I really dont think this topic merits this much discussion. Its not going to lead to the downfall of american society or some shit, and as for all the people entering the draft out of high school, ITS THIER FUCKING LIFE, let them do what they please. (but the drafting teams logic is that they can breed a better player in 2 years of bench time than a college could in 2 years of playing time.)

"...when 2% of those kids make it to the pros..."? Try 0.0002%

I think the only reason this LeBron dude is getting any recognition from the NBA is because of the media. They hyped him up, showed his games on television, called him the next Michael Jordan, etc. Geez, the kid is only 17 years old, he isn't even old enough to buy a pack of smokes and already he's the Tiger Woods of Professional Basketball.

Hell, I remember 10 years ago when I was in high school in the Chicago area, there were guys from King High School in downtown Chicago who were fucking amazing basketball players, maybe better than LeBron, who never got any press coverage outside of the Chicago area. They went to college on scholarships because that was their only option. Now we've got ESPN broadcasting high school games nationwide, hyping up 17-year olds?

But, I believe in the free market...and if some franchise is willing to spend tens of millions of dollars on a kid whose only other competition thus far has been against OTHER 16 and 17 year olds, then so be it. I can't fault him for taking advantage of the opportunity. Once he has his tens of millions invested (assuming he doesn't blow it all on whores and crack like most athletes) then he can go do whatever the hell he wants, including going to college. Hell, he could probably buy Texas Tech and change it to LeBron Community College.

also, you're right. shit does happen, and it's another reason lebron james should turn pro. in fact, if i were him i'd sit in my house and not even go outside until after draft day to make sure i didn't pull a willis mcgahee.

here's the thing. if anyone offers you over a million dollars right out of high school to do anything other than kill yourself, you should do it. i'm sure we can all agree that college isn't for everyone. why should lebron james have to go just because he happens to be an outstanding basketball player? and honestly, not very many kids have the talent to jump straight to pro basketball, so why not leave those who do alone? as mentioned already in this conversation, kids younger than lebron turn pro every day in sports like tennis, hockey, soccer, baseball, figure skating, gymnastics, etc. and they don't only make the jump because of money, either. try telling a class A baseball player that he only went pro straight out of high school for the money and see how long he laughs at you before he spits red man in your eye.

Okay, then what about Kwame Brown? Michael Jordan thought he was the answer to his prayers and took him under his wing when he drafted him. Now, Jordan is claiming the kid has no work ethic and is more of a liability than an asset. Why? Because he didn't go to college, where he would have learned a thing or two about responsibility, teamwork, and respect, instead of how to cash a check. You're kidding yourself if you think there isn't a 21-year-old sitting on an NBA bench every night, wishing he could go back and do things differently. Yeah, LeBron James is immensely talented, and he is less likely to be a bench warmer than most. But shit happens. To everybody. There are no guarantees.

I can't believe people are blaming the kid for playing basketball. Ignore the volume of money for a second. Why would LeBron James go play inferior basketball, when the opportunity to play at the highest level is right in front of him?

I disagree with the notion that he sets a bad example for the rest of the world (the hummer stunt notwithstanding). If you're THAT good, go. If next year there comes along a kid who is so good that MIKE (yes, THAT mike) is inviting him to closed-gym workouts, then I think the NBA is in his future. For all the other kids who are simply very, very good, they need to find trusted advisors. This is what one's PARENTS are supposed to do. Once again, it all comes down to the family. No, I don't think that all advisors have dollar signs in their eyes - just the ones that get on TV and make a bad name for the rset of them do. There are millions and millions of people working every day to help kids out. It's a shame that the ones who suck at it always get the most publicity.

Here's the other problem - NBA owners are willing to PAY these kids seven digits out of high school to come sit on the bench. I'm sorry, I don't care how poor you came from, when you are given a three million dollar signing bonus, find someone to invest it for you, and you won't ever be poor again. If you're only good enough to warm the bench in the NBA, that's better than 99.99% of the rest of the population. Quit wasting it.

LeBron James isn't the problem. From all accounts, he isn't selfish, thuggish, arrogant, or even dumb. Why would he play basketball against players he's already proven that he's better than for two years, just to prove a point? What if he gets hurt? I would be thrilled to see him go to college - I had a blast when I went. But to claim that he "needs" to go to college is insane, on many, many levels.

That's it, I can't take it anymore. With this Labron James thing.

The problem is that he sets a bad, bad example to others. He goes straight from the ghetto to millions a year. The problem with that is that it makes others in his same situation (read: poor, urban youths) want to do the same thing. Instead of viewing education as a way out of the ghetto they view basketball as their ticket. So, they all play bball and say "F--- school." Then when only 2% of these kids make it to the pros they are stuck without an education and with no job. Not to mention the ones that get hurt or have an average career of five years and have spent all there money in six. They have nothing to fall back on causing, you guessed it, a cycle of poverty and crime that repeats for their kids over and over and growing at an expotential rate. The problem with paying (with scholarships) kids to play football (or anything else) at college, you effectively train these kids to be professional atheletes (by shunning schoolwork from the time they are 10 so they can practice sports) who don't give a shit about education at the sake of other youths who would die to get an education and have someone else pay for it.

When someone essentially goes "I don't need school," and others see it, they say "I don't need school, either." And then they, and society as a whole, are screwed.

Atheletic scholarships reward atheletes who don't give two shits about an education. When I volunteered for Americorp, the amount of 10 year olds that could do double reverse layups outnumbered the kids that could read at a basic level 4-1. And don't get me started about the 14 year olds who could barely read at the 6th grade level. We reward these kids with money for school at the expense of kids who spent their time learning and not playing on the blacktop.

