Dwight Jaynes of the Portland Tribune published an excellent column today concerning my recent study on NBA player arrests and age and education. (Jaynes, "Stern Has it Exactly Backward on College," Portland Tribune, August 9, 2005). Here are some excerpts:
Sports law expert Michael McCann is a graduate of Harvard Law School who is now, at 29, a professor at Mississippi College School of Law in Jackson, Miss. He took the time to research the backgrounds of NBA players who have gotten into trouble with the cops.For more, see Dwight's column, or my study.
While his list probably isn’t complete (can you imagine thinking you’ve ever totally logged all of the NBA arrests?), it is extensive. And while an arrest, as McCann says, doesn’t mean anyone is guilty, it certainly will fit a description for running afoul of the law. And the results will probably surprise you . . .
“Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think college is a bad thing. But there’s no correlation between not going to college and getting into trouble with the law when it comes to NBA players,” said McCann.
I believe, in fact, there is a very good reason for this.
Young players coming directly out of high school and into the NBA probably get better monitoring and mentoring in the pros than they’d ever get in a college program. NBA teams have millions of dollars invested in these players, and most teams have set up a support system that carefully watches over the youngsters.
Stern and many others can look at these players with some sort of paternal instinct and talk about some “life experience” they might get in college, but I never bought into that. The players we’re talking about here would be coddled and babied all through college and wouldn’t have the same experience there most of us had. And a college campus can teach just as many bad personal habits as the NBA lifestyle.
The NBA teams also keep their youngsters occupied. The travel, the schedule, the practices, the summer leagues — all of them conspire to keep the kids busy and tired.
And I’ve always felt that’s a part of parenting, in a way. Busy and tired are two of the best deterrents you’ll ever find to getting into trouble.
“I feel like I’ve read several comments from David Stern that kids coming into the NBA out of high school aren’t ready for it,” McCann said. “But look at the training they get — the NBA summer leagues, practicing against other NBA players, no restriction on practice time or season. The fact is, today a good number of the players who have come into the draft after four years of college have been terrible. And they get into trouble."
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