Robert Swift and the One and Done Rule

Back in 1995, Kevin Garnett came out of high school straight to the NBA.  Now, I know its hard to imagine a time when Kevin Garnett was but a young, 18-yr. old with hardly any racist taunts to his name, but so was the case.  Strangely, despite no (written) rules to the contrary, no high schooler had gone straight to the NBA since 1975, when Darryl "Chocolate Thunder" Dawkins and Bill Willoughby, who apparently is a real person, did it.  Nobody really wanted high schoolers, as they were at the oldest 18 and were generally considered immature, something that KG has obviously disproved in his NBA career.

Unbeknownst to the Timberwolves, by drafting Garnett they opened the floodgates of young, athletic men.  In hindsight, I immediately regret that sentence.  Regardless, going straight from high school to the NBA started to become popular not only for players who thought they were better than they were, but for GMs desperate for some incredible talent.  This continued until 2005, when Amir Johnson became the last high schooler to be drafted before David Stern's now infamous one and done rule (figures that Amir Johnson would be the last one, doesn't it?)

Of course, Stern's rule hasn't exactly panned out the way he wanted it to.  In short, it was designed to essentially force people to attend college, which is a somewhat noble goal despite the rather forceful methods.  Many argued at the time that Stern was acting a bit like a dictator, which is a claim that has never been made before or since about anything he has done.

On the one hand, there has definitely been an increase in players going to college.  With the exception of Brandon Jennings and Jeremy Tyler (his decision sure worked out well), who chose to play overseas, just about everyone with NBA talent has been forced into college.  Of course, what good does college do if you only attend for one year?  Stern's rule was put into place to hopefully force young men who otherwise couldn't get an education to follow through in higher ed.  Instead, its made a laughingstock of the college basketball system, as more and more players have gone for just one year.  For a bit of perspective, any player who knows beforehand that they will be leaving a school after one year can essentially stop attending class the final term of the school year, with little to no penalties.  Even worse, more players are going the one and done route, which arguably provides no educational bonus, than were ever leaving high school.

From 1995 til 2005,  39 players went straight to the NBA from high school, or about 3.5 per year.  44 college freshmen have been drafted since then, which comes out to 7 a year.  All in all, Stern's rule has essentially pushed more and more young kids who have made a commitment to a college to leave after a year, confident from one year against supposedly higher competition (Shawne Williams) or from their forever unfulfilled potenial (Anthony Randolph).  Teams are making commitments to guys who come out of college with no more questions answered than if they had entered the NBA one year later, and it appears that all the one and done rule has done is create a climate where the educational climate of college is disintegrated.

Many players obviously have no interest whatsoever in higher education.  Frankly, a lot of these players would still be in college basketball regardless of if high schoolers could go the NBA.  Forcing the highest caliber talent to attend school, however, only adds fuel to the fire of recruiting battles, making it more and more likely that coaches will break the rules in hopes of landing that one big recruit, like Eric Gordon or every player at Kentucky.

On a quick side note, remember how awful it was that Terrence Jones decided to go to Kentucky rather than Washington?  Well, two years later, Terrence Ross is outscoring, outrebounding, outpassing, and generally being better than Jones in every possible aspect, just without all the ridiculousness of thinking he's NBA caliber already.  Funny how that works out (I'm not bitter at all, obviously).

In short, the one and done rule is a failure that has made college basketball's idea of "student athletes" even more laughable.  Sadly, it has also created a lot more hype for the NBA draft, as people are able to see all these young talents on ESPN rather than have to scrounge the internet for high school highlights.  As such, don't expect change soon from Stern, but hope for it.  For the sake of college basketball's integrity, Stern needs to destroy the one and done rule.  Of course, when has Stern ever looked out for others?