Wayne Selden is playing extremely well in the D-League but he would have benefitted greatly by playing his senior year. He may eventually get an NBA contract, but leaving early likely impacted his career earnings by several million dollars. Cliff Alexander's parents, and maybe Cliff himself, definitely impacted his career earnings in a negative manner.

Those are just two recent examples of kids who really had no business leaving school early. Graham could potentially make himself a lock in the second round after his senior year. Potentially. I am not saying it would be a sure thing, but his chances to make an NBA roster would be increased by coming back next year. Unfortunately, sometimes players don't make good decisions.

Maybe his family needs the money. His mother was very young when he was born. It could be a Cole Aldrich situation. And maybe Graham has talked with Keith Langford. Langford, in my opinion, would have succeeded in the NBA if he had been given a real shot, but he has become one of the highest paid, and most successful non-europian players in history. Maybe that sounds great to Graham, and even getting a shot at the D-League is icing on the cake to him.

I hope he comes back, but if he doesn't, I wish him all the best.

And on that subject, I am going to say something that will sound ridiculous. I think if Josh Jackson came back for his sophomore season, he could be the #1 pick instead of #3-#10. I know it's a no-brainer to leave if you are a lock to be a lottery pick, but I think being the best player on a great college team, playing 35 minutes per game, would help his game progress much more than playing 25 minutes a game on a bad NBA team, where he will be the 3rd or 4th option, spending most of his on court time without the ball in his hands. I know. I said I was going to say something ridiculous.

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Get the money as fast as you can so you can invest it and get your fam taken care of. You can always get your degree after you are done.
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Great post. Interesting information. And I agree about the 3 point shooting.
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I've seen a lot of discussion on Graham leaving over on Phog. He's not going to the NBA. I guess if he wants to try and make money playing basketball overseas he could probably do it. It would be a shame to lose him.
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in today's climate? Crazy. Josh Jackson is 1 'being a kid' incident in today's snapchat social media climate away from armageddon ... go get drafted and start making your money ASAP. Same with Graham. These kids don't owe anybody anything ...
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It's easy to sit back and postulate about someone else's life.

There are more things to consider than just:

"Is there a dollar on the table?"

"Yes."

"FUCKING TAKE IT WHAT THE FUCK IS THE MATTER WITH YOU?"

Yeah, first round contracts are guaranteed and it is lifechanging money for just about everybody, but let's be real here. Just like the NFL, real money is made on the second contract. Look at what Matthew Dellavedova just got fucking paid. That's an extreme example, but if you can make it through your rookie contract healthy and can stick on for some minutes, your earning potential goes up significantly. Things that affect that, which can be controlled are:

Is your body ready for an NBA season?

Are your skills defined enough to compete at the highest level?

Are you socially prepared and/or responsible enough to compete at the next level?

I've been paying attention to Ron Baker on the Knicks, and he is equating himself pretty well. It helps that the Knicks suck balls, but if he keeps up this type of work throughout his contract, he's going to make better money.

But his body played the college game long enough to be prepared for the rigors of NBA ball (remember he's had some injuries), he beat on Valley guys to get a good understanding of what he can do and what he can't, and he was responsible enough to do what he needed to do to take care of business.

The NBA is littered with with guys that had all the promise but got hurt too much, or they couldn't shoot or handle well enough or whatever.

Josh Jackson is a different animal than Graham. Josh is an elite enough player to get in there and roll I think. But there is something to be said for working on your skills against lesser competition and not just getting fucking crushed every night.
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At ANY point in your life you can go back to school. You can't always play basketball. If I didn't grow up a HUGE KU fan...my entire goal would be to make money as soon as possible playing basketball, and for as long as possible. You can always go back to school. Besides, I graduated college and got my bachelors degree like everyone else. It's almost as worthless as the paper it's printed on.
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Graham isn't an NBA player - but guys like him making MILLIONS overseas.

I hate the 1 and Done's as much as anyone, man. That's the reason I don't really follow college basketball. What's the point of cheering on guys for a year and then, welp, whole new crew next year!

Gone are the LaFrentz's and Pierces, Hinrich's and Collison's .. and in with the 1 and done.

That's why I'd take Frank Mason over Derrick Rose any day. Fuck 1 and dones.

But you don't turn down guaranteed money and these guys will either develop or not develop. Wayne Selden was never going to be more than what we saw for 3 years of that guy being a soft nobody.

Just stubborn fan talk to think a guy like Josh Jackson should stay, or Devonte Graham if he thinks he can go to Europe and make millions. NCAA is already exploiting these guys enough - I'll never hold a grudge when a Kelly Oubre wants to go make money to develop rather than be exploited by the NCAA
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Trae Young to OU...Looks like HCBS is still looking for his point guard for next year
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I agree with everything except it isn't the NCAA that is exploiting them, the NBA is. They are the ones who make it a OAD society. They are enforcing the age limit (which I don't know how that is legal anyway). Someone should and will probably challenge the age restriction in court someday as being discriminatory, but by the time the suit is over may already be in the pros and may be difficult to show damages.

If the NCAA could have it their way, they wouldn't even have a OAD rule. As it is, they have to bend over backwards to try to get kids cleared or they look like the bad guy by the masses. You either can 1) Go to NCAA to build up your brand & media exposure or go to 2) Rest of the World and profit off of your skills from day 1. The kids KNOW they won't get paid if they go to college. It's not a surprise. If you go to college, and then complain they didn't pay you, GTFOH. I'm just tired of people bagging on the NCAA because the NBA has strategically created a no-cost minor league system that they reap the benefits of.

With that being said, I am for kids being able to profit off of their own likeness & self BUT in no way shape or form should the NCAA or school be required to pay any player ANYTHING.
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...other than Malik Newman and possibly Devonte Graham
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dude .. the NCAA is taking a bunch of highly uneducated prodigy basketball players, telling them 'a free education is pay enough', and exploiting them to make billions and billions of dollars on their abilities.

the NCAA is a disgusting organization ... and the only thing I blame the NBA for is the ridiculous age entry limit forcing these guys to 1 and done.

Coaches can go from university to university without penalty but they have transfer rules forcing amateurs to sit out a year?

It's an ugly fucking sham. Fuck the NCAA.
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I disagree a college education is plenty of incentive. They get free food and board too. They don't have to go to college, play overseas like Brandon Jennings did. The transfer thing is ridiculous though.
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that's meaningless to a lot of these kids ...

free education sounds great to you or me ... but to some of these kids, like Derrick Rose, who never even received or cared about a proper high school education ... what does 4 years of 'going through motions' and taking fake classes so the university and the NCAA can exploit your talents do?

It's very hard to discuss these issues with this board because this board has a really tough time putting themselves into the shoes of an 18 year old kid from the inner cities who has 1 thing going for them in life (basketball) - and then trying to justify 'free college!' like its payment for the MULTI-BILLIONS they are making the NCAA with their unpaid labor.

It's offensive.
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So a win on Saturday wraps up the conference title?
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