Amico Report

Talkin' NBA Age Limit

A Different Age Opinion

Spencer Haywood told the Associated Press, "Those people who say LeBron James is the best ever at 19, they never saw me play."

And that’s not even Haywood’s most interesting opinion.

Haywood also says raising the NBA age minimum is a good idea. This is news because Haywood is the same guy who sued the league in 1971 for the right to enter the draft after his sophomore year of college.

Haywood won, forcing the NBA to allow college underclassmen -- and 18-year old high schoolers -- to play professionally. Haywood’s reason for wanting to turn pro made sense. He needed to earn a living to help support his mother and nine siblings.

Besides, back then it wasn’t a big deal. Shortly after Haywood won his case for hardship, only three players entered the draft straight out of high school -- Moses Malone, Bill Willoughby, and Darryl Dawkins. All three did it in the 1970s.

No one even tried it in the 1980s. And remember, the draft used to consist of SEVEN rounds.

Then came Kevin Garnett in the mid-1990s. Then came Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady and Jermaine O'Neal. All of a sudden, this type of preps-to-pros mentality became trendy. Kids no longer wanted to play college basketball, and NBA front office types started telling them they didn't have to.

Guys who weren't ready -- and may never be -- began to make the jump. Kwame Brown was chosen with the No. 1 overall pick. Tyson Chandler, Eddy Curry, and Darius Miles were picked in the top five. No less than DeSagana Diop went No. 8.

Then there was last summer, when a whopping eight high schoolers were selected -- the most ever in one draft.

Haywood, 56, says maybe it's all gone too far.

"I would say (NBA players union director) Billy Hunter made a smart move if he did indeed raise the age minimum," Haywood told the AP. "He would give the fans what they really want, an age requirement. It would give players time to mature, and it also protects his veteran constituents."

Hunter and the players are indeed discussing an age minimum in their current collective bargaining talks with NBA commissioner David Stern and team owners. Stern wants players to be at least 19 before entering the league; Hunter contends that people of any age have the right to earn a living.

But Haywood says it goes beyond earning a living. He thinks the players should also want to put the best possible product on the court -- and that the league isn't helping itself by drafting players who are guaranteed to sit at the end of the bench for at least a couple of years.

Haywood even used modern day pop music to illustrate his point.

"Now you don't even have to sing, just show up and yell 'Let's get the party going' 15 times," he said. "Their mind is not able to create a sentence, so they come up with 'Your mama is a dog' and similar nonsense. It's just ignorant. I see basketball taking the same path. You don't even have to know your craft anymore."

For today's basketball fans, that may even be worse than hearing that perhaps LeBron James wasn't the greatest ever at 19.

More on the Age Minimum

• Haywood makes some good points. There's no question the overall talent in the league has been diluted because of the current influx of high schoolers.
• On the other hand, legally enforcing an age minimum just doesn't seem right.
• My question is, if NBA types don't want high schoolers entering the league, why don't they just stop drafting them? There's no rule saying they MUST draft them.
• I realize I'm starting to sound wishy-washy, but I've never been able to take a firm stand on this issue.
• To me, it all comes down to marketing, as the NBA has always used college basketball as a long, exciting introduction for future pros.
• And you can't really fault the league for that. After all, are you more excited about seeing where North Carolina's Rashad McCants and Sean May will get drafted, or where high schooler Gerald Green goes?
• Has anyone other the most ardent draft follower even heard of Green? Meanwhile, everybody knows about the national champion Tar Heels.
• Here's something else to think about: Other than the Lakers' Kobe Bryant, no modern day preps-to-pros player has been a factor on a team that has reached the Finals.
• There's also the argument that the Lakers' success had more to do with Shaquille O'Neal, as Bryant failed to make the playoffs without him.
• Jermaine O'Neal's statement about an age minimum being "racist" was way off base. Just because there's a limit on age doesn't mean there will be more non-African Americans in the league. Instead, there will be more players like Tim Duncan and Chauncey Billups -- and that's a good thing.
• O'Neal was also comparing the NBA to other professional sports, like baseball and tennis, where age doesn't matter. But those sports are based on individual play -- not teamwork, which takes sacrifice and especially, maturity.
• The above holds true for foreign players, too. There's no better example of an 18-year old who wasn't close to ready for the big leagues than Detroit's Darko Milicic.
• One NBA general manager told me, "The majority of high school guys who come into our league are outstanding one-on-one players. But All-Stars or not, the majority have no idea how to win, Garnett, Kobe, and LeBron being the lone exceptions. Still, the fact they're so good at one-on-one play is what makes them so enticing, and hard to pass up (in the draft)."
• The GM went on to say that a lot of high school players don't understand that there's more to winning than putting up big numbers. "Just because a guy averages eight assists doesn't mean he's a good passer," he said. "The difference between winning and losing is making the RIGHT pass at the RIGHT time. It's almost better to get the assist before the assist -- but nobody ever explains that to these kids."
• That brings me to my next thought, and my biggest problem with teenagers entering the draft: If teams are going to select high school players, they should at least resign themselves to teaching the fundamentals. Of course, with an 82-game schedule, there isn't a whole lot of time left for instruction.
• I can guarantee you the players would agree to a shorter schedule. If the league fails in its attempts to set an age minimum, it should shorten the regular season to 60 games. This would allow for more practice time, and therefore, a better product.
• One thing is for sure: The 18-year olds certainly aren't to blame. For them, NOT entering the draft is the equivalent of someone waiting four years to cash in on a winning lottery ticket.
• This discussion isn't over. E-mail me at amicoreport@hotmail.com and I'll print your reply. Please keep it brief, though. This newsletter only has enough room for ONE long-winded writer.

