DONE WITH ONE-AND-DONE — The Weekly Opine

Current Duke frosh stars and projected lottery picks R.J. Barrett, Cam Reddish and Zion Williamson as high school all-stars last spring. (Photo credit: Brian Spurlock)

Urban cool NBA has a seriously wacked rule.

Last Wednesday night, February 20th, the basketball world froze when Duke superstar and projected number one draft pick Zion Williamson’s Nike shoe split apart, with Williamson falling awkwardly to the court in the opening minute of the Duke - North Carolina game.

E.F. Hutton could not cause a hush like what befell Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium last week. In mancaves throughout the U.S., fans watching the nationally televised game saw Williamson helped to his feet and limp off the court, damaged goods. Later, we learned Williamson suffered a relief-inspiring sprained right knee (rather than, say, a career-changing torn ACL).

But the scene at Duke and the ensuing days put the spotlight back on the NBA and the NCAA.

The NBA is in the bullseye for not allowing players of Williamson’s talent to enter the NBA draft straight out of high school. So is the NCAA for not paying star players like Williamson, who’s on-court performances bring in gazillions of dollars to the NCAA, conferences, schools and head coaches.

Say no to bowling

On January 1, 2016, Notre Dame’s star linebacker and projected Number One draft pick, Jaylon Smith, suffered a significant knee injury, tearing his ACL and LCL in college football’s Fiesta Bowl. He then was drafted much lower than expected, 34th in the second round, spent a year in rehab, and is now a productive starter for the Dallas Cowboys. So far, Smith is not the superstar he was projected to be although he just missed this year’s Pro Bowl.

The following bowl season, in the aftermath of Smith’s devastating injury, two big name college football players, LSU’s Leonard Fournette and Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey, declined to play in bowl games after their final season. And who can blame them?

In Fournette’s situation, LSU’s interim coach, Ed Orgeron, initially made the decision, with Fournette’s blessing. McCaffrey made his decision with strong support from his teammates. “It was a man decision,” McCaffrey said later, “to try to protect my dream of playing in the NFL.”

The surprise is that more players, the ones with big-time futures playing football in the Sunday league, do not pretend to be Monopoly players and pass Go, so they can collect NFL millions without risking injury in a post-season bowl game.

What’s a sure thing to do?

Benjamin Franklin, who lived long before the birth of the McDonald’s All American Game, once said “nothing can be certain, except death and taxes.”

When you look at the make-up of the U.S. Olympic basketball team, or who is selected for the NBA All-Star Game, or the teams that win the NCAA men’s basketball championship each spring, there is a “certain” influence of McDonald’s All American alumni.

Since 1979, in every year except 2002 and 2014, the NCAA champion featured at least one McDonald’s All American. At the start of the 2018 NBA season, all 30 NBA teams had at least one McDonald’s game alum on their roster. The average was an astounding five per team.

Twenty-three McDonald’s All American alums have been named NBA Rookie of the year. And 28 McDonald’s All American alums have been selected Number 1 in the NBA draft.

Maybe not as automatic as death and taxes, it is nonetheless damned near certain, if a player is one of the 10 players on the court at the start of the McDonald’s game, he will be drafted to play in the NBA whenever he decides to leave college.

And if said player is one of the super elites, like Zion Williamson or his fellow frosh Duke teammates P.J. Barrett and Cam Reddish? Back up the Brinks truck.

Shut it down?

A few weeks ago, ex-Chicago Bull Hall of Famer Scottie Pippin presciently posited that Zion Williamson has nothing left to prove and therefore should not risk injury by playing any more college games.

Pippin correctly advised that the NCAA, Duke and Coach Mike Krzyzewski, a Hall of Famer himself, are getting paid while Williamson, the most physically gifted and exciting talent since LeBron James, toils for comparative financial pittance. (Room and board? Books? A meal stipend? Really?)

Why, Pippin and others ask, should Zion Williamson risk his big future payday while Coach K is paid, according to USA Today, nearly $9 million to coach talents like Zion and other studs, who pass through Duke for a year or two.

Should a 19-year old kid, who often comes from a family of little means and is now on the verge of a lottery-like financial windfall, risk injury trying to help the financially secure (many times over) Coach K win another national title?

The reaction to Scottie Pippin’s advice that Zion Williamson should shut down drew varied responses.

“It’s completely up to Zion and his family,” a Western Conference NBA team executive, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, told The Weekly Opine. “I believe in empowering the athlete to choose what’s best for his situation.”

