They only put the NBA eligibility age restriction in place in the last CBA. Until then, if you were an excellent athlete with lots of potential and your family was poor, you could go straight to the NBA and make a fair piece of money. The population that fits that profile, for whatever reasons, skews black.
But now there is an age restriction in place, and it will apply to the next draft. Unfortunately, the opportunity for the Year of the Mexican has closed.
IIRC, in Steve Nash's final game at Santa Clara he was shut down by Kansas in the second round of the tournament and the announcers speculated that he'd still be a decent pro but perhaps was not as good as he seemed when playing against mostly WCC teams (this was before Gonzaga became big).
I haven't actually seen Morrison play enough to judge.
Redick has the Duke curse to overcome. Of all the standout players in Duke history (and there are so many) the only one I can think of who has really made an impact in the NBA is Elton Brand. Everybody else seems either to become injury-prone (e.g., Grant Hill), have career-ending traffic accidents (Hurley, Williams), or settle into second-tier journeyman status (Laettner).
Redick's got a great stroke, of course, but I'm agnostic as to whether he has the speed and strength to get past NBA defenders.
Does anyone remember the Nike ads right after MJ retired the first time? The ones in which MJ was seen playing in other leagues, in disguise, and under a pseudonym? With that background, is ogged still blogging?
"I hope I haven't beaten this point to death: there are some exciting things going on in the world of swimming. The NCAA Division I swimming (Men and Women) meet begins tonight, and my Tivo is broken, so I'm just going to have to glue myself to the set. " (Slart, at ObiWi.)
The combination of the first two theories in the article explain this pretty adequately for my purposes.
Posted by washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 03- 8-06 10:22 AM
They only put the NBA eligibility age restriction in place in the last CBA. Until then, if you were an excellent athlete with lots of potential and your family was poor, you could go straight to the NBA and make a fair piece of money. The population that fits that profile, for whatever reasons, skews black.
But now there is an age restriction in place, and it will apply to the next draft. Unfortunately, the opportunity for the Year of the Mexican has closed.
Posted by SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 03- 8-06 10:23 AM
Let's open this thread up to uninformed speculation on the NBA prospects of Adam Morrison and Reddick. Both of them need to play for Phoenix.
Posted by Jonathan | Link to this comment | 03- 8-06 10:41 AM
Thread so opened.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 03- 8-06 10:45 AM
I think they should both go to the Celtics - if the C's can't win, at least they can give Boston the whitest team in the league again.
Posted by SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 03- 8-06 10:48 AM
IIRC, in Steve Nash's final game at Santa Clara he was shut down by Kansas in the second round of the tournament and the announcers speculated that he'd still be a decent pro but perhaps was not as good as he seemed when playing against mostly WCC teams (this was before Gonzaga became big).
Posted by eb | Link to this comment | 03- 8-06 10:49 AM
I haven't actually seen Morrison play enough to judge.
Redick has the Duke curse to overcome. Of all the standout players in Duke history (and there are so many) the only one I can think of who has really made an impact in the NBA is Elton Brand. Everybody else seems either to become injury-prone (e.g., Grant Hill), have career-ending traffic accidents (Hurley, Williams), or settle into second-tier journeyman status (Laettner).
Redick's got a great stroke, of course, but I'm agnostic as to whether he has the speed and strength to get past NBA defenders.
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 03- 8-06 10:54 AM
ATM.
Posted by pdf23ds | Link to this comment | 03- 8-06 11:08 AM
J.J. Redick writes publicized poetry?
Posted by Matt Weiner | Link to this comment | 03- 8-06 12:21 PM
Yes. Shitty, shitty poetry.
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 03- 8-06 12:28 PM
Excerpt:
I can't see what my future has in store
but I move forth with the strength of a condor
The courage of a warrior
The commitment of an American soldier
Despite this weight on my shoulder
my inner forces circulate to form
a nucleus of an unbreakable bond
These words describe the soundtrack to my life's song
My mind and body united like the Colors of Benneton
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 03- 8-06 12:30 PM
Somehow I'm encouraged even by that. Elizabeth Bishop had a crappy hook shot, but at least she was trying.
High school's changed a bit since I was a kid.
(Actually, since that's basically rap which he thank God didn't try to record, maybe it doesn't mean much of anything.)
Posted by Matt Weiner | Link to this comment | 03- 8-06 12:33 PM
Apo, I suggest you redirect links to your baby hedgehog picture to the URL linked in #10. That should do the trick.
Posted by My Alter Ego | Link to this comment | 03- 8-06 12:36 PM
John Ashbery practically invented the tomahawk dunk.
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 03- 8-06 12:42 PM
You know, Isiah Thomas used to write poetry in college. I don't know if it was any good, but I doubt it.
Posted by SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 03- 8-06 1:12 PM
Does anyone remember the Nike ads right after MJ retired the first time? The ones in which MJ was seen playing in other leagues, in disguise, and under a pseudonym? With that background, is ogged still blogging?
Posted by SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 03- 8-06 3:51 PM