North Star Writers Group

Roller coaster height restrictions continue to haunt me, despite the 69-inch tower of flesh that presently renders me eligible to enjoy any ride I want. Whether it was a wryly smiling Yosemite Sam with a magnum in his hand or a smug-looking pirate with a sword that hung one miserable inch above my head, I felt shorter than Tom Cruise. But now I’m less young and less stupid and I understand that those restrictions were there for my safety. Is this the same logic David Stern, the NBA commissioner, is using to push his new NBA age limit of 20 years? “Kobe, LeBron, just trust me. It’s for your own good.”

The basketball scene would be rather skewed if, say, LeBron James were still in college. Redick and Morrison would not be on SportsCenter twice a night. The Cavaliers would still stink. Nike would have to think of something else to do with $90 million. And LeBron would probably be more than a little perturbed at being one knit-picky rule away from fame, fortune, and an opportunity to dunk on a 7’5” Chinese guy. I sympathize with future LeBrons.

Taken from an interview with Sports Guy, Bill Simmons, the following is Stern’s explanation. “This was not a social program, this was a business issue. There was a serious sense that this was hurting our game. Having an 18-year-old player not playing, sitting on the bench, is not good for basketball. If we could have these kids develop for another year, either (A) they'd see that they weren't so good, and we'd see that they weren't so good, or (B) they would get better, and when they came, they would be able to make a contribution. And that would improve the status of basketball.”

There you have it folks. He played the business card. In true Michael Corleone fashion, most critics would like Stern to take his business balderdash and shove it.

Responding to a reporter who specifically asked if he thought Stern’s dictum had racial motivation, the Pacers’ Jermaine O’Neal remarked, “As a black guy, you kind of think that's the reason why it's coming up.”

Race card: Check.

Granted, he was baited into that one. But could the race mongers among us, just once, exercise a little self control? Please? Does anyone honestly think that Stern is so innately racist that he is willing to propose a monumental shift in NBA eligibility just to place a temporary roadblock in front of the mostly black handful of high school students drafted into the NBA every year? For the social sanity of the country, please consider putting the race card away for this one.

Former player, current TV analyst, Kenny Smith, weighed in on the situation. “To me it is unconstitutional to take someone’s opportunity to make a livelihood.”

Constitution card: check.

Some people tend to confuse companies with democracies. The USA is a democracy. The NBA is not. The NBA can tell you how to dress. It can take your money if you bump a grown man in a striped uniform or verbally misrepresent that you respectfully disagree with a call. If you get Stern mad enough, he’ll ban you from the game for a year. The NBA has every right to propose an age limit.

However, I don’t believe Stern’s explanation either. I think there is more to it than business, which is ironic for an era in which the only consistently veritable claim is “I did it for the money.”

In a game where the style of play is increasingly dictated by highlight reels and individual statistics, one would have to make a complex and compelling case in order to convince me that the NBA benefits financially from teams like the Spurs, the Nets or the Pistons playing in the NBA Finals. The television ratings for championships without flashy standouts such as Kobe Bryant, Shaq, or Jordan are consistently pathetic. The Spurs and the Pistons are simultaneously the best teams and the most boring to watch. Who sells the most jerseys? Team by team, the Spurs and the Pistons are not even in the top ten.

It is unlikely that Stern actually believes improving the quality of the draft and thus, the quality of the league, will make the NBA more profitable. This is one of those strange cases where the exact opposite of normality is possible, or even probable. Instead of citing reasons of integrity and using the common rhetoric of “for the good of the game,” I think Stern is actually hiding behind the veil of business.

I may be crazy, but I think he has the integrity of the game at heart. Anyone who tells Allen Iverson that, when injured, he has to put away his bling and dress formally has something else on his mind.

A few NCAA years will, in most cases, improve the quality of NBA’s players. It will “grow them up”, too. The success stories of Kobe, LeBron, McGrady and Jermaine O’Neal are at least balanced by stories such as Eddy Curry, Kwame Brown, Darius Miles or Tyson Chandler. Of course, pointing to a non-success story is not exactly hard evidence that skipping college dramatically reduces a player’s chances of NBA success. Every year, high draft picks who attended college prove to be incredibly disappointing as professionals. But one cannot reasonably argue that two years in college will have anything but a positive effect on an athlete’s transition from High School to the NBA.

Stern can say what he wants, but the new age limit is not about the business. It’s probably not even fair. Regardless, he is acting on behalf of the integrity of his favorite game and the well being of those who play it. Contracting the NBA age limit will have severe consequences. I predict, along with Stern, that they will be among the sort that truly benefits everyone involved.

Maybe if I were stuck in college with 30 teams clamoring to make me rich, I’d feel differently. But this is altogether negligible since I am now tall enough to ride any roller coaster ever made and old enough to dunk on Yao Ming.

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