Bob Geoghan, who in 1978 founded the McDonald’s All American Game, disagrees with Pippin, saying “Zion made a commitment to his teammates and the school and should finish the season.”

A Midwest parent of a young NBA star understands Pippin’s point-of-view but says “the drive of these kids is different. Zion probably wants to support his team.” The parent added he would “never want to stop a competitor from helping his team if that’s what Zion wants to do.”

It is complicated. However, The Weekly Opine agrees with Pippin. As did footballers Fournette and McCaffrey, hoops star Zion should end his college career now to protect his winning lottery ticket.

The check please

One aspect of college sports that more and more people, from fans all the way up to hoops royalty, agree on is that star college athletes should be paid.

The NBA team executive concurs. “There is a disproportionate level of compensation between the NCAA and athletes. But it is a larger issue. It is more of a socio-economic issue than an athlete issue,” the executive said.

“I’ve always taken the stand on the side of the players versus the institution,” said McDonald’s Game founder Geoghan. “The players deserve something more than a scholarship.”

The Midwest parent believes top college players should be paid. “The NCAA needs to figure it out. Somehow, someway because the players should be compensated.”

The Weekly Opine agrees. Pay the star players, who are generating serious cash for the NCAA, conferences, coaches and others. (The NCAA not long ago signed an almost $9 billion extension with its broadcast partners.)

Among this list of greatest high school McDonald’s All Americans, Dwight Howard was the last one permitted to jump from high school to the NBA, back in 2004. (Photo credit: The Weekly Opine)

End one-and-done

Article X of the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement states a player is ineligible to play in the NBA if the player is not at least 19 years old, and one NBA season removed from high school. Hence, one-and-done.

Today, the choice is play college ball for a year or, as Brandon Jennings did in 2008-09, head overseas.

Jennings, the top-rated point guard coming out of high school in 2008, spurned the NCAA and signed a $1.2 million contract to play in Italy. While Jennings admitted his European experience was sketchy, he got paid (not always on time said he) and was the 10th pick in the 2009 NBA draft.

Likely by 2022, according to NBA sources, anyone at least age 18 will be eligible for the draft.

Not since 2004, when Dwight Howard leapt from Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy to the pros, have high schoolers been allowed to enter the NBA draft. Howard was the number one pick in the draft, selected by the Orlando Magic. (A total of 45 players, starting with Mose Malone in 1974, have jumped from high school to the pros.)

The Midwest parent agrees one-and-done should be rescinded and said “absolutely, no doubt about it” when asked if his son would have entered the draft from high school a few years ago, if rules permitted. He added, “hopefully as a lottery pick.” (His son was a lottery pick after his freshman season in college).

“More college would have hindered him,” said the Midwest parent. By going the one-and-done route, his son “was able to continue to improve his game in the NBA while earning a living.”

The Midwest parent says key factors to determine whether a player can handle jumping from high school to the pros, or go one-and-done, are “maturity level, ability to sustain high-level training, mental toughness, competitiveness and a strong family support system.”

Geoghan, the McDonald’s All American Game founder, “never did like the one-and-done” and takes the side of many who believe players should have the option to go straight from high school to the NBA. “And if a kid is not NBA-ready and not college student material, then he should be able to play in the NBA’s developmental G-League,” Geoghan said.

Responding to why other major sports - such as the National Hockey Association, Major League Baseball and the Association of Tennis Professionals - allow high schoolers to be drafted and/or compete, the NBA team executive said matter-of-fact, “I’ve always believed if you can play you can play. Age should not play a role in determining if someone is good enough.”

The NBA team exec observes that when one-and-done is eliminated, if a high school kid tests the waters and goes undrafted, the new rule should allow him to still attend college to play ball, if he has not hired an agent.

The final analysis

One-and-done is outdated and uncool. Stop prohibiting basketball players from doing what their hockey, baseball and tennis classmates can do. If an athlete is good enough to play in the NBA at age 18, turn ‘em loose!

Figure out a system to pay star college players, who generate enough money from broadcast rights fees, ticket sales, merchandising, and gambling to build a wall around all of America.

And stop making lottery picks feel obligated to play in February and March if they have nothing left to prove, having already secured their status as a lottery pick.

It is unfair to expect kids from low-income families to risk a guaranteed, multi-million-dollar pot of gold that’s waiting for them at the beginning of the NBA draft rainbow.