Classroom to Courtside

Insight on the News, June 28, 1999 by Dan Daly

It's no longer who's got game but who's got potential -- especially in the NBA, where talented teenagers are getting early admission to the pros.

Another high-school kid has decided to forgo his B.A. for the NBA. And really, who can blame Jonathan Bender, the 6-foot-11 basketball prodigy from Picayune, Miss.? When you look at the success teen athletes such as Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant are having, the strides Tracy McGrady has made and the promise Al Harrington is showing, why not skip college and turn pro?

That might be the biggest surprise of this unexpected trend -- high-schoolers actually have fared pretty well in the National Basketball Association, or NBA. Most sports fans figured the majority of these young, untested turks would crash and burn -- probably on the rocks of Karl Malone's elbows -- and their peers would begin to think twice about trading their bookbags for brutal blindside screens.

In fact, the experiences of Garnett and others have encouraged more high-school players to go pro. Granted, Jermaine O'Neal has had some growing pains, but it's far too early to give up on him (he's only 20). And let's not forget: He's playing for Portland, one of the best teams in the league. If he were playing for a team like Toronto, he'd be seeing a lot more action.

Meanwhile, more and more college freshmen and sophomores are entering the NBA draft. This year eight announced even before the NBA released its official list. Stephon Marbury, a Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket for one year, recently signed a $71 million contract with New Jersey. Larry Hughes, who left Saint Louis after just one season, was a big factor for the Philadelphia 76ers as a rookie.

It's amazing how much things have changed since Garnett made the leap in 1995. The year before, there were no high-schoolers, no college freshmen and only two sophomores (both already 21) picked in the first round of the NBA draft. All the other first-rounders had played at least three college seasons. Seven of them -- Carlos Rogers, Eric Piatkowski, Eric Mobley, B.J. Tyler, Monty Williams, Charlie Ward and Brooks Thompson -- spent five years in college.

For NBA general managers, 1994 was the Last Year of Sanity, the last time they could sit in their war rooms and not worry about drafting some kid who flunked metal shop. The whole business is compounded by the courting of European athletes. As in other sports, general managers no longer can hope to find finished products -- players who can help them right away -- but settle for players with potential, a much riskier endeavor, especially when they find themselves speculating about 18- or 19-year-olds. Worse, NBA general managers can't pack off Junior to one of their minor-league farm clubs for additional ripening. They must carry them on their 12-man roster for a couple of years -- ready or not.

Yet the pressure to draft Babes in Hoopsland is enormous. The Timberwolves hit the jackpot with Garnett. Ditto the Lakers with Bryant (via Charlotte). Who's to say Jonathan Bender isn't the next Garnett? Who's to say Corey Maggette isn't another Vince Carter? No general manager wants to have to explain for the next 15 years why he didn't draft a particular player who turned into a superstar. Don't doubt that the Warriors, Clippers, Sixers and Wizards are kicking themselves for passing up Garnett in favor of Joe Smith, Antonio McDyess, Jerry Stackhouse and Rasheed Wallace.

Watch for other high-schoolers and college freshmen to flock to the NBA in the drafts to come. In pro basketball nowadays, it's not a question of whether you got game. It's a question of how you project.