"This may be one of the best things the NABC has ever done."

The NBA, NCAA, and National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) have an idea, and it's a pretty good one.  The goal is to keep kids who aren't ready for the NBA in school where they can further hone their skills.  The idea, of course, is self-serving in that the NBA gets more seasoned players and the NCAA retains talent, but the fact that it will ultimately benefit the student athlete can't be ignored.

There are two main components:

The proposal, the result of a series of meetings first held at the 2014 Final Four, would move the withdrawal date for American college players to late May, nearly five weeks later than the current late-April date.

...

If the proposal is accepted, underclassmen would be able to participate in a new invitation-only combine in mid-May that would enable NBA teams to evaluate players and then offer feedback on their draft prospects. The pool would include all draft-eligible players -- seniors, underclassmen and international players. But Dan Gavitt, NCAA vice president of the men's basketball championship, said the finite number wouldn't change if a player withdrew. The goal would be to increase the current NBA draft combine number by 20 to 30 percent (currently 65 to 70 players attend the draft camp in Chicago annually).

Setting aside the fact that this comes a couple years too late for Georgia (*ahem* Travis Leslie and Trey Thompkins), this actually makes a lot of sense!

One of the biggest problems these kids face is that they have all the wrong people dispensing advice ("Joe Blow at the barber shop," according to John Thompson III).  Now, not only do you have more time to make a decision, you also get constructive feedback from the very teams that hold your future in their hands.

Didn't get invited to the combine?  You have virtually no chance of being drafted.  Did get invited?  You still may not get drafted, but you'll hear it straight from the horse's mouth.

Is it a perfect system?  No.  There are spring signing implications, for sure.  It's also unrealistic to think you can stop every kid from leaving.  There will be kids who don't get invited to the combine, but who still choose to enter the draft.

I'm also still waiting for the horrible, no good, very bad one-and-done rule to go away, at which point select high school seniors should be invited to the combine as well.

Until then, though, this represents a good start.  It makes a lot of sense and it benefits the athletes - but let's hope it passes anyway.

[ESPN]

First domino falls

James Young is leaving for the NBA.  He is the first from Kentucky to declare, but don't expect him to be the last.

The more the better from Georgia's perspective.  If Julius Randle and the Harrison twins want to follow him out the door, you won't hear me complaining.

h/t ESPN

More good news

The good news just keeps rolling in for Georgia fans.  It is getting a little eerie, no?

This time, it is out of Knoxville:

Jarnell Stokes is bypassing his senior season at Tennessee to enter the NBA draft.

Stokes, a 6-foot-8, 260-pound forward, confirmed Friday at a news conference that he has decided to begin his pro career. The news was first reported by CBSSports.com.

First of all, my congratulation to the young man.  It will be a challenging road for him, as his build leaves him as something of a tweener.  However, he has game, and I suspect he will find a way to contribute to whatever team takes a flier on him.

Second of all, good riddance.  Stokes was all but unguardable when the Dawgs went to Knoxville this past season.  We were never more outmatched than when the opponent had a real post presence.  Hopefully his subtraction, plus the addition of our two freshman, can start to swing that pendulum back towards the middle. 

h/t ESPN

The Kentucky Way

If there's hope for the Bulldogs, much of it lies in the fact that Charles Mann, Kenny Gaines, and Brandon Morris are all sophomores, and none are likely to leave early for the NBA.

One-and-dones are nice from a talent standpoint, but when that's most of your team, the results can be vary wildly:

Kentucky, which has lost three of four, dropped out from 25th, the fourth preseason No. 1 to fall out of the poll in the same season.

Many at Kentucky called this year's haul the "greatest recruiting class ever assembled" without a hint of hyperbole.  Each player may ultimately have a wonderful career - in college or, more likely, in the NBA - but winning something with that kind of team is not always as easy as it sounds.

The hope is that Mark Fox has set Georgia up for future sustained success.  Fox's recruiting (which will be discussed at length in a future post), while not off the charts, has not been as bad as many make it out to be.

One thing a reliance on early entries does is it gives you more room for error.  If you bring in five blue chip guys, odds are good that three or four of them are going to pan out.  If they don't, though, you have to start over the following season.

In Georgia's case, the challenge now is to supplement the talent that's already there.  Fox has to keep bringing in the Mann's and Gaines's of the world, but he also has to lock down better role players.  The icing on the cake would be the occasional early entry.

A good example of this is the 2010-11 team that almost was.  In retrospect, Trey Thompkins and Travis Leslie probably should have stayed for their fourth year.  If they had, here's the lineup Georgia could have trotted out:

• PG - Gerald Robinson
• SG - Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
• SF - Travis Leslie
• PF - Trey Thompkins
• C - Donté Williams
• Bench - Nemanja Djurisic
• Bench - Dustin Ware
• Bench - Marcus Thornton
• Bench - Sherrard Brantley

A Final Four contender?  Probably not, but the Sweet 16 would not have been out of the question.  That's a top 25 team that could have played with anyone in the SEC.

h/t ESPN