Howland's Thoughts on College Hoops & NBA Draft

Dohn posted some interesting thoughts from Coach Howland on college hoops and NBA draft (as some fans are still holding out hope for Jrue Holiday to return to UCLA):

"Let's do what they do in baseball," Howland said. "Go out of high school to the NBA, if you want. But if you go to college, let's commit to two or three years. We have nothing to say on this. It's all on what the NBA decides."

Well here are couple of quick thoughts that immediately come into mind:

• Perspective of NBA's player unions/CBA negotiations: When Coach Howland says that it would be up to the NBA, that doesn't automatically mean it would be up to David Stern. This is an issue that would be the subject of discussion during negotiation on the NBA's CBA. One would think that the unions representing veteran players would favor imposing a 2-3 year requirement because it would protect more experienced players.
  
• NCAA can take actions too: It is interesting to me that Howland is talking about NBA taking action. I think Howland perhaps ought to think about talking to his colleagues and perhaps appealing to the NCAA to think about taking some concrete actions. Right now the way the rules are set up (if I am remembering them correctly) by the NCAA a players lose their eligbility to remain in college if they stay in the draft (even if they don't hire an agent). Perhaps the NCAA ought think about a scenario in which the players can maintain eligibility even if they stay in the draft and then decide after it was over to find out exactly where they were drafted. That way someone like Holiday could theoretically reserve the right to come back to UCLA if he elected to stay in the draft w/o hiring an agent only to find out he was a late first round draft pick. That way the NBA team would have more to think about when taking on a player in that scenario.

So those are two quick thoughts that immediatley come to mind. What do you think? It is interesting to hear Howland speak up publicly about this. I don't think he is going to be the last major college head coach voicing his concerns about the current system. The way it is all set up right now, it is not making the game any better at both levels. That is of course a topic of another post (or a whole series of posts).

GO BRUINS.