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Kobe Bryant: College basketball ‘really isn’t teaching players anything’

USA Men's Basketball Team Scrimmage Against China

NEW YORK - AUGUST 14: Kobe Bryant, (L) a former member of the USA Men’s National Team, speaks with Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski (C) prior to a scrimmage against China on August 14, 2010 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2010 NBAE (Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images)

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Get ready for another round of bickering about whether or not the one-and-done rule should be in place.

“I don’t really look at it from that perspective of what was good for the game of basketball,” Kobe Bryant told reporters when asked about his impact on the NBA as a prep-to-pro player. “I think the reality is there’s been a lot of players who’ve come out of high school. If you do the numbers and you look at the count, you’ll probably see players who came out of high school that were much more successful on average than players who went to college for a year or two or however long.”

“It seems like the system really isn’t teaching players anything, if you go to college. If you go to college, you play, you showcase, and you come to the pros. Well, that’s always been the big argument, as a player you have to go to college, you have to develop your skills and so forth and so on, and then you come to the league. So, we kind of got sold on that dream a little bit. Fortunately, I didn’t really listen much to it. Neither did KG. Neither did LeBron. I think that worked out pretty well for all three of us.”

“I’m always a firm believer in us being able to make our own decisions, especially as it pertains to going out and working and having a job. You should be able to go out there and make your own choices.”

Thanks, Kobe.

This is just what I needed on a Thursday in the heart of conference season. I’m going to break this down into bullet points:


  • Kobe may be a “firm believer” in “being able to make our own decisions”, but it’s the association that he is a member of that has done away with the one-and-done rule. It’s the NBA that instituted the age limit to be eligible for the NBA Draft. You want it changed? Take it up with the people that lose money while 18 year olds sit the bench -- marginal NBA players looking for that last roster spot and NBA owners that want to draft NBA ready talent -- during future CBA talks.
  • That said, I actually agree with him. I’ve written about it too many times to count so I won’t rehash it all here, but I don’t think it’s right to channel these kids into colleges where they get “paid” with a scholarship that they will never maximize while everyone else (coaches, administrators, NCAA suits, etc.) gets rich off of their exploits. That’s morally wrong.
  • Kobe mentions himself, Kevin Garnett and LeBron as examples of why colleges don’t develop players, three of the best prospects we have seen come through the high school ranks. They were going to be stars regardless of where they played after high school. The same can probably be said for the likes of Kevin Durant and Kevin Love, and, eventually, Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid. But would Damian Lillard be one of the best point guards in the NBA without Weber State? Would Steve Nash have been Steve Nash without Santa Clara? Where is Roy Hibbert if he doesn’t spend four years learning at Georgetown? How many top 50ish recruits has Bill Self turned into first round picks? What about Korleone Young or Ousmane Cisse or Leon Smith? Think they could have used a few years on campus?

The bottom-line is this: Elite prospects like Kobe and KG and LeBron were always going to be great. College would have been more-or-less useless for them.

But to dismiss the teaching ability of the coaches at the collegiate level is just stupid.

Kobe’s smarter than that.