Dick Weiss on College Basketball
Kentucky coach John Calipari, always thinking outside the box, says he met with the NBA Players Association representatives Friday to push for new rules that would ultimately end the one-and-done system in college basketball.
Calipari told the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram he wants the NBPA to help develop a combine for high school juniors to help them prepare for the potential jump from high school to the league.
“The players and the families need to know,” he said. “Here are the ones who should be thinking about the NBA and here are the ones who should not,” Calipari said. “That’s why you need a combine.”
He also suggested that agents be allowed to work in prep stars to help them gauge their readiness for the NBA.
Calipari would like the combine to include 100 juniors and identify 12 to 15 NBA-ready players. “The rest would be told, ‘You need to go to school,”’ he said.
Some players, such as former 6-6 Syracuse commit Darius Bazley, a McDonald’s All American from Cincinnati, has elected to start their pro careers playing in the G directly directly out of high school. Calipari is concerned not enough is being done to provide a backup plan. “Who wants to take care of those thousands of kids whose family, many times is dealing with generational poverty and their chance was maybe to get him an education?” he said.
Calipari would also like to see college education funds be given to players who go straight to the G League. Multiple conferences, including the Pac-12 and the Big East, have proposed plans to do away with the one-and-done system. NBA commissioner Adam Silver said he believes the rules surrounding the NBA draft age limit be changed and has discussed the issue with NBPA executive director Michele Roberts and players’ union president Chris Paul.
Calipari said he was fine if the one-and-one step up, which Kentucky and Duke have thrives on, is ultimately abandoned.
