What the NBA age proposal could mean for Arizona Basketball

Making the rounds in the professional and collegiate basketball world, here’s what the new age proposal for the NBA could mean for Arizona Basketball.

Those worrying after reading that first part, don’t worry folks, nothing is definitive just yet and the new age proposal won’t start for a while. Arizona Basketball is safe for now.

The one-and-done rule has been long debated for the past decade or so. Regardless of where you stand on the issue, there’s no doubt it’s been one of the most heavily talked about rules in college/ NBA basketball for quite some time.

Arizona Wildcats

In the now distant past we saw supreme talents like LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett and Tracy McGrady among others make the rare transition from high school to eventual NBA stardom.

However, for every player like the aforementioned, we also saw ones that never really lived up to the hype. Names like; Kwame Brown, Leon Smith, Jonathan Bender and Ndudi Ebi (former Arizona commit) among others are certainly names discussed when talking about the NBA Draft age. We’d also like to point out that Bryant and James didn’t win championships right out of high school either,  it took a while.

Finally in July 2005, the NBA Players Union and the league came to an agreement, increasing the draft age, drastically changing the course of college basketball.

Fixed right? Well, not exactly, this has certainly made the college game more interesting, but also vastly more challenging as well.

Too many times fans have complained about the current state of the collegiate game, citing the constant change as reason why the game has become a bit challenging, making it difficult for some of the more prestigious programs to build, and instead constantly “reload” with talent.

Plus, it’s just a waste for some of these kids coming out of high school, that could clearly dominate in the league from day one, but instead head to a school, only to leave eight-to-nine months later.

That’s not a knock to the ones who are truly talented, no, but in Arizona’s case for instance, since the 2012-13 season, we’ve seen six ‘one-and-dones’.

Imagine how vastly different those teams would like if guys were staying a minimum of two years or longer. Sean Elliott, arguably the greatest Wildcat in program history stayed in school all four years. Nowadays, players of Elliott’s caliber are gone much sooner.

There’s no need for guys like Zion Williamson, Deandre Ayton, Joel Embiid, etc. to go to college. While they are/were exciting, it’s clear they are in a world unlike everyone else.

Because of that, that’s why the NBA is looking to change the rules again. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has been discussing the idea, and the league is considering changing the age back to what it was before.

Don’t worry, it’s not official just yet, and the proposed rule change won’t necessarily happen until 2022.

With the proposed rule change, here is where I think the age limit helps Arizona moving forward. For one, it opens more spots (less ‘one-and-done’ players), and allows head coach Sean Miller to truly focus on development on guys that want to be there and get to the league.

Players that are truly good enough should leave when able to (regardless of age). For the ones that want to go to school, can work hard, get better year-in and year-out and have the opportunity to become good college players and who knows, maybe even get drafted (see Solomon Hill).

Do we also need a bit of a reminder of a few players that stayed longer? Guys like Richard Jefferson stayed three years, Luke Walton stayed all four, and even Channing Frye also stayed all four. Development was crucial for those guys and they all became great college players and got drafted because of their development.

I may be a bit biased here, but I feel prior to the ‘one-and-done’ rule, the college game seemed a bit different, better perhaps.

Kids weren’t looking to go pro after one year necessarily, and they also weren’t seemingly using that age limit as a means of just getting to the league as quick as possible. The ones that felt ready, left, or the one’s that feared injury, didn’t want to jeopardize their health and potential draft value.

For now, we must wait to see just how fruitful the proposed rule change would be for Arizona. I can’t help but think it will only help in a number of ways.

While I think the rule change would be a great start, here’s where I think the league needs to go further in helping the sport.  My only suggestion for the NBA would be to go even more in-depth with the age limit.

I say expand the draft to three rounds, and make the draft a bit like baseball. For guys that don’t like their draft position, they can forego their pick, go to school, but need to stay a minimum of two years before being eligible again.

Also use the G-League truly more like a farm system. For the ones that just want to skip college and make money, allow the ones drafted in the later rounds, use the G-League as a means of developing while earning some money.

The ones that want to go to school will go, and the focus will be on creating better players. Now, who knows if that would necessarily work, but that would be my solution to make a better college and NBA product.

The players good enough to play in the NBA will play, and the ones that aren’t won’t. To me, less teams would be making bust high school picks and a good college product and a good pro product is only good for the sport, right?

That’s my thoughts anyways. Disagree? Agree? Please feel free to let us know on Facebook or Twitter, we would love the discussion! Bear Down, Arizona!