If we wanted to reform American society, the first priority would be to fund academic scholarships with atheletic money and fund atheletics with the academic scholarship funds. The only way society gets any better is if we find a way to reward kids who study after school not shoot hoops.

First of all, I agree that he shouldn't be villified for being a good player, and that is not what I am doing. He has become a product of the media, and that is not entirely his fault. However, I do not buy that he doesn't comprehend the reality of the situation. Hundreds of thousands of high school students his age make the exact same decision he's being faced with upon graduation: go to college or get a job. Sure, most of us had help in making that decision and most of us don't have the opportunity to become millionaires before our 20th birthday, but the bottom line is, he saw the same dollar signs his mom and everyone else saw. It's not like he is innocent in the situation.

The fact of the matter is that such "advisors" will always feel the way they do when that much money is involved-- you can't successfully dictate to them what's right and what isn't. And the NCAA has no say in the matter. But the NBA does. They can refuse to allow these kids to enter the draft. Exactly how is playing college basketball and getting at least some kind of education beyond the high school level (and let's face it, most athletes of his caliber get very little of a high school education anyway) going to be bad for him? Better yet, how can you say that any person (much less a kid who thinks it's funny to be driving a $75k Hummer at the age of 17) "shouldn't ever set foot on a college campus"? That is exactly the message he is sending to the millions of kids who will be watching him in the NBA. Would you want your kid to be influenced by someone who thinks that you don't need to be educated as long as you can play basketball?

And what about the 14 and 15 year old gymnasts working out 30-40 hours a week?

Yeah, well it's still not as bad as the 12 year old tennis players who turn pro.

Ok, Aggies, if at least 15 people die from this bubonic plague thing, it's open season on your asses.

Do you honestly think that LeBron James would be better served in college than in the NBA?

As for the trend in general, I agree that it's disturbing. But the right answer isn't to put an age minimum on the NBA, it's to get the advisors to these kids back to earth. The advisors are the ones who are motivated by money, not the kids. Sure, it's always nice to go from nothing to seven digits overnight, but watching parents, coaches, and agents get rich off of kids sitting on the bench it was gets me mad. A 17 year old kid can't possibly grasp the reality of the situation. He must rely on the counsel of others - if you want to change the way the game is run, talk to these people.

LeBron James will never, and shouldn't ever, set foot on a college campus. And he shouldn't be villified for being a good basketball player.

Way to keep up with your vials of deadly diseases Tech...

Tech has the bubonic plague!!!

Piano is not a sport and pianists don't make as much money as professional athletes. Besides, I do know some people who became professional instrumentalists after graduating from high school, but they went to college too. The only reason an athlete skips college is because he wants to make money. Who in his right mind would give up the chance to play college basketball for a major program if he really loved the game? Basketball in this country doesn't get any better than the NCAA.

Think of how many kids have looked at guys like Kobe Bryant and Kwame Brown and Rashard Lewis and thought "oh, I don't need to do well in school, I'll just be a professional athlete." Very few of them will actually make it that far and by the time they realize that, it's too late to do anything about it. The best college-age players in the country are holding down folding chairs in the NBA. Until the league steps up and puts a stop to 17-year-olds declaring themselves eligible for the draft, it will always be that way. It's not good for the game, and it sets a poor example for kids who could do much better in life if their role models were showing them the value of college instead of ignoring it completely.

Furthermore, taking out money against expected future income happens all the time. Some of you probibly have done it. He happend to take alot more than any of us would ever dream about taking with no income. But he's also gonna make alot more than any of us in the first years of his carrer.

Ashley, here's my question. If you were the best piano player in the world (general you, not ashley-you), and someone offered you a chance to play with the London Philharmonic at the age of 19, would you turn them down? Would you say "I need to go talk to the washed up concert pianist at UT first?" Nah. Neither should LeBron James. He's a man among boys. He's going to make millions next year.

I don't understand people who say "he should go to college." That thinking is stuck in the old way, the way that says you have to finish your degree to get a good job. Chris Simms is not finishing his degree - he's training for the NFL combine, in order to impress the scouts so that he can be drafted. Football is his job, not school. Likewise for LeBron James. He's got a good person (according to the media, I don't know him) in charge of his money, and all he has to do is not die between now and August, and he's going to be rich. Forget school - who needs a piece of paper with a logo on it, when you've got 8 zero's and a 1 in the bank?

why

There is a rule in college sports that you can't get a loan based on your future earning potential, but there wasn't such a rule in high school sports because it had never been an issue until all these kids started going pro right after graduation. Apparently, they're now trying to set that precedent with LeBron James, and I hope they do. Kids should not even be allowed to play professional sports before they've played college sports (assuming there is a college version of the sport), and they certainly should not be allowed to get loans to make huge purchases before they've even been drafted.

She got a loan based on his future net worth. He may now be inelgible to play basketball in his district pending a hearing.

On another note, an escalade is a real nice car. My parents have both worked over 30 years each and still could not afford a cadillac with two kids.

I have a 98 Civic, base model, and that's a "really nice car" to me... ah, how different people's perceptions are.

What I find most ridiculous is that his mom got a loan to buy the thing for him because she knows he's gonna be rich in a few short months and will undoubtedly return the favor.

Legal in Texas.

What about getting a hummer from a seventeen year old?

eh......i still believe Hummers to be overhyped. kinda like Chris Simms. ha...not really. but yeah...Hummers = overhyped.