There has been an issue floating around the NBA for the past fifteen years; "Should players straight out of High School be allowed to enter the NBA?" The commissioner of the NBA David Stern issued an age limit policy during the 2005-2006 season, stating that, no player may enter the draft without being out of high school at least one year. This decision was brought about by the fact that each year more and more kids straight out of high school were entering the draft and unless you were a player the caliber of Lebron James, Kobe Bryant or Kevin Garnett they failed to be a success in the NBA. This did not happen in every case, but more often than not kids were being shipped off to Europe or the d-league. The fundamental question is; "Can you deny a person the right to obtain gainful employment if the job is presented to he or she?" The answer is a resounding NO!

No person should be denied employment if the employer is willing to hire said person. Are these young players ready for the NBA game? In most cases no; but is that not an issue that front offices around the league should determine and not the commissioner? Is the draft not set up in the purpose for teams to draft the best possible players in their field? So the blame should be put upon the front offices of the league and not these KIDS who since the ages of twelve have been told they will make millions in the NBA from family, friends, coaches, scouts and agents. There are a few answers I would suggest in fixing this problem.

1. Institute a policy that if a player is not drafted that he may then still be eligible for college as long as he has not accepted any financial benefit from endorsers or agents. This will allow the player to refine his game in the college atmosphere and enter at a later date.

2. Create a major fact finding mission to see where a player will fall in the draft. This should be done months before the draft takes place so the player still has time to decide between college and the NBA. There are plenty of erroneous reports that agents put together to make it seem a player will go much higher in the draft. This will give the player a great determining factor for whether or not teams in the NBA feel he is ready for the draft.

3. Finally, what I feel is the best policy the NBA can institute is to not hire any player that has not obtained a college degree. This will ensure that the player that each and every team gets in the draft are not only experienced, but also ready to handle the responsibilities put upon a young man that comes into a lot of money. This would also benefit college athletics and increase the emphasis of the term "Student Athlete". This would also increase the level of competition in the NBA. This ultimately would increase the image of the league and significantly decrease the number of off the court incidents that we see on ESPN on a regular basis.

The NBA and for that matter all Major League Sports have a fundamental problem they must solve; "At what age does an athlete become mature enough for their given sport?" It is a problem that no league has been able to fix, but hopefully before it gets out of hand these leagues will wise up and address these issues in the right way.

Learn more about this author, Joshua Kopp.
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