We spend a lot of time on this blog discussing the NBA age limit, and doing so has generated some great debates. To continue in that tradition, I bring you news that Duke men's basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski--a longtime supporter of a higher NBA age limit--has done a 180 and now vehemently opposses it. Ken Tysaic of the Charlotte Observer has the story on Krzyzewski's stunning change of heart, which occurred while he recently coached Team USA to a bronze medal in the FIBA World Championships (and thanks to D'arcy Mulligan for the link). Here are some excerpts:
After coaching Team USA's LeBron James and Dwight Howard, who went straight to the NBA from high school, Duke's Mike Krzyzewski said he opposes the year-old rule that prevents NBA teams from drafting high school seniors . . .Some of us have been saying the same things for years, but I'm glad that Coach K has crossed over and joined the ranks of dissenters.Now he is speaking out against it, saying basketball holds back teens while tennis, soccer and golf do not.
"We have a 16-year-old girl (Michelle Wie) that's winning money, a beautiful girl," Krzyzewski said. "They should be given those opportunities, and we should be able to adjust. It's not going to hurt the college game. The college game is going to be OK no matter what. I think this puts the college game in more of harm's way than it needs to be" . . .
He said when basketball players who don't want to attend college are forced onto campus for a year, college officials have trouble guaranteeing players will take their academic responsibilities seriously.
"There are a lot of successful people in this country who didn't go to college," Krzyzewski said. "They should be given the right to do that. We have one of the richest men in the world (Bill Gates) who didn't finish college, giving away hundreds of millions of dollars. To me, I'd rather have it the way it was (with no age limit)."
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