- I believe Stan Van Gundy makes a lot of very valid points. And I think all this does go along the racial component, Skip, for the simple fact of this. Mainly the men that are being affected disproportionately by this are black men.
SKIP BAYLESS: Definitely.
- As he mentioned baseball, hockey, you're allowed to go straight from high school to the pros. Obviously, there's a minor league system. And you can do that. But these black men that want to be-- go, I believe my talent is good enough for me to bypass college and go play in the NBA, they are being negatively impacted because they say no, no, no, no, no, no, although you might be 18 or 19 and we will allow you to vote, we will allow you to go serve the country and fight and die for this country, we don't think you should go at 18, 19, and go make an honest living. Where do they do that at?
My thing is is that, and what the NBA is trying to do is that they want them to go to college because that's their minor league system. We'll get an extra year look at you and see. The NBA wants you to save them from themselves. Skip, just because the guy comes out of high school, that doesn't mean the Dallas Mavericks, that doesn't mean the Knicks has to select him because he came out.
But 7 foot, 6' 10", the guy, he's like, I got to. Then when he doesn't pan out, oh see, it's the guy's fault. No, you just chose the wrong guy. It happens more times than not. It just so happens that athletes are more prominent. But there's a family that paid $300,000 for someone to go try to get a law degree from Harvard and it didn't work out or someone to go try to get a med degree that didn't work out.
SKIP BAYLESS: Definitely, more than you'd know every year.
- Exactly, but we don't hear about it. Skip, the thing is if someone-- what are you going to college for? To try to get a-- hopefully in the process, get an education, and then you can go get your ideal job, your dream job. Well, these one and done, these guys that want to go straight, straight from high school to the pros, their dream job is to play in the NBA. It's not to go get a degree and say I want to be a lawyer or I want to be a doctor or a teacher or whatever. That's not their dream.
And so in the process, you're like, well, no, this is what we want you to do. And it's like, well, we need a minor league system. If I join the military, Joy, they don't send me to the minor leagues to see if I'm ready to go fight and die for my country. Something pops off, if I'm in the military, guess where they send them 18 and 19-year-olds? They send their butt overseas to go fight. Well, if I can go fight and die for this country, I should be able to go make an honest living, Skip.
SKIP BAYLESS: Correct.
- That's my decision. And if it doesn't work out, so be it. That's the chance that you take that when you Skip college to go to the NBA, you might get a LeBron James.
Look at Emeka Okafor, Skip. It came down to him and Dwight Howard. I think Emeka Okafor went maybe two, three years of college. Dwight Howard was coming right out of high school. And although we believe that Dwight squandered some of his talent, there's no doubt in anybody's mind, he's had a better career than Okafor.
It happens. But I don't believe-- you mean to tell me that Kobe Bryant would have been better served, LeBron would have been better served going to one year of college? Absolutely not.
I was reading a story last night, Joy. I didn't know this. And very few people knew this. Did you know Jennifer Lawrence dropped out of middle school? She didn't even make it to high school.
- It was on "60 Minutes" last night.
- Skip, she dropped out of middle school. Now, what happens if Jennifer Lawrence didn't make it? Oh, well, that's between her and her parents. Her parents gave her that ability to say, OK, you want to be-- because her job, her goal wasn't to go to college. Her goal was never to be a lawyer or a doctor. Maybe it was to play one in a movie.
OK, that's how it works, Skip. But they need to stop this and stop trying to hide behind this guise we want to do what's best for the athlete. No, you don't. You want to make money off these athletes. And I'm glad we're going to talk about this a little later. I'm glad them players getting $100,000, $500,000. Make that money.
Because guess what? They say, if you're going to make me go to college, 'cause I really want to go get two, three, four million. But if you're going to make me go to college in the process, Skip, guess what I'm to do? I'm going to get me a couple of $100,000 while I'm here. And I don't blame them. Get it!
SKIP BAYLESS: Hm.