Is Dwaine Barnes still our future Director of Basketball Operations?

[michigancat]

To me, the big-time AAU stuff is worse than the prep schools.

[plaincat]

    (i) The player (A) is or will be at least 19 years of age during the calendar year in which the Draft is held, and (B) with respect to a player who is not an international player (defined below), at least one (1) NBA Season has elapsed since the player’s graduation from high school (or, if the player did not graduate from high school, since the graduation of the class with which the player would have graduated had he graduated from high school);

OK, I'm a nerd.  I read the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

It says a "foreign player" has to reside outside the country for 3 years.  So that option is out.

However, the requirement is that "(1) NBA Season has elapsed since the player's graduation from high school" which means (to me) that Mayo would have until next November to complete his degree if he wants to get in the 2007 draft.   I think Nike and whatever agent he gets wouldn't have a problem making that happen.

That also could explain why he is not committed to a single AAU team for the summer - he may be busy studying.

This would also apply to Bill Walker.

[michigancat]

    (i) The player (A) is or will be at least 19 years of age during the calendar year in which the Draft is held, and (B) with respect to a player who is not an international player (defined below), at least one (1) NBA Season has elapsed since the player’s graduation from high school (or, if the player did not graduate from high school, since the graduation of the class with which the player would have graduated had he graduated from high school);

OK, I'm a nerd.  I read the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

It says a "foreign player" has to reside outside the country for 3 years.  So that option is out.

However, the requirement is that "(1) NBA Season has elapsed since the player's graduation from high school" which means (to me) that Mayo would have until next November to complete his degree if he wants to get in the 2007 draft.   I think Nike and whatever agent he gets wouldn't have a problem making that happen.

That also could explain why he is not committed to a single AAU team for the summer - he may be busy studying.

This would also apply to Bill Walker.

1)  Is earning a GED considered "graduating from high school"?  If not, he wouldn't be eligible till the 2008 draft with a GED no matter when he earned it.

2)  If he actually graduates from an acredited high school (somewhat likely), he wouldn't likely graduate until after the season started, which would also prevent him from being eligible for the 2007 draft.

[plaincat]

I would assume that getting a GED is considered graduating from high school.  That is not addressed in the contract.

But, I am wrong about Novemeber.  In the definitions section: "“Season” or “NBA Season” means the period beginning on the first day of training camp and ending immediately after the last game of the NBA Finals."

Training camp starts on October 3.

[pissclams]

Who's going to buy the shoes of a high school dropout? Sounds silly, but it's true. Whatever you may think of Nike, they at least PRETEND to be socially aware and conscious. What kind of message are you sending my rewarding a basketball prodigy with a multi-million dollar contract but he couldn't finish high school? You're basically telling kids it's OK to not go to school because you can still get paid. Nike doesn't want that type of heat.

I disagree; in my opinion what you've described above is just the next domino to fall in the exploitation of these kids by the shoe companies.  There's simply not a dollar bill around strong enough from one of them from making it happen, once one does, the rest will follow.  Remember 15 yrs ago when no one was going to buy the shoes of a college drop out (Carmelo) let alone some loser who didn't even attend college (LeBron)?  Do I have a problem with it? Hell no.  Exploitation isn't always a bad thing, especially when you sign a $20M shoe deal and get treated like a celebrity without so much as a guess on how to spell "e-x-p-l-o-i-t-a-t-i-o-n".  Nike has been telling kids it's OK to not go to school b/c you can still get paid since they introduced those first red and black Jordan's in 1985 (yes, I had some).  Now that I think about it,, Nike has been telling kids NOT to go to school because someone might ROB your ass if you're wearing their shoes since they introduced those Jordan's in 1985...but hey, that's enough digression for now, Mayo will end up at Oak Hill and finish his high school degree.

KATPAK