I chose to do this project because its deals with an issue that is timely and current. The NBA changed its age limit starting with the 2006 draft. Up until 2005, players could be drafted right after high school. The new rule made it so that players had to be one year removed from their high school graduation and 19 years of age to enter the draft. In my opinion, this rule change is discriminatory and prevents 18-year-olds, who are of course legal adults, from pursuing their professional careers and earning a living.

A big part of the reason why I chose to pursue this project was the pioneering move made by Brandon Jennings last year. Jennings failed to pass the entrance exam in order to attend college, and with the NBA not an option, he chose to skip school and sign with a pro team in Italy. Jennings played there for one season, made over $1 million dollars and entered the draft this year. He was taken with the 10^th overall pick by the Milwaukee Bucks. I find his story very interesting and it really makes me wonder why the NBA would be willing to let talented players like Jennings start their careers overseas. I truly believe that more and more players will do what Jennings did. Case in point, a San Diego standout named Jeremy Tyler is forgoing his senior year of high school to play in Europe for two seasons before entering the draft. What’s to stop even younger players from turning pro overseas and making good money?

This project matters because it deals with class; many of these players come from impoverished backgrounds. It deals with race; many of these players are African-American. Finally, it deals with education; many of the elite high school talents don’t really want to go to college, but only do so because of the NBA’s policy. This leads to three things: it makes a mockery out of college basketball, it severely hurts academic integrity, and it dramatically increases the chances of recruiting violations.

The number of “one-and-done” players hurts college basketball because it makes it very hard for programs to maintain continuity and sustain success, not to mention brings down the level of play. It also forces schools to think long and hard about the risks versus the rewards of taking on players who may attend for just one season. Academic integrity is hurt because “one-and-dones,” especially if they already know they’re declaring for the NBA, will only take their fall semester of classes seriously. The spring semester doesn’t matter because in their eyes, they’ll be in the league come summer. Even for players who leave for the NBA after their sophomore or junior seasons, very few end up making up the coursework to earn their degrees. In fact, four out of five retired NBA players (currently the average retirement age is 27) don’t have college degrees. When players don’t finish school, it hurts graduation rates among athletes and causes the loss of scholarships. Finally, perhaps the biggest drawback to players going to college who don’t really want to, are recruiting violations that can ruin a school’s program for many years. Two of the top NBA rookies from this past season, Derrick Rose and O.J. Mayo, are at the center of NCAA investigations into improprieties at the schools they attended, Memphis and USC respectively. The number of violations and investigations will only rise as long as talented players are made to delay their professional careers by one year.

I hope that my project contributes to society by showing people how unfair the NBA was on changing a policy that had done just fine since 1971. That year, Spencer Haywood successfully sued the NBA for the right to play in the league without being four years removed from high school graduation, which was the policy at the time. After Haywood’s U.S. Supreme Court victory, high school players and college underclassmen were allowed to enter the NBA draft.

Clockwise are the Magic's Rashard Lewis and Dwight Howard, the Cavaliers' LeBron James, the Lakers' Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum, and the Nuggets' J.R. Smith. What do they have in common? All are key contributors on the NBA's final four teams from this past season and all entered the league directly from high school. (AP photos)

To be fair, there have been some colossal busts drafted directly out of high school. Further, some of the preps taken over the years lacked the emotional and physical maturity to truly succeed. However, the very same criticisms can be made of more experienced prospects. I would hope that my project helps people realize that if someone has the talent, they should be able to pursue whatever it is they excel at, no matter their age. If a 10-year-old is smart enough to gain admission to college, and a 90-year-old is still sharp enough to serve as the District Attorney for New York (Robert Morgenthau), then what’s the big fuss over an 18-year-old trying to play professional basketball?

The age limit should be done away with and the NBA should heed the passionate words of Sonny Vaccaro, one of my interview subjects for this project: “If the professional bodies, the pro teams themselves, don’t think these kids can do it, don’t draft them. Don’t employ them!”

