Pitino on the OAD rule via ESPN
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SEATTLE – Louisville Cardinals coach Rick Pitino says high school athletes should have the right to enter the NBA draft.
“I’m very much in favor of high school kids going pro,” said Pitino, who will lead Louisville against Northern Iowa in a round-of-32 NCAA tournament matchup Sunday, during his pregame comments Saturday. “I had six young men commit to me out of high school that didn’t go to college, that went to the pros. I’m very much for that because they didn’t want college. They wanted to go to the NBA. And if they go to the [NBA Development League], that’s fine with them. But the six-, seven-month education, online classes second semester. I don’t know what that does for a young person.”
[+] EnlargeRick Pitino Ray Carlin/Icon Sportswire Rick Pitino is all for high school players being eligible for the NBA draft, something he knows Kentucky rival John Calipari doesn’t favor. Pitino added: “Now, I’m different than, probably, the coach of Kentucky, who is having so much success with that.”
Kentucky, which is 36-0 after defeating Cincinnati on Saturday, has been led by multiple freshmen throughout John Calipari’s tenure. Calipari is 7-1 against Pitino since he was hired in 2009.
Calipari has previously expressed support for a two-year requirement before players can declare for the draft.
Pitino has rarely relied on freshmen to carry his teams. But he has lost multiple star recruits, including Sebastian Telfair, to the NBA.
Spartans coach Tom Izzo said he would welcome a one-and-done talent to Michigan State but added that he is worried about those advised to make the jump to the pros.
“Like everything else in the world, smoking cigarettes was cool, then after research of years and years and years, it develops lung cancer,” Izzo said at a news conference Saturday. “So we change our thoughts. We have not researched where a large majority of these guys that come out early [are]. … Some day, 10 years from now, there’s going to be a study of how many kids came out and ended up on the streets. That’s the crime of this whole thing.”
Izzo said if he was a kid in that situation he would enjoy the college experience.
“I would take a completely different approach – not what’s best for the NBA, not what’s best for the college, what truly is best for the kid and how can we work around it,” he said.
The current rules – that a player must be 19 years old to enter the NBA draft – could change once the NBA and National Basketball Players Association enter negotiations for the next collective bargaining agreement in 2017. Commissioner Adam Silver has said that he is in favor of an age limit of 20 years old for potential draftees.
Pitino disagrees with the age limit, which essentially forces elite athletes to attend college for a season or compete overseas for a year if they desire advanced competition.
“College is not for everybody,” Pitino said. “So if a kid doesn’t want to go to college, let him go to the pros. Let him go into the [D-League]. And if someone does want to go to college, let them go. We’re still going to have great basketball teams.”
Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said the decision is out of the hands of college coaches.
“It really doesn’t matter what I would want. It’s what the players’ union and the NBA would decide on,” Krzyzewski said.
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@Lulufulu said:
Calipari has previously expressed support for a two-year requirement before players can declare for the draft.
He’s flipped flopped because he also said that he supported kids going to the league early. Why would you want a kid two years when he could go immediately to the league? Seems odd when most coaches support the kids best interest.
I’ll tell you why. This would level the playing field and it would end UK’s dynasty of OADs and he would have to coach lesser talent.
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@truehawk93 BINGO!!! Its in Cal’s best interest to keep cheating, err stacking the deck.
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Calipari supports a TAD rule because he knows that as a top recruiter he would still get elite talent, particularly because he’s done a very good job of preparing his early departures for the NBA.
Look at the freshmen that have left UK. Wall, Bledsoe and Cousins are all stars in the NBA. Anthony Davis is one of the best 10 players in the world. Noel is very good.
There isn’t another coach that can match that track record as far as successful transition to the NBA.
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Pitino’s position is the only logical, ethical, and strategic position for him to take.
I agree with it.
Likely the only way to get rid of the 9-13 draft choice talent stacking at apparently informally selected Big Shoe-Agent-University Complexes is to change the rules so that guys go straight to the pros and either the pro franchises, or the D-Leagues have to foot the cost for player development.
But the NBA apparently wants the college subsidy to continue, and will even increase from one to two years the length of the college subsidy, because it is a win win for the NBA. It increases the Big Shoe-Agent-University complex’s control over the draft choice supply and improves branding with two years of exposure in the NCAA tournment that the D-Leagues could not match. In essense the NBA gets tighter control over development of its draft supply (by cementing the channelling of it to informally designated programs), more development subsidy, AND better branding.
The adidas school coaches should favor Pitino’s approach.
The Nike school coaches should decline to have opinions on the subject and let the NBA decide to extend the stay to two years, which is exactly what the shameless Coach K has done.
I recall Self has sided with a two year stay, but I believe if he gets skunked in recruiting this season, he will change his tune to sing harmony with Rick.
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@jaybate-1.0 “The Nike school coaches should decline to have opinions on the subject and let the NBA decide to extend the stay to two years, which is exactly what the shameless Coach K has done.”
Boy oh boy, did you hit that one right. I too thought K’s reply was so so pitiful, can’t call him coach anymore. He’s a weasel without spine playing politically correct, and should be named “weasel K”. That’s it, that’s his new name.
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@HawksWin I’m still rather fond of “rat face”.
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@HawksWin & @globaljaybird
You’re both right…and annoyingly he’s still coaching this season for at least another week…
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@globaljaybird
LOL
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@jaybate-1.0 We got Bragg coming. Im just guessing that Cliff will be back and there is a fair to decent chance now that Kelly is coming back too. IF all that happens, how can we not get skunked on recruiting this year? And, we will still have the same holes in our front court. Provided Cliff doesnt increase his game exponentially over the summer.
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@jaybate-1.0 On Coach K, I think thats sad really. I mean all this time I actually respected him as a coach and a face of college basketball being played the way it should be played; ie no deck stacking. He is one of the best out there. I honestly thought he was better than Coach slimy Cal despite having 9 Nike stacks of his own. Now? Im not so certain. I hope he retires soon.
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@Lulufulu I’d hardly say Coach K plays the game like it’s meant to be played. Yes, his teams press well, and he knows when to call timeouts and is a good in-game coach. But his teams are floppy, whiny, cheap-shotting, and arrogant, and that all comes from coach.
P.S. ESPN, just because you name your Christian Laettner butt-kissing video “I hate Christian Laettner”, it doesn’t disguise the fact that you are in fact running a PR campaign attempting to rebrand Christian Laettner (and by proxy Duke) to soften up the haters so you can use him in your advertisements.
I hate Duke. Always have. Always will.
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@approxinfinity good one!!! Tell us how u really feel!!! Dukes a dog.
