I thought that the draft and when you are bought out are mutually exclusive. You can enter the draft any time after you meet the requirements of age. You can be drafted, but have to deal with the contract situation in order to come play here. The NBA team holds your rights until then. Rudy is a prime example.
Yeah, but it would seem to me that your draft value goes up if the other team doesn't have to wait. For example, if Rudy could have come to the NBA immediately, he wouldn't have been picked in the 20s--he's clearly lottery talent.
Yep yep, true enough. I know there is also an age limit though where you have to enter by, but I am not sure what it is. I think it is 26 or something like that.
Rudy's a bit different, b/c it was his "22" year, so he was eligible no matter what. Rubio has to declare to be eligible. If he wanted to, there's nothing stopping him. It would just be a matter of his buyout, as you said. But if a high lottery team knows that he's not playing until 2010 or 2011, they're less likely to use a top-5 pick on him. If you know he's coming over as soon as you draft him, he's top two talent. So to declare early would cost him millions.
Exactly, the Rudy example is a pretty good reason why Rubio should wait until he can assure teams that he'll come to the NBA immediately. Rudy was playing great in Spain and had even won the Euroleague Rising Star award, the same award Bargnani won before becoming the #1 overall pick, and he ends up falling all the way to the 24th. Even Marco Belinelli, who Rudy had been thoroughly outplaying overseas was taken well ahead of him because teams knew he could come to the US immediately. Rubio's rookie scale contract won't start until he actually signs with an NBA team, so if the earliest he's willing to pay his buyout and come to the US is the 2010-11 season then it makes no sense to be drafted later in the 1st round this year (meaning his contract is worth drastically less money), instead of waiting to declare and getting drafted as high as possible. He's going to be on a rookie scale contract until 2015 anyway, might as well be the biggest one he can get.