***

It’s been a long and eventful summer but I’ve definitely enjoyed the ride. Here are links to the main parts of my project:

- From high school to the NBA: A photo gallery chronicling the history

- The history of high schoolers in the NBA: The impact preps have made on the league from 1946 to 2009

- The ‘godfather of basketball’: My interview and profile of Sonny Vaccaro

- Review of the last five NBA drafts: An analysis of the players selected from 2005, the last draft to allow entry to high schoolers, through to this year. Here are my findings:

• 2005 NBA draft
  
• 2006 NBA draft
  
• 2007 NBA draft
  
• 2008 NBA draft
  
• 2009 NBA draft

- Is a lawsuit on the NBA’s horizon?: Maurice Clarett challenged the NFL’s policy and lost. Will anyone take on the NBA’s age rule?

- How do other sports compare?: The entry policies for other professional leagues

- The Government vs. the NBA: Posts on lawmakers pressuring the league:

• Should it take an act of Congress?
• NBA gets defensive with Congress

- Domino No. 3: Latavious Williams seeks to follow Brandon Jennings and Jeremy Tyler as high school stars who bypass college to play overseas

- The 2009 NBA draft: I blogged the proceedings and analyzed the numbers of underclassmen taken

- Stories still to come (hopefully): Pieces of of this project that are works in progress, but if achieved, will enhance the assignment

He was seeking clemency in order to try a football comeback as soon as possible, perhaps even in the NFL. With the chances of an early release very unlikely, and the possibility of parole sometime next year for good behavior, Clarett decided to stick it out.

You might be wondering how Clarett relates to the NBA’s age policy. The correlation goes back to the bold decision he made in 2003. After being suspended by Ohio State for the 2003-04 season for rules violations, Clarett sued the NFL for the right to enter its draft. League rules specify that in order to be eligible for the NFL draft, a player is required to be either three years removed from their high school graduation or graduation of the class year with which they entered high school, whichever is earlier.

“He was precluded from playing at Ohio State because of supposed NCAA violations,” says Alan Milstein, Clarett’s lawyer in the case. “He had no other place to go. He was ready to play football. They were ready to hire him. And he just needed to get into the draft.”

In 2002, Clarett came to Ohio State highly-touted and almost immediately showcased his talent as he became the first Buckeye freshman to open the season as the starting running back since 1943. He capped his superb first, and what would be only, season in college football by scoring the winning touchdown in double overtime against Miami to give Ohio State its first national championship in 34 years. On Sept. 10, 2003, a little more than eight months after the title game, Ohio State suspended him for his entire sophomore season. Less than two weeks later, Milstein filed the lawsuit that would challenge the NFL’s policy.

Alan Milstein and Maurice Clarett were all smiles after beating the NFL in district court in Feb. 2004. Three months later, the decision would be overturned in circuit court. (AP photo)

In Feb. 2004, Clarett scored a victory in district court, briefly opening entry into the NFL draft for underclassmen and preps. However, the NFL appealed the ruling in circuit court. On April 19, 2004, days before the draft, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit suspended the district court’s ruling, thus blocking Clarett from the draft. Clarett filed two separate appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court in the days following the circuit court’s decision, but to no avail. Finally, on May 24, the 2nd Circuit made its decision and ruled against Clarett, forcing him to wait until 2005 (when he would be eligible) to enter the NFL. The loss was a crushing blow for Clarett and precipitated his incredible fall. The setback was also tough for Milstein, who has made a successful career out of helping his clients challenge authority and those in power.

“The 2nd circuit was wrong in the way that they ruled on the case,” says Milstein with conviction. “We won at the district court level, lost at the 2nd circuit. We shouldn’t have lost, we should have won.”

Milstein disagrees with skeptics that say football is a different beast than the other pro sports. Surely the physicality of the sport gives the NFL legitimacy in requiring players to be at least three years removed from high school. Right?

