COLUMN: College kids – Stay four and get paid more
Following the 2002 basketball season, St. Joseph’s guard Jameer Nelson had a career-altering decision to make.
Nelson had to choose whether to declare his intentions to leave college early and go the NBA, or to stick around campus for his senior season as a Hawk.
Without question, Nelson made the absolute best decision by sticking it out and playing another final year of college ball.
In an era where players have been making the jump to the league the split second they are merely mentioned as possible first round picks, Nelson let due process take it’s course and reaped the benefits.
Nelson carried St. Joe’s (in every sense) to an undefeated regular season. Not to mention lead the way to an NCAA tournament run that ended in the Elite 8 with a loss to Oklahoma State.
Individually, Nelson averaged 20.6 points, 5.3 assists, and 4.7 rebounds a game. He was also named Naismith Player of the Year, the most prestigious individual award in college basketball.
Perhaps even more important for Nelson, and what may be very influential on the future of college basketball, was the fact that Nelson’s draft stock has soared in a year. This gives undergraduate players a little hint that maybe it really is worth it to stay in college as long as you can.
Another draft prospect, Chris Thomas, looks to be leaning toward the same smart road that Nelson took. Thomas, the star guard for Notre Dame, considered leaving school last year, his freshman season for the Irish. He was an “on the brink prospect,” meaning it was uncertain whether he was first-round quality or not. He originally declared for the draft, yet did not sign an agent, the move that would have made him ineligible for any more college basketball. Thomas eventually pulled back, choosing to hone his skills in the security of South Bend, instead of the prospect of playing for the National Basketball Development League’s Asheville Altitude, or Maccabi-Tel Aviv. Thomas went on to have a great season this year, averaging just under 20 points per game. More than anything, he proved that in a year, he could develop a killer jump shot and an icy confidence. Now, after a successful sophomore season, Thomas has raised his stock significantly, and after seeing what a year can do, he will stay another year.
Does this mean that the trend is shifting? I think so – slowly but surely. Here’s my point: There are two different kinds of prospects in the NBA draft. One, the top-level guys, the players who have the unbelievable athletic ability or outstanding intangibles to lock them up at least somewhere in the first round. The second kind is are the aforementioned “on the brink” prospects.
For instance, Omar Cook. I know there are probably lots of players who have left earlier than they should have for the draft, but Cook is one of the most blatant examples. In his freshman season at St. Johns, Cook was the best assists man in college basketball. He had the talent for the NBA, but needed to get a jump shot. He chose not to stay, and he ended up a second round pick and eventually lost in the NDBL, not making a quarter of the money he had expected to make. After three tough years of scrapping in the development league and trying to make cuts, Cook is finally on the path that he was destined for. Looking back, do you think Cook would make the same decision and be making the NBA veteran minimum, or entering the draft this year after a great college career and becoming a lottery pick this June? I think the players motives are beginning to shift, and will prove very positive for the NCAA and the NBA.
While there are still a fair share of undergraduates who will make the jump early, some of college basketball’s top players have already said they will forgo the draft this year. Thomas, Duke’s Luol Deng, Kansas’s Wayne Simien, North Carolina’s Rashad McCants and Ray Felton – all top prospects – have made it known that they wish to remain amateurs for a while longer. Maybe these guys want the same kind of success Nelson experienced. Become the best player in college basketball, go undefeated with a team squarely on your shoulders, make a fantastic run deep in the NCAA tournament. This has always sounded better to fans than watching their school’s top players leave college too early, ending up starring in the developmental league. I guess now it’s sounding better to the players, too.
Brad Barth is a single freshman majoring in marriage and life skills. Comments and/or pictures can be sent to bcb@cc.usu.edu.