How sensible is NBA Commissioner Adam Silver's proposal to increase the age limit?

NBA’s new Commissioner Adam Silver

The Draft class of 2014 might well be the last freshman year batch to enter the league if new Commissioner Adam Silver has his way in increasing the age limit of the players who are eligible to be drafted into the league to 20 years. That would mean the players need to either complete two years at college or play professionally elsewhere till they cross the age bar before taking their talents to the NBA.

The age limit has not been officially increased yet but it does seem to be one of the few regulations Silver wants to implement early on as the Commissioner. This comes eight years after then Commissioner David Stern changed the rules to not allow high school players to be eligible for the Draft, raising the age bar to 19.

Prior to the 2006 NBA Draft many players were drafted directly out of high school and some of them turned out to be superstars, such as future Hall of Famers Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett and LeBron James.

This agenda has not only on Silver’s mind since a long time, but it is also something he seems immensely serious about. Of course, the NBPA (National Basketball Players Association) needs to accept the proposal before it becomes law, but quite clearly he is determined to implement it.

Being the Commissioner you don’t make changes just for the sake of making them; there has to be some benefit to the game of basketball or to the league itself. So how much will this proposal benefit the league? Another major question which will be asked, and debated about a lot during meetings with the NBPA, is the benefit to the players.

Seems complex, doesn’t it? But it’s actually quite simple. Let’s break it down:

Benefits to the league

“It is my belief that if players have an opportunity to mature as players and as people, for a longer amount of time before they come into the league, it will lead to a better league,” Silver said.

He makes a good point about how it benefits the league, but what goes unnoticed in his statement is how the proposal would help the level of college basketball go higher, a foundation on which the NBA stands.

Increasing the limit to 19 got players thinking about college only because they needed to, and not necessarily because they wanted to. The new proposal would give a even more solid foundation to college basketball as potential stars would have to remain in their college teams for an extra year, honing not just their own game but also of their teammates around them.

Allowed to enter only after they are 20, the players would be required to stick to their respective college teams even after turning 19, giving the team chemistry more stability as it receives more time together.

There seems to be more in it for the players than the league. The league would of course become a much better and more mature one, but more importantly, the players stand to gain much more than just maturity.

Benefits to the players

Implementing the proposal would be a huge challenge especially given the amount of criticism it has received. However, it would be a bigger challenge for Silver to receive the consent from the NBPA on the proposal despite the fact that it clearly promises to help the incoming players more than anything else.

Larry Brown, currently the head coach of the SMU Mustangs, was the head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers when the team reached the NBA Finals in 2001. Meanwhile, Mike Krzyzewski, head coach of the Duke Blue Devils for over 30 years now, was a member of the coaching staff that flew to the 1992 Olympics along with the ‘Dream Team’, and has won two gold medals in 2008 and 2012 as the head Coach of the USA national basketball team.

These two distinguished Hall of Famers are only the cream of the crop of coaches in the NCAA basketball division. Although not as famous, there are many more coaches in the college league that know what it takes to compete in the NBA as a player and help the students at the college level rise to the standard expected of them.

Playing for or against teams coached by such men can only help the players mature and grow as they play under a certain system of offence of defence or play against a certain system of offence or defence which they would be expected to know when they enter the league.

The qualities of leadership and confidence depend a lot on one another and can be developed only when they are both exercised over a period of time. No rookie is going to be the leader in the locker room of any NBA team but had he developed the confidence to do so at the college level, his leadership skills would prove handy later on when the franchise decides to build around him.

Also, allowing the players to develop more on the college level makes their struggles in the league less harsh. Take for example a player like Anthony Bennett who has had a tough rookie season and has been far from impressing the franchise that picked him first overall in last year’s draft.

Whether this rule is changed or not will not be known until the off-season, as the NBPA President Chris Paul is on full time duty as the captain of title contending Los Angeles Clippers. But I certainly hope Silver has his way in implementing a rule which seems set to make the league a better one.