SAT for the NBA



With a lockout on the horizon, you seem to get a few more details about what is on the table in the negotiations on a daily basis. The other day, I read that the players are wanting to fight the age limit set in place. For those not in the know, the age limit stipulates that you need to be one year removed from high school before you can play in the L. This is such a polarizing subject. On one hand, you have people that point to the Lebron's and Amare's of the world and say, "You can play at 18! If you can do it, why should you have to wait a year?" On the other hand, you have those that say, "They are not mentally or physically prepared for the rigors of the NBA both on and off the court!" I can see both arguments in this situation. Most guys at 18 are not ready for that type of celebrity or that sudden influx of money. I could not imagine myself at 18 with millions of dollars. My house would have looked like Tom Hanks's pad in Big. Most people fresh out of high school are also physically not there yet. You have rare cases of people looking like they are 30 at 18 but most kids look like they are 18. I think of people like Brandon Wright that had a world of potential but did not allow themselves time on the court and in the weight room in college to develop properly. I go back-and-forth on this issue but I think there could be a happy medium here. Why not test the kids that want to go pro?

Anybody that wants to go pro can be put through a series of mental and physical examinations. This can drastically increase your draft stock if you perform well. If somebody fresh out of high school thinks they have it, why not test them and allow them entrance if they meet certain standards? The tests that normally showcase your draft position could also be the standard that allows a high school kid to enter the draft.

Any draft geek like myself knows about the combine. You have a series of tests that scouts and teams hold up as an example of your aptitude for the pro game. You are tested in vertical leaping ability, 3/4 court speed and standing reach for example. Draft sites and the NBA have been compiling these findings for years now. You can look back in time and find an average for each position within each physical test. So, if you're a power forward, you will have to be able to lift 185-pounds a certain number of times to illustrate that you can hit the average for most pros at that position at a similar age. If you cannot attain the totals, you have to go to college and continue to develop. You can do the same for players from a mental standpoint too.

People like Mark Cuban and Danny Ainge are notorious for putting players through mental examinations. This can help demonstrate correlations mentally between previous players and also help a team gain insight into a player that you could not achieve in a half-hour interview. If a player goes through these exams and is deemed not mentally fit for the tests ahead in the NBA, then they need to continue their basketball education in college and come out when they feel they are ready to pass these standards.

This may seem radical but it is a way to measure if a player is NBA worthy. There may be more tests and ideas that come over time but I would think that special players like Lebron would pass these easily and be placed in the NBA without any issues. This may also help players like Ndudi Ebi reexamine their path and potentially build themselves up in college and then go to the pros much later then they did. This could help the NBA get players that are better prepared for showtime and also allow kids to grow in college and enter the NBA at the proper time. Again, I know it is not the perfect idea but this is a bit of a wishy washy issue. Some players can play immediately and some players cannot. Why not utilize what is already available to teams in the draft and help separate the dreamers and the truly gifted? You should not stop the elite players from playing at a stage worthy of their skills. You should not also allow players that have "potential" to be drafted much too high again and begin to saturate the game once again.