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[MadMan1978]

i stopped watching the nba a long time ago as its just filled with thugs. I saw the replay of ron artest and what ever his new name is throw a elbow and that just reminded me again why i will never follow a league of thugs. I say let them play at 15 if they want i do not care. The majority will be broke or in jail shortly after their career ends. The nba is a joke.

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[themanishere]

I definitely get your point. I didn't mean to say that it couldn't be considered racially motivated just because it effected only a few people directly. I just don't get how it can be racist if it's effecting all races and nationalities that want to enter the draft early

I will say that I doubt an extra year wait would cause any kid to stop pursuing playing in the NBA. Also, there are other ways to make money with basketball skill besides playing in the NBA.

I wouldn't necessarily say it's "racist" either, but it is quite apparent that black populations would be affected disproportionately compared to others for reasons I've outlined.

Another thing though is that, even if a new rule makes these kids finish a given number of years of school or something, the quality of that education would be in question. Too many student athletes get free rides, so the solution becomes superficial.

[lloydr04]

I stopped watching the NBA a long time ago as its just filled with THUGS. I saw the replay of Ron Artest and what ever his new name is throw a elbow and that just reminded me again why i will never follow a league of thugs. I say let them play at 15 if they want i do not care. The majority will be broke or in jail shortly after their career ends. The NBA is a joke.

Not as bad as watching those street thugs roll around on ice, fighting each other every other second.. hockey

[habsheaven]

Not as bad as watching those street thugs roll around on ice, fighting each other every other second.. hockey

Street thugs?? LOL, you can't be serious. Hockey players are known WORLDWIDE to be the most wholesome professional athletes around. They leave their violence on the ice. Too funny.

[mrveggieman]

Street thugs?? LOL, you can't be serious. Hockey players are known WORLDWIDE to be the most wholesome professional athletes around. They leave their violence on the ice. Too funny.

Yeah they are so wholesome that a prosecutor acutally pressed charges against a guy for what he did on ice. And I actually like hockey.

[pghin08]

I dealt with a ton of athletes in my prior job from all major sports, and can say without any hesitation that hockey players are the nicest and most polite of all of them. Couldn't be farther from thugs. When was the last time you heard about a hockey player beating a wife/girlfriend, committing a hate crime (that's for you, Delmon Young) or really doing anything violent off the ice? No robbery, no theft, not even weed. Hockey players are absolute angels when you compare them to the prima donnas that pervade every other sport. Even Jerome Bettis, one of my favorite players, and one of football's most famous "nice guys" isn't half as kind as a hockey player.

[lloydr04]

So a league full of guys that is known for fighting and somewhat encouraged = generalize them as nice guy and far from thugs

An isolated elbow incident and a league is full of thugs


I get it . LOL

Does the guy who called the nba thugs know what a thug is ?

Because from what I see the only thing that makes nba players thugs are their skin color and maybe some tattoos

The face of the league ( best players ) kobe, durant, westbrook, rose, griffin, lebron, wade, paul, Howard) yeah , big criminals there

Its such as shame they don't televise chess match , maybe we can watch a few more good kids knock each other out and fight each other regularly .. yeah makes sense

[mrveggieman]

So a league full of guys that is known for fighting and somewhat encouraged = generalize them as nice guy and far from thugs

An isolated elbow incident and a league is full of thugs


I get it . LOL

Does the guy who called the nba thugs know what a thug is ?

Because from what I see the only thing that makes nba players thugs are their skin color and maybe some tattoos

The face of the league ( best players ) kobe, durant, westbrook, rose, griffin, lebron, wade, paul, Howard) yeah , big criminals there

Its such as shame they don't televise chess match , maybe we can watch a few more good kids knock each other out and fight each other regularly .. yeah makes sense

CHURCH!!

[gladdyontherise]

Not as bad as watching those street thugs roll around on ice, fighting each other every other second.. hockey

You do realize fighting is a part of Hockey, right?

I think the term 'thug' in any sport is used too often and often not in the right context, but the reason it's used more in Basketball is when you have someone like Kevin Love stomping on a guy, or the whole Arenas/Crittenton gun incident, and of course the brawl at the Palace. It's reputation, and while not fair to the entire sport based on a few guys here and there, it's what happens.

[Star_Cards]

I wouldn't necessarily say it's "racist" either, but it is quite apparent that black populations would be affected disproportionately compared to others for reasons I've outlined.

Another thing though is that, even if a new rule makes these kids finish a given number of years of school or something, the quality of that education would be in question. Too many student athletes get free rides, so the solution becomes superficial.

I definitely don't disagree with you as far what type of education they would get with just one year. However, the rule, as I see it, isn't about the kids getting another year of a college education. It's more about them working on their basketball skills. I definitely think any aspect of education that the NBA would bring up to add an extra year would be way down the list of their motives for this rule.