The Division I Legislative Council has approved a new deadline for NBA draft declarations working off a suggestion made by ACC coaches late last year.
The new basketball legislation (No. 2008-79) establishes May 8 as the date by which student-athletes must remove their name from the NBA draft to retain eligibility. In addition, the proposal removes the option for draft entrants who are not selected to resume college eligibility. Student-athletes with eligibility remaining previously had up to 30 days after the draft to declare their intention to return.
Coaches supported the shorter declaration period because it will assist in roster planning for the upcoming year. The change also is intended to encourage student-athletes to refocus on academics sooner after the season ends and decrease the potential for violations of amateurism rules.
The proposal is a softer version of the original measure the Atlantic Coast Conference proposed, which would have set the day before the spring National Letter of Intent signing period in mid-April as the deadline. Council members, however, favored May 8 based on a recommendation from the NBA and the NBA Players’ Association. The NBA recently changed its policies to allow student-athletes to work out with individual teams in late April, after the deadline for submitting their names into the draft. Council members believe that new policy allows players to obtain relevant feedback on their potential draft status.
If the Board of Directors approves the change, the legislation would become effective August 1, 2009.
Tar Heel fans undoubtedly are going to have mixed feelings about this having had three players “test the waters” only to see them all return and win a national title. Had this rule been in effect last year chances are UNC loses both Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington. Affording them the adequate time to use the process and make a proper determination of their stock worked out rather well for UNC, though Lawson’s return probably had more to do with the Chapel Hill Police than anything else.
Since the NBA and NBAPA recommended the May 8th date, you have to wonder if the process as it stands now will be adjusted. If the drop dead date is going to be May 8th then I think the first deadline should be a week after the NCAA Championship game which is how it works in college football. The NFL draft entry deadline is a week after the BCS title game. If NBA teams are willing to look at these players in April and perhaps even move up the draft camp to the end of April versus the end of May, the process can still provide most of the information it is providing now with the bonus of getting it done in a timely manner so college coaches can move on with roster moves involving late signees.
Overall this seems like a step in the right direction. There is no reason the players and the NBA cannot both be served while also being sensitive to the college coaches.
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Boy, I am going to have to take some time to think about this, and my position on it.
it seems that we are quickly headinf toward a 2 year college rule. that should be a good thing for unc who can safely go after the highest ranked players
Agreed. The one-year rule was s boost to schools in BCS conferences who might not have had a legit pedigree. Players could go to schools like KSU, USC, and even Texas and OSU and play against great talent, but be the stars of their own teams. It was a perfect way to showcase themselves. If it turns out that you have to spend two years in a program, I think that may push the edge to the blue-bloods of CBB because now players know that they will have two years to showcase themselves (and grow) so that may push the emphasis towards winning.
Hey Guys. While I agree with your position on this, we must look at the alternative, which THF pointed out. There is a side to this that may not be so good. What we need to look at is this, what is potential that the Green/Lawson/Ellington situation arises again? What is the benefit, other than 2 years?
I am not trying to minimize this potential new rule, but we should take a look at how we could be affected.
JBowling – Roy has a system that goes back to the Dean Smith days, and the system is not complicated. He calls NBA teams to see where the player will be drafted, and then he gives this information to the player, who then makes a decision. If Roy tells you that a player that he is not a first round pick and the player decides to “go for it”, then there is not much we can do about that. My guess is that Ty, Danny, and Wayne would not have gone to the NBA last year just because there was a shorter deadline for withdrawing from the NBA draft. Roy recruits smart kids, and I trust them to make the right decision.
That said, the earlier deadlines’ only effect should be to shorten the testing the waters process, except in rare situations.
I agree with wb3. Shortening the deadline doesn’t mean the info will be different, it just means that they will need to get it more efficiently. There is no question that Wayne and Danny would have gotten the same information that they got last year. Ty would have been 50/50. Both of these rules will benefit UNC. There is a reason why Roy has pushed so hard for the process to be shortened.
FYI, this is from DraftExpress:
“Wayne Ellington Appears Likely to Declare
Following up on our discussion from earlier this week, where we talked about the pros and cons of Wayne Ellington declaring, we had a number of well-connected sources reach out assuring us that it’s only a matter of time before the North Carolina junior puts his name in. “Wayne’s dad has been on an NBA draft fact finding mission for pretty much the entire season,” one source told us. “I would be absolutely shocked if he didn’t declare” another said.
Apparently the holdup for both Ellington and Lawson revolves around the fact that they both no longer have the ability to test the waters after already having done so last season. In case of an emergency (an injury possibly) it makes little sense not to play it safe and wait until the deadline, which is what the two have reportedly been doing. Since many teams this year have decided to hold off on scheduling private workouts until after the NBA pre-draft camp in Chicago in late May, there might not be as much of a rush to start the process.”
WB3, so be it. Really nothing we can do anyway. Like I said, I can see how it has its benefits, there was just no discussion being brought up about how it could affect us in a negative manner. Time will tell, and hopefully its benefits outweigh it’s counterparts.
Carry on.
C. Michael, our thoughts are coming to fruition. We shouldn’t have expected anything else, really.
All this will allow us to do is have another scholly to offer down the road. Yes, its a terrible loss, but we are adequately filling in those gaps with decent to good recruits for upcoming seasons. It won’t be long before we all officially have to recognize their great play & dedication to UNC, and wish them well on their new endeavors.