Does LA predispose players to be 1-&-done's?
by ishXdavid on Dec 14, 2009 11:47 PM PST
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I did some quick research about one-and-done's since the NBA instituted the rule in 2006. Here's a list of players drafted to the NBA after only one collegiate season:
2007:
- Greg Oden - Ohio State
- Kevin Durant - Texas
- Mike Conley Jr. - Ohio State
- Brandan Wright - North Carolina
- Spencer Hawes - Washington
- Thaddeus Young - Georgia Tech
- Javaris Crittenton - Georgia Tech
- Daequon Cook - Ohio State
2008:
- Derrick Rose - Memphis
- Michael Beasley - Kansas State
- OJ Mayo - USC
- Kevin Love - UCLA
- Eric Gordon - Indiana
- Jerryd Bayless - Arizona
- Anthony Randolph - LSU
- JJ Hickson - NC State
- DeAndre Jordan - Texas A&M
2009:
- Tyreke Evans - Memphis
- Demar DeRozan - USC
- Jrue Holiday - UCLA
- BJ Mullens - Ohio State
Ohio State has recruited and lost 4 prospects with 3 coming all at once in 2007. I don't put too much stock into this because the entire program was built on that Oden-Conley-Cook class and has reverted back to what OSU is supposed to be. Georgia Tech is another school that rolled the dice with a couple one-&-done's and came up with snake eyes losing them both. Memphis lost Rose and Evans in consecutive years. UCLA lost Love and Holiday in consecutive years. USC lost Mayo and DeRozan in conseecutive years too. Looking at the colleges that have felt the departure of a one-&-done prospect, UCLA and North Carolina stand out as true powerhouses. If you think we got shafted by JH's early departure, Brandan Wright is averaging 6.2 ppg for his short career.
It should also be noted that UCLA and USC are the only schools located in a major market. The LA schools have lost 4 one-&-done's. LA is the #2 media market in the nation, but it's also the best basketball city in the country. We have two NBA franchises, and the Lakers are the glamour franchise of the NBA. New York and Boston are baseball cities. Chicago is a football city. And no one does basketball like LA does basketball. Are we at a disadvantage because of the big city glitz? When NBA playoffs roll around and there's a palpable buzz in the city air, are LA athletes predisposed to believing that they are ready for the next level? OJ Mayo expressly stated that going to USC was a business decision (in more nefarious ways than one).
This doesn't necessarily apply to Kevin Love who was as good as gone the moment he signed his LOI. I will always feel disappointed that Holiday didn't work out as it was obvious he was getting bad advice. I can't help but wonder why North Carolina, Kansas, and UConn are able to keep their prized prospects longer than one year. I wonder if it's because there aren't the same kinds of sharks in Chapel Hill, Lawrence, and Storrs that we have in LA enticing kids to jump to the pros to make the big bucks. LA engenders its own mentality, and I can't help but fear that it whets the palettes of ballers looking to get paid. I'm not just talking about agents and shoe representatives either. There is a celebrity culture here that young people get caught up in that doesn't exist in "college towns" across America. In this media age our kids get to live, see, touch, and experience all the things their peers read about in magazines or watch on TV. They are exposed to the lifestyle they want to live on a daily basis.
I think CBH and UCLA suffer a bit from being located in this lovely city. It's a great recruiting tool to get kids to come to UCLA, but on the other side of the token it also works against us when we try to keep them here. I've gone on record here countless time defending the recruitment of elite talent regardless of their prospective tenures, but I didn't really appreciate how difficult it is to keep a prospect in school when we live in a city that's the epitome of self-promotion and greed. This is something even our great Coach Wooden didn't have to deal with.
/end rambling
This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of BruinsNation's (BN) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of BN's editors.
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Valid point
And I think it has a lot of merit. I have written recently that a lot more high profile kids will be targetting UCLA specifically for what it can do for them. It makes sense that Los Angeles as a whole can be seen that way, too. OJ Mayo is a perfect example. He could have gone to any number of schools, many of which were much better than $c*. Instead, he travelled across the country to play in a crappy program because it was a place where he could “showcase his talents” errr….get lots of pub. Well, that and 48" 1080p HD plasmas.
greg in denver - UCLA guy for life
Here's a telling quote
about one-and-dones and early entries in general. In a preseason interview with Sports Illustrated, Kasas PG Sherron Collins discussed the vaunted high school classes of ‘06 and ’07 and their wealth of soon-to-be-NBA point guards (emphasis mine); "I look at those class lists all the time, and I know I’m the only one left." That told me a lot about the modern collegiate basketball player’s approach to his amateur years and the NBA.
Maybe you can read that quote differently (I’m not sure how) but to me there seems to be an underlying sense of underacheivment/embarrassment in those words. This is a kid who is poised to take his squad to the promised land this year. He graced all the magazine covers in the midwest when the college basketball season rolled around. He is undoubtedly revered on his campus, in the city of Lawrence and in the state in general. Yet this kid spends a lot of time (his words not mine) lamenting the fact that he hasn’t “made it.”
I have a full diatribe here but I think you get the point.
from a Kansas POV
Granted, I’ve only been here a few months, but still. Sherron Collins and Cole Aldrich are GODS in Lawrence. They truly appear to be having the times of their lives. All the local press coverage from their decision to return had them doing nothing but signing the praises of KU and talking about working toward their degrees. Yes, I know you can say one thing and think another, but I’ve seen enough about Collins to make me think he is happy with his decision. From the local paper:
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2009/apr/13/collins-aldrich-announce-plans-return-ku-next-seas/
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2009/jun/25/offering-no-regrets/
I’m not saying there might not be other players who are disappointed they’re still stuck in college, but I don’t think Collins is one of them.
Based on the two quotes
it looks like the kid is sort of conflicted and how can you blame him. I’m not gonna say that he sits around and mopes as he watches Derrick Rose, Jerryd Bayless, Mike Conely, Ty Lawson and the other PGs from those classes playing in the league based on the Sports Illustrated quote. Similarly, I can’t say he would happily take the Van Wilder approach and spend the next several years in college based on the Lawrence Journal quotes.
I don’t know Sherron Collins personally. I do however know that modern athletes are well aware of the power of PR. How many times have you heard quotes from athletes or coaches about how they are exactly where they want to be and not even considering any other options, then a couple of weeks later they are publicly considering their options. You know that it didn’t just occur to them overnight; “hey maybe I should think about the job at Alabama,” “you know what, I might just want to play in the NBA next year.”
All I’m saying is based on the Sports Illustrated quote this seeming sense of relative failure for players who spend too many years in college is something we must consider when talking about one-and-dones. When you place these kids in direct competition with each other, ranking them from the time they’re in middle school, you’ve got to assume that they are going to judge themselves against one another
And don't forget
While Sherron is taking classes, doing homework, taking tests and living on a student’s means, those guys are going to VIP parties, living it up and raking in the dough. Every year spent in college is now seen as a year not making millions…
But the question at the heart of all this is: is basketball for entertainment or is it more? Undoubtedly, there will be players who just view it as entertainment, and who won’t believe that hard work is necessary to provide entertainment.
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
Take a look at the current top 10
Kansas, Texas, Kentucky, Purdue, Syracuse, West Virginia, Duke, Villanova, Tennessee, North Carolina.
Of those 10 teams, only 2 players from those squads have left their respective programs after one year (Durant-Texas, Wright-Kansas) in the last 3 years. This is despite most of those programs recruiting multiple McDonald’s All-Americans, 5 star studs, etc.
Bottom line: If you want to be successful, you need to recruit talent, and keep it with you as long as possible.
"I don't forget very much" Rick Neuheisel, 11/28/09
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