19 and one year removed from high school before he ca be drafted.

In the 2005 draft, the last to allow the preps-to-pros jump, a record nine high school players were taken, but only three went in the first round.

Ten years after Kevin Garnett ushered in the modern preps-to-pros craze in 1995, an era was over. Garnett, Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady were all produced in that era. It was an era that had an incredible impact not only the NBA but on college and high school basketball.

Over and over, this issue is weighed in about whether the new rule is positive or negative many have debated its potential impact and countless other angles. But how do high school players feel about having the straight-to-the-NBA option taken away? Most aren’t fans of the decision.

Some criticize the NBA for setting the age at 19 when its initial hope was for an age minimum of 20 that likely would have had greater impact. Others say the “19 and one year removed from high school” phrasing is confusing and strange.
College as an “option” probably isn’t what Stern envisioned with the age minimum. And colleges will have to decide whether to extend scholarships to players who might be one-and-done.

There are plenty of prep players who see the wisdom behind the NBA’s thinking, even if they don’t agree with it.
The three prep players taken in the first round receive guaranteed contracts, but the other six must fight for roster spots. Not exactly the glamorous life they sought.

Brentwood (Tenn.) Academy senior forward Brandan Wright, a top five recruit in the Class of 2006, says he was thinking about going straight to the pros but doesn’t believe the age minimum is a bad thing. “It may hurt gus who need the money,” he says, “but it will help people grow and develop.”

Lawrence North (Indianapolis) senior center Greg Oden surely would have been the No. 1 pick in the 2006 draft if not for the new rule.

“It’s unfair,” Greg Oden says. “But it’s over with now, so there’s no reason to complain.”

[methomps]

Others say the “19 and one year removed from high school” phrasing is confusing and strange.

If you find that confusing, perhaps a year of college would do you good

[Saw31]

Originally Posted by methomps

If you find that confusing, perhaps a year of college would do you good

[Bob Saccamano]

Originally Posted by methomps

If you find that confusing, perhaps a year of college would do you good

So now. after reading this-- I'm not sure if he's going to stay for more than a year. Sounds too excited to go to the NBA.

[akronbuck]

He's gone after one year. Millions or play another season. I had some set jobs once I graduated but , after one year if I had the same jobs I would have been gone.

I hope he goes because, he'll fit right in better then dwight howard did and OSU will be held as his college home for years on TV and free up space for Frease

[osugrad21]

Link

Buckeyes hoping to have Oden for UNC game

By Andrew Skwara, Rivals.com College Basketball Staff Writer


Note to North Carolina fans: Don't stop dreaming up ways to rattle Greg Oden just yet.
The Indianapolis Star reported that the 7-foot prep phenom, who signed with Ohio State in the fall, is expected to be out for six months after surgery to repair torn ligaments in his right wrist last week. That would put him back around mid-December, after the highly anticipated meeting between Ohio State and North Carolina on Nov. 29 in Chapel Hill – the marquee event of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. The Tar Heels and Buckeyes reeled in Rivals.com's No. 1 and No. 2-ranked recruiting classes this year and are expected to be ranked in the preseason top 10.
Oden hasn't spoken publicly since the surgery, but one of the people who knows him best sa