Leaving School for the NBA
by M.C. Cohen

Will this year’s NBA talent extravaganza be the Taj McDavid/Korleone Young draft, or the Kevin Garnett/Kobe Bryant draft? If you’re not sure, stay in school.

Jumping into the NBA straight out of high school and skipping college “is a misguided dream for the minority youth of our nation,” says Danny, a college sophomore from New York City recently playing hoops on an asphalt court in Central Park. “While my peers think of going to Ivy League schools and have realistic dreams, these guys have aspirations that are totally whack.”

While Kobe Bryant is celebrating his second consecutive NBA championship, and All-Star Kevin Garnett is living large in Minneapolis, there are far more Taj McDavids and Korleone Youngs—players who tried and failed at the draft, and are no longer even eligible to play NCAA basketball in college. They are left without an education, living broken lives.

What went wrong?

“It’s the difference between greatness and the self-perception of greatness,” said Pee Wee Kirkland, a New York playground legend who now runs the School for Skillz youth basketball program. Young is now playing minor league basketball, still chasing his dream. McDavid, after a series of odd jobs, has yet to find himself.

This year’s draft, for the first time ever, was dominated by high school players; they made up half of the first eight picks. While they will get their money, they will lose out in the long run by failing to develop—both basketball-wise and maturity-wise—while sitting on the bench.

An even bigger problem has been the record number of college undergraduates leaving school to declare early for the draft, rather than waiting until they get their degrees. Two local players, who both thought they would have guaranteed spots in the top 29 picks, had their hopes dashed during second-round selections. St. John’s freshman point guard, Omar Cook, was very upset but still determined to succeed. “You’re so disappointed when you work out so hard for these teams,” Cook said. “But I’ve been doing that—feeling the pressure to make good—my whole life. I can’t do anything about it now.”

While Cook had a great freshman year, he was still “a jumpshot away from the lottery,” the top 13 picks in the draft, according to University of Louisville coach and former New York Knicks coach Rick Pitino. Another year in college may have secured him tens of millions of dollars instead of his current, non-guaranteed NBA minimum contract of $300,000.

University of Cincinnati’s Kenny Satterfield, another great player who missed the lottery, went a very disappointing 54th to the Dallas Mavericks. Like Cook, and other early entries, Satterfield’s decision to enter the NBA may have been exacerbated by financial pressures. Surrounded by agents and others who want a piece of the financial pie, these good college players, who could benefit from staying in college, are misguided into going for the draft early.

Cook and Satterfield may still succeed—but most players in their situation fall by the wayside. While sometimes it is Kobe-time, the McDavid story is, unfortunately, far more common. #

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