College basketball players deciding on early entry into the NBA draft may soon have more time to make their decisions if a proposal crafted by coaches and representatives of the NCAA, NABC and NBA goes through.
For the past three years, players have had to decide whether to enter their names into the NBA draft by the first day of college basketball's spring signing period. For players on teams that go deep into the NCAA tournament, there has been as little as one week between the end of their season and the deadline for a life-altering choice, hardly a sufficient amount of time to get realistic, unfiltered feedback about players' draft stock.
...The coalition is making public its series of recommendations it hopes will spark conversation among college athletic circles - and ideally end up in officially proposed legislation, submitted before Sept. 1, 2015. The concept would:
Move the NCAA's deadline for underclassmen to withdraw from the NBA draft from the day before the NLI spring signing period (April 14 in 2015, for example) to late May - approximately five weeks later (May 21 in 2015, for example).Keep the NBA early application entry deadline 60 days prior to the NBA draft and unchanged - April 26, 2015, for example.Lead the NBA to send invitations to players by early May to participate in the NBA draft combine in mid-May. The invitations would be limited to qualified prospects - approximately 20-30% above the number of draft spots (about 70-80 total players). This is intended to make things more cut-and-dry for prospects who do not receive a combine invite, and they would still be able to return to school.Lead the NBA to provide after the combine and before the new NCAA early-entry withdrawal deadline specific and direct feedback to underclassmen who participated in the combine about their draft potential and projected landing spots.
"It's an exciting concept because it helps student-athletes and their families help hopefully the best-informed decisions they can make about their future - that should be what we're all trying to accomplish," Gavitt said.
The new timeline would allow players the ability to work out for various teams in addition to attending the competitive combine.
...There is, however, one downside to the new timeline, one that will affect college coaches most. By extending the withdrawal deadline about five weeks, some coaches will have a great deal of roster uncertainty throughout the spring signing period.
..."No system is perfect," Thompson said. "From the college coach's perspective, there will be some uncertainty. Decisions will have to be made - hold the scholarship, don't hold the scholarship. That is going to be difficult. That's not something that's just overlooked; it's going to have to be managed as well as it could be. I say manage, but it's not manageable. But it's important to move toward getting (players) better information."
USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/2015/03
For the past three years, players have had to decide whether to enter their names into the NBA draft by the first day of college basketball's spring signing period. For players on teams that go deep into the NCAA tournament, there has been as little as one week between the end of their season and the deadline for a life-altering choice, hardly a sufficient amount of time to get realistic, unfiltered feedback about players' draft stock.
...The coalition is making public its series of recommendations it hopes will spark conversation among college athletic circles - and ideally end up in officially proposed legislation, submitted before Sept. 1, 2015. The concept would:
Move the NCAA's deadline for underclassmen to withdraw from the NBA draft from the day before the NLI spring signing period (April 14 in 2015, for example) to late May - approximately five weeks later (May 21 in 2015, for example).Keep the NBA early application entry deadline 60 days prior to the NBA draft and unchanged - April 26, 2015, for example.Lead the NBA to send invitations to players by early May to participate in the NBA draft combine in mid-May. The invitations would be limited to qualified prospects - approximately 20-30% above the number of draft spots (about 70-80 total players). This is intended to make things more cut-and-dry for prospects who do not receive a combine invite, and they would still be able to return to school.Lead the NBA to provide after the combine and before the new NCAA early-entry withdrawal deadline specific and direct feedback to underclassmen who participated in the combine about their draft potential and projected landing spots.
"It's an exciting concept because it helps student-athletes and their families help hopefully the best-informed decisions they can make about their future - that should be what we're all trying to accomplish," Gavitt said.
The new timeline would allow players the ability to work out for various teams in addition to attending the competitive combine.
...There is, however, one downside to the new timeline, one that will affect college coaches most. By extending the withdrawal deadline about five weeks, some coaches will have a great deal of roster uncertainty throughout the spring signing period.
..."No system is perfect," Thompson said. "From the college coach's perspective, there will be some uncertainty. Decisions will have to be made - hold the scholarship, don't hold the scholarship. That is going to be difficult. That's not something that's just overlooked; it's going to have to be managed as well as it could be. I say manage, but it's not manageable. But it's important to move toward getting (players) better information."
USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/2015/03
