What’s It Like To Be a Teenager in the NBA?
June 26, 2015 1:07 AM Subscribe
Being a teenager can be tough, even if you’re just an average kid dealing with everyday issues and trying to blend in at high school. Being a teenager who is constantly under the microscope and has a ridiculous amount of money, fame and temptations can be quite the experience – good and bad – as well.
The 'teenager in the NBA' phenomenon is relatively new: excepting Moses Malone and Darryl Dawkins, it began in 1995 with Kevin Garnett. Over the next 5 years, the track record on those picks was good: Garnett, Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady, Al Harrington, Jermaine O'Neal, Rashard Lewis. All of those guys are still active, or only recently retired. Bryant, McGrady, and Garnett will be Hall-of-Famers.
The next few years saw some less productive teenage draftees; the noise about 'too much too fast too soon' gained steam. This WaPo article on Kwame Brown from 2002 (a year after he was drafted at 18 yrs old), does a tremendous job chronicling the complexities of the teenager-to-NBA transition, from the day-to-day demands to the merging of wildly disparate backgrounds. (The interviews in the FPP article to me seem nice and polite, but thin about life as a teenager in the league)
Regrettably, the "right off the turnip truck" nature of, say, the infamous French dressing anecdote in the Brown article symbolized how many seemed to reduce this entire matter: these young black athletes are worthy of our mockery and judgement, not our empathy. Public opinion regarding teenagers in the league diminished, NBA front office types framed them as presenting an unacceptable level of risk (though they continued to draft them -- including a fellow named LeBron James -- at ever increasing numbers through 2005).
After 2005, the NBA prohibited high schoolers from entering the draft; NBA-bound teenagers are now part of the 'one-and-done' system of enrolling in the NCAA for a year (usually at feeder programs like Duke or Kentucky) and then declaring for the draft, and entering the league at 19 years old. Currently, the NBA is not satisified; they want to raise the minimum age to 20 years old.
I've said it before, Jermaine O'Neal has said it before, the NBA age limit is structural racism. Sure, Donald Sterling's rant from last year, and his subsequent lifetime ban from the league captures the "NBA counters hard against racism" angle, while its efforts to deny (a majority black) teenagers from self-determination are (relatively) quietly trying to be extended.
(IMO, the NBA is by far the most progressive of the major four North American sports leagues; I don't want to shout down the good it's doing. But it needs to be called out on this misguided policy, and the message it sends.)
posted by Theophrastus Johnson at 9:31 AM on June 26, 2015
The next few years saw some less productive teenage draftees; the noise about 'too much too fast too soon' gained steam. This WaPo article on Kwame Brown from 2002 (a year after he was drafted at 18 yrs old), does a tremendous job chronicling the complexities of the teenager-to-NBA transition, from the day-to-day demands to the merging of wildly disparate backgrounds. (The interviews in the FPP article to me seem nice and polite, but thin about life as a teenager in the league)
Regrettably, the "right off the turnip truck" nature of, say, the infamous French dressing anecdote in the Brown article symbolized how many seemed to reduce this entire matter: these young black athletes are worthy of our mockery and judgement, not our empathy. Public opinion regarding teenagers in the league diminished, NBA front office types framed them as presenting an unacceptable level of risk (though they continued to draft them -- including a fellow named LeBron James -- at ever increasing numbers through 2005).
After 2005, the NBA prohibited high schoolers from entering the draft; NBA-bound teenagers are now part of the 'one-and-done' system of enrolling in the NCAA for a year (usually at feeder programs like Duke or Kentucky) and then declaring for the draft, and entering the league at 19 years old. Currently, the NBA is not satisified; they want to raise the minimum age to 20 years old.
I've said it before, Jermaine O'Neal has said it before, the NBA age limit is structural racism. Sure, Donald Sterling's rant from last year, and his subsequent lifetime ban from the league captures the "NBA counters hard against racism" angle, while its efforts to deny (a majority black) teenagers from self-determination are (relatively) quietly trying to be extended.
(IMO, the NBA is by far the most progressive of the major four North American sports leagues; I don't want to shout down the good it's doing. But it needs to be called out on this misguided policy, and the message it sends.)
posted by Theophrastus Johnson at 9:31 AM on June 26, 2015
There was a kid in yesterday's draft who went to China to play professionally after his basketball academy/high school came under investigation. So he had to play in a another country because he was not free to earn his living in the United States.
posted by srboisvert at 10:41 AM on June 26, 2015
posted by srboisvert at 10:41 AM on June 26, 2015
What other professions are there that have age limits? The only two I could think of on the spot are bartender and member of Congress/Senate or President.
posted by cell divide at 11:01 AM on June 26, 2015
posted by cell divide at 11:01 AM on June 26, 2015
What other professions are there that have age limits?
A lot of local or state laws require one to be 18 to get various professional licenses (e.g. barbers, insurance agents, etc.).
posted by Etrigan at 11:16 AM on June 26, 2015
A lot of local or state laws require one to be 18 to get various professional licenses (e.g. barbers, insurance agents, etc.).
posted by Etrigan at 11:16 AM on June 26, 2015
It is just making me crazy to see Kobe Bryant lauded as a "success story" in the context of this article. The man can play, no two ways about that. But this is also the same man who, as a 21-year-old, dated and got engaged to a 17-year-old high-school senior. Three years later, he sexually assaulted a hotel employee in Colorado. It's one thing to separate the actions of Bryant the person from the skills of Bryant the player. It's quite another to erase Bryant's actions because of his skills.
posted by epj at 5:04 PM on June 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by epj at 5:04 PM on June 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
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