Baseball is an entirely different animal that basketball. A better comparison is football. Baseball has an entire minor league system, fully functional, with each team having minor league affiliates. Major league teams essentially run those minor league affiliates, thus deciding the development process for the players they sign.
Nobody gets on a HS kid who gets a job selling cars, McDonalds, Circuit City, supermarket checker, etc.... It's total BS to get on HS kids just cause they have the option of making millions playing pro-sports. You could risk career ending injuries in college just as much as in the pro's so why risk it? There is NO VALID argument against HS kids joining the NBA. So what if they are on the bench, that means THAT particular player was not good enough just like every other job. While there are more players that don't contribute early on there are those exceptions. Kobe would have done better had there not been a better player at his position. Amare, LeBron and M. Malone are examples of players who an made immediate IMPACT in the NBA. KG and Kobe are examples of players who made contributions to the NBA.
Football and basketball have a single development process: sign the kid, and put him on the roster. College acts as the only development these kids have. So we pay to watch a player not play, while taking the roster spot of a person who presumably might play. And this means that we now have NBA farm teams: Chicago, the Clippers, etc. - teams that take other players, develop them, and then lose them to free agency when the player becomes passable. It's bad for basketball all the way around.
You CANNOT tell a kid to pass up millions and risk getting ZERO by going to college. Playing against pro's in practice IMO is more beneficial than playing against college kids in games.
And personally, I don't see why anyone can't hold Kobe Bryant accountable for his decision to skip college, and thereby short-cutting the possibility of adding additional accomplishments to his list. Consider this: had Bryant attended two years of college, and then come out early, it's extremely likely he'd have put up the same kind of numbers that he did in his third season. Bryant was a bit player his first two years in the pros...despite that completely undeserved All-Star selection his second year. Folks act as if Byrant had no choice - that he did what he had to do. That's garbage. He *CHOSE* to forgo college. I, for one, say that he should be held accountable for not having the accomplishments from that.
See comments above. Dan Gadzurick ring a bell? How about Hank Gathers? Had he gone pro not only would he have been gaurtanteed millions but maybe the pro-doctors would have monitored his situation better and he would still be alive today. Of course you can point to Reggie in Boston to counter that point about pro doctors but you must agree that the heathcare system in the pro's is better than in college.
Futhermore, you can't say any player who won a starting job at North Carolina was just "riding coattails." No, Jordan wasn't "the man" for North Carolina. Then again, Kobe wasn't "the man" in LA's previous titles. If you want to discount Jordan's accomplishments at Carolina, or on the 1984 or 1992 Olympic teams, then you need to discount Kobe's accomplishments to this point as a Laker.
Wrong. Jordan hit one big shot to catapult him to star status, prior to that he was a role player ala Rick Fox or Derek Fisher. Kobe has carried the Lakers on his back durring the regular season and won critical playoff games at every level of the NBA. You can't compare one shot in one game for MJ at NC to Kobe's routine clutch performances when the games are on the line. That's BS.
Ego isn't about mouth, WayOut. Ego is about how good you looking getting where you're going. Payton proved he could sacrifice ego by signing on to play third or fourth fiddle on the Lakers. He knew his numbers would go down, that he'd make less money, and that he'd hurt future earning potential as well. Sure, Payton is mouthy on the court; Reggie Miller is another good example. Neither is currently as talented as Bryant - I don't think that's a question - but they talk a lot more than Bryant. Yet Bryant, despite his talent, is the one with the ego. It's about being in the spotlight with him. The only reason Payton and Miller were ever in the spotlight is because they earned it - not because they "needed" it.
You picked the wrong guys for your example. Payton ego is obvious on the court, but he romoves any doubt with his mouth. Kobe is alot smarter than that off the court. Payton bitched and moaned about playing time, amoung other things, despite his minutes only going down by 2, YES TWO, freaking minutes. Payton still thinks he's the "Glove".
Miller has the BIGGEST ego of the three. He actually said ON CAMERA when Rik Smits hit a last second game winning shot in the playoffs that while he was happy with the win the would have preferred to have hit that shot himself! WTF!?!?
Sorry, but Kobe's ego is no bigger than most super stars in the league. Kobe doesn't even have the biggest ego on the Lakers, he's behind Shaq and Fox in that regard.
I'd think the Clipper fans would revolt at the thought of losing, but so far, they haven't. Brand being there or not being there won't change that one iota. The team is suffering from severe head-rot. The team will never be a serious contender for anything other than the lottery as long as Sterling is the owner. For the good of the sport, that guy has got to go.
Lossing to US Clipper fans is kinda like a bad fart, after a while you get use to the stentch and you don't even notice it.
I'm actually hopefull for the Clippers because they hired a decent coach. I wasn't fooled by the Brand and Magette contracts like most Clipper fans, Stern was forced into that because of the NBA imposed MINIMUM payroll requirement. I'd like to see the Clips hold onto Q and sign a big name FA, they have the money to do it.
