Share
Damien Leonard might be the best basketball prospect from South Carolina in some time, which means the rising junior from Greenville's J.L. Mann High would have a big decision to make in two years.
Would he be the next in a line of "one-and-done" players, spending one year in college before leaving for the NBA? Or would he stay longer?
Leonard, a 6-foot-5 shooting guard ranked No. 15 in the Class of 2011 by Rivals.com, said he wants to play multiple seasons in college.
But among his peers, he sees a different outlook.
"They just want to take the easy way, spend one year and just go," Leonard said. "Whatever the rule is, they go."
The debate now is what that rule should be.
It has been three years since the NBA instituted its rule mandating that players must be 19 before they are eligible for the draft. But two high-profile sets of allegations revolving around "one-and-done" players has reignited controversy over the rule.
College coaches hate it. Some NBA players — including Eau Claire High graduate Jermaine O'Neal, now with the Miami Heat — and social critics call it unethical. The NBA would prefer the age limit be higher, but is happy with the current rule.
The debate may be moot, though. The NBA's collective bargaining agreement does not expire until 2012, with a possible opt-out a year earlier. A change to the age limit negotiated outside of the regular bargaining process appears unlikely.
That does not stop the complaints, especially from college coaches.
"One year is a very short period of time," Clemson coach Oliver Purnell said. "Practically from the first time you're on campus you can start looking down the road to the first time you're off campus. And there are some problems that come with that."
Purnell is among the coaches who support college basketball switching to rules similar to what other major pro sports have. The NFL states that a player must be three years out of high school before he can be drafted. Major League Baseball allows players to go pro after high school, but once they decide to go to college, they are ineligible for the draft for three years.
Some college basketball coaches favor the baseball model.
"If they're good enough to go, let them go. But once they're in, they should be in school three years," LSU coach Trent Johnson said.
But the SEC's newest head coach, Kentucky's John Calipari, had success at Memphis with one-and-done players such as Derrick Rose and Tyreke Evans. Rose led Memphis to the NCAA championship game in 2008; the Tigers advanced to the Sweet 16 this spring with Evans as Rose's succssor at point guard. Both were top-5 NBA draft picks, Rose going No. 1 in 2008 and Evans going No. 4 last month.
Since leaving Memphis for Kentucky, Calipari has recruited John Wall, who many feel will be the No. 1 pick in next year's NBA draft. Another recruit, DeMarcus Cousins, is also a potential one-and-done player.
Calipari warned Kentucky fans to get used to it.
"Every year we're going to be doing this because there will be a guy here for one year and he'll make that decision," Calipari said. "Don't be mad. Be happy for him and his family and know that we'll go get another guy that may only stay one year."
But many feel the one-and-done rule makes a mockery of college, doubting many of the players even go to class their second semester. Others feel some players don't belong in college.
Rose was reportedly implicated in recent NCAA allegations against Memphis as having had someone else take the SAT for him. The NCAA is investigating Southern California's basketball program after Yahoo! Sports reported a former associate of O.J. Mayo, who spent 2007-08 at the school, was paid by then-head coach Tim Floyd to help get Mayo to play for the Trojans.
None of this is the NBA's problem, but the one-and-done is their rule. And there seems to be little desire on the league's part to change.
"We're not oblivious to the feelings of others and what they think on the matter. But we also have to look at it from the standpoint of a business decision," NBA spokesman Tim Frank said. "It gives us another year to scout players. And we've been pleased with how it's worked so far."
Congressman Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) wrote NBA commissioner David Stern in May, asking him to repeal the rule. Cohen called the age limit "a vestige of slavery."
Stern's quick reply showed how adamant he was not only about keeping the limit, but trying to expand it.
"This is not about the NCAA," Stern wrote. "This is not an enforcement of some social program. This is a business decision by the NBA, which is, we like to see our players in competition after high school."
The NBA players association did not return a phone call for comment. The opinions of their members vary.
O'Neal has been perhaps the most outspoken against the rule. The Columbia native, who skipped college and entered the 1995 draft, has called the age limit racist.
But George Glymph, who was O'Neal's coach at Eau Claire and followed him to the NBA, supports making the age limit higher.
"You have people like LeBron (James), Kobe (Bryant), Jermaine, Kevin Garnett, who came out (of high school) and did really well," Glymph said. "But in the long run, I think it would be better for them to stay in college three years, because first of all, they're going to learn discipline, they're going to learn time management.
"And regardless of what you say, they're going to be smarter. You're going to have three more years of the maturation process."
Leonard said he feels the same way. If it were up to him, players would have to wait until after their sophomore year of college to enter the draft because "you know the game better. You're more experienced," he said.
Stern and others love to hear that. Some of Leonard's friends might scoff.
Either way, the debate is likely to go on.
