{image1} The Indiana Pacers' center Jermaine O'Neal played the race card last week with his comments pertaining to the NBA's proposed age limit being racially motivated.
Being white makes it very difficult for me to comment on racism -- I simply have not experienced it in my lifetime. Race aside, as a fairly intelligent person, I can say these comments are absolutely ridiculous but not the least bit surprising.
If O'Neal had not pushed this hot button, what press would he have generated? His comments wouldn't have made a ripple on the national scene. What does one expect O'Neal to say? He is one of the NBA's all-stars that bypassed college. He is a multi-millionaire that owes his wealth to the machine that David Stern has created.
Playing the race card put O'Neal and his opinion on the front page of every sports page in the country. He knows the only color the NBA truly cares about is green, but talking about green does not make waves like contrasting black and white.
Without delving to the legalese of implementing an age limit, it is easy to determine the constitutionality of the rule by looking at how the Maurice Clarett situation panned out. The NFL's rule requires draftees to be three years out of high school, which is not much different than the NBA's proposed 20-year-old age limit.
This issue can be debated either way. On a strictly selfish front, I would welcome the age limit as the most effective way to make college basketball the game that it once was. As great as the tournament was last month, there isn't any question that a LeBron James versus Carmello Anthony final would have rivaled the Larry Bird versus Magic Johnson final, which put March Madness on the map in the first place.
There is a very simple solution to this problem and it is already basically in place. To limit the surge of high school players into the NBA, there needs to be a minor league system of basketball.
The rules could be fairly simple:
Each team gets to place six players on a minor league team. With the 30 teams that would create 15 12-man rosters. The teams could be grouped by geography. For example, the Bucks and the T-Wolves would combine for a team in Iowa City. The National Basketball Developmental League (NBDL) is already in place -- it would just need to expand.
Only players with less than four years of experience are eligible.
The player contracts would be split contracts, like they are in baseball and hockey. This means when you are playing in the NBDL you are paid like a minor leaguer (not very well). If you play in the NBA, even for just one week, you are paid for the portion of time played under the current NBA contract that was slotted for you on draft night or signed through free agency.
Each contract is slotted, based on draft position. The current collective bargaining agreement would still be intact for free agents. The minor league salaries are also slotted depending on their professional salary.
Teams have three options on each player. During the player's original four-year contract, he or she can be brought up to the big club in three of those years and be sent back to the minor league club without having to clear waivers.
The salary cap would have to be raised to be commensurate with an 18-man roster.
What a minor league would do is create the forum for young players that are not good enough to make an NBA roster to hone his or her game without going to college. This virtually eliminates any thought of racism by the league against players that don't have the opportunities to even qualify for college or have such family hardships that they need to make money as soon as possible.
This also eliminates organizations picking high school players and having to pay them millions while they spend four years developing the player's talents just in time for them to become free agents.
It would also deter the fringe players from making the jump straight to the NBA unless they are assured playing time. Just ask a fringe minor league baseball player how much they make. It is enough to live, but it isn't a lavish life -- although getting paid to play a game can't be all that bad.
Obviously there are millions of details that would need to be ironed out, but this is a start. The age limit will be debated all summer as the NBA and the NBAPA haggle over a new collective bargaining agreement.
The NBA is behind the times not having a minor league system. The NBDL could improve the quality of play in the NBA, NCAA and could eliminate players like the Marcus Taylors and Omar Cooks from slipping though the cracks. This would make all races happy, because the green will still be flowing.