“The best hockey player in the world [Sidney Crosby] came out of high school,” says Milstein. “I think the NFL is a kid’s game compared to the NHL as far as the level of violence. If the players are ready to play, they will get drafted. If they’re not ready to play, they won’t make the team.”

Milstein is a staunch proponent of no age limits in professional sports and thinks the policies that professional leagues set run deeper than just meeting their own interests. “I think it’s an outrageous policy [setting age limits], perpetuated by an agreement by the … pro teams to help the NCAA,” says Milstein.

Asked if he would have any interest in challenging the NBA’s policy if he was approached by a client, Milstein replies, “Absolutely.” Spencer Haywood did challenge the NBA — and won — but that was back in 1971. Since the NBA’s new age policy took effect with the 2006 draft, nobody has bothered to contest it in court. Just last year, Brandon Jennings chose to play in Italy for one season instead of trying his luck in the judicial system.

It must be pointed out that this is just speculation and it is unknown if a lawsuit was ever considered by Jennings. Perhaps one day though, a youngster will come along and view litigation as the quickest path to the NBA.

What do you think will happen? Please vote below.

Baseball: MLB has an interesting dual system. A player is allowed to enter the draft right after graduating from high school, and even later on as long as they don’t attend college or junior college. For those that decide to go to college and play, they are eligible to enter the draft if they are at least 21 years old and have completed at least their junior year of school. In addition, any junior college player can declare for the draft, regardless of how many years of school they’ve completed.

Much like the decision of Brandon Jennings to play in Europe for a year before entering the NBA draft, high school phenom Bryce Harper is taking a different path to the MLB draft. Harper, a 16-year-old standout catcher in Arizona, is forgoing his final two years of high school to earn a GED and enroll in and play baseball at a community college. Harper’s plan will make him eligible for the MLB draft as early as 2010 and could set a precedent for others, much like Jennings did for Jeremy Tyler and Latavious Williams.

Football: To be eligible for the NFL draft, a player is required to be either three years removed from their high school graduation or graduation of the class year with which he entered high school, whichever is earlier. There isn’t an explicit minimum age enforced by the NFL, which explains Amobi Okoye’s unique situation.

Okoye, then 19-years-old, became the youngest player ever taken in the first round of the NFL draft when the Houston Texans selected him No. 10 overall in 2007. After immigrating from Nigeria, Okoye tested into the ninth grade as a 12-year-old, which allowed him to graduate high school at 15, and at 16 become the youngest player in college football.

Former Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett tried to challenge the NFL’s draft policy in court but failed. I’ll examine this case more closely in the next few days as part of an interview with Clarett’s lawyer, Alan Milstein.

Hockey: The NHL may have one of the more complicated draft eligibility policies, but it still allows far more flexibility for youngsters than the NBA or NFL. Any player who turns 18 by Sept. 15 and is not older than 20 by Dec. 31 is eligible for the NHL draft. Further, any non-North American players over 20 are eligible. North Americans who are not drafted by age 20 become unrestricted free agents. All non-North Americans have to be drafted before they can be signed by an NHL team, regardless of their age. Finally, a rule change in 2004 allowed for 18-year-olds from NCAA Division I schools to be drafted and still be able to maintain college eligibility if they don’t hire an agent or play for a pro team. Many of the NHL’s best players, such as Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin, got their start in the league while still teenagers.

Freddy Adu started playing in MLS at the age of 14 with DC United. He is now a regular on the USA men's national team.

Soccer: MLS doesn’t really have any age limits as the draft is open to anyone who declares for it. However, players that put their names in are knowingly giving up some or all of their college eligibility. The league signed then-14-year-old Freddy Adu (AP photo) to a contract in 2004, so age is not a very big issue in professional soccer. In many ways, MLS follows what European clubs do in snapping up the best talent irregardless of age.