Finally, my biggest hope is that no matter what happens, the issue will die following the current collective bargaining agreement. It's definitely been the hottest topic since I started this newsletter four years ago, and something fans on both sides have always been passionate about. Now it's time for it to go away.

Phil and La La Land

Michael Ortiz (Los Angeles) wrote, "What do you think about Phil Jackson returning as coach of the Los Angeles Lakers?"

Dear Michael, I don't get it, especially since Jackson parted with Lakers owner Jerry Buss, GM Mitch Kupchak, and Bryant on such lousy terms. There's no logical reason for Jackson's return to Los Angeles -- other than the fact he's dating the owner's daughter, who may have insisted he come back.

Anyway, as I wrote numerous times before, Jackson would have been better off pursuing the Minnesota job. Wouldn't you have just loved seeing what he could have done with Kevin Garnett?

That said, I like Jackson and think he will lead the Lakers back into the playoffs. But he isn't about to win another title with this team (he even suggested as much at his press conference.)

I predict he'll leave after one year, two at the absolute most.

Red With Envy?

Here is what Red Auerbach had to say in USA Today about Jackson's return:

"It's done for one reason -- the money. It's as simple as that. Ten million dollars a year? What's all this crap about 'Oh, I want to make up with Kobe,' and 'I want to go back to the Coast.' It's a lot of baloney. If the Knicks offered him $12 million, he'd be in New York."

Auerbach and Jackson share the NBA record with nine coaching titles apiece, and have had public feuds in the past. In his interview with USA Today, Auerbach said he'll be rooting against Jackson to win a 10th title.

He also said, "Normally, you wouldn't think that he and Kobe would even be speaking. You don't know who ate crow when they met. But this guy (Jackson) is not dumb. He wants to be in control. He doesn't want to be at the mercy of Kobe. … Look, when a guy writes a book and exposes different things, that means he doesn't give a damn. Does he gain pleasure knocking the hell out of certain people? No. He's interested in the money."

Yet Another Correction

In the latest example of Amico Brain Freeze, I left Wilt Chamberlain off my list of the four NBA players who have scored 70 or more points in a game, something I wrote about last time.

But how was I supposed to remember? After all, Wilt only topped 70 like SIX times! That includes his 100-point game.

Instead, I had George Gervin on the list -- even though he never hit for more than 63. And who said there was a better place to get NBA information?

Anyway, the four players who have scored more than 70 points in a game are: Chamberlain, David Robinson, David Thompson, and Elgin Baylor.

Random Stuff

• Minnesota made a good choice when it hired former Seattle assistant Dwane Casey as coach. Like Nate McMillan, Casey is a bright basketball mind who will demand a lot from his players without rubbing them the wrong way.
• What's most amazing to me is that Paul Silas, Eric Musselman and Flip Saunders still don't have head coaching jobs. This tells me there are a lot of confused people out there running NBA teams.
• My vote for new Cleveland general manager goes to a guy who is already with the team: Acting GM Mark Warkentien. He's a quality person, tireless worker, and knows talent.
• Utah is looking to move up in the draft, and is supposedly using power forward Carlos Boozer as trade bait. The Utah Jazz are reportedly hoping to get a top three pick. They currently own the No. 6 overall selection.
• I always thought Boozer would be the perfect fit in Utah, but it's obvious all the negative press surrounding his departure from Cleveland really got to him. He also missed the final 31 games with a foot injury.
• Arizona's Salim Stoudamire and Marquette's Travis Diener, both 6-foot-1 point guards, moved up in the draft following impressive showings in the Chicago pre-draft camp. Both are expected to be selected early in the second round.
• More draft stuff will be arriving in your inbox in the coming weeks, including my special report on the day after the draft -- which also happens to be my son Brady's first birthday. In other words, I'm not sure what time you will get it, but you will get it.
• Finally, the new Web site, Pro Basketball News.com, will launch by the first week of August. Among the features: Daily commentary (much of it from yours truly), game coverage, box scores, player profiles and interviews, minor league and international reports, tons of draft stuff, and even a regular "Old School" column by Bill Tosheff, the NBA's very first Rookie of the Year. Also, each team page will consist of our picks of every franchise's all-time team.
• More info on the site coming soon. Just know that the reason the newsletters have been coming less frequently is because I'm working furiously to get the site finished. But I promise that the Amico Report will go back to its weekly format soon. In the meantime, keep those e-mails coming! As always, thanks for bothering to read.

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About the Amico Report

The Amico Report is a pro basketball newsletter from Sam Amico, and has more than 25,000 readers each week from all over the world. Sam has written about pro basketball for various magazines and Web sites since 1991.