<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The decision whether to enter the NBA right after high school is now out of Greg Oden's hands, and his mother, for one, is not happy about it. The National Basketball Association and its players union agreed to a new labor contract Tuesday that requires a player to be one year out of high school before he's eligible for the draft. That means Oden, the 7-foot center from Lawrence North High School ranked as the top player in the Class of 2006, won't be able to enter next summer's draft. He had been widely projected as the No. 1 pick. "I'm teed off because I just don't understand what they're trying to prove or what this will accomplish," Oden's mother, Zoe, said as she prepared to watch her son in the Indiana Junior-Senior All Star game at Pendleton Heights. "This means that Greg is held back a year. . . . The option has been taken from him. I don't think that's right. I'm not happy." Oden has long said he wants to attend college, but many scouting experts doubted that a player of his stature would pass on the multimillion-dollar contract guaranteed to top NBA draft picks. Over the past year he has emerged as the most talked-about high school player since LeBron James, and, some say, the most talked-about center prospect since Lew Alcindor (later Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) in the 1960s.</div> Source
If her son is realllly that talented..... then one year is not gonna hinder him. The point of the age limit is to reduce the amount of trash coming into the league. I understand it's not the player's fault if the scouts wanna draft em...... but i'm sick of seeing no name H.S. who've played/dominated against 18 year olds get picked ahead of great college players. Biggest Example: Jameer Nelson- Player of the Year.
I am getting a kick out of all these mothers whining about the age limit. Um, ma'am, don't you want your child to go to school? It seems like some of them are the type of nazi soccer moms that are more concerned with the spotlight than the real success of their children. A lot of these dads are just as bad, don't get the impression like I'm trying to hate on the moms. It just seems kind of weird that the people who are supposed to want whats best for their kids are all concerned with getting them paid...
Going to college 1 year wont kill ya. Now he can get the college experience. Learn from a great coach, acheive more goals, win the championship, and experience what a real home court advantage should be like. If he goes to college he will make a bigger impact in his NBA rookie season.
Yea a year of college isn't going to hurt him, how bad could it be? He is the best player in the nation and a year of college can't do anything but help him.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting playmaker31:</div><div class="quote_post">Yea a year of college isn't going to hurt him, how bad could it be? He is the best player in the nation and a year of college can't do anything but help him.</div> agreed.....but a career ending injury at a college scuppers any chance of the millions his mother could expect to share in if he goes lottery in 2006
