Andrew Wiggins Headed to Kansas for Summer School

#1 high school basketball player and Kansas recruit Andrew Wiggins announced his plans to attend summer school at KU, foregoing an opportunity to play basketball this summer for the FIBU U19 Canadian Team.  In a situation reminiscent of his signing day, Wiggins gave little advance notice of his intentions, surprising Kansas Coach Bill Self with the decision to head for Lawrence.  While Coach Self might wish for clearer lines of communication with this freshman star that values his privacy so very much, he can’t complain too much—Self has been pleasantly surprised twice in a row now by the soft-spoken Wiggins.

Andrew Wiggins’ decision to attend summer school in Lawrence gives him the opportunity to bond with his future teammates at KU, a situation that will only make his time with the Jayhawks basketball team go more smoothly.  For Wiggins to be the leader Bill Self likely expects him to become, it is important for him to be with his teammates and bond with them.  The media will look at him as someone different and special, but his fellow Jayhawks need to see him first as one of the guys.  Only then will he truly be a leader on the court.  Former Jayhawk forward Xavier Henry stayed in Oklahoma the summer before his only season on Mt. Oread.  There might have been no cause and effect whatsoever, but Henry always seemed an outsider, ostensibly “doing what the team wanted him to” instead of taking the responsibility that comes with being one of the team’s best player—at least from this outsider’s perspective.  Andrew Wiggins has already proven himself a better teammate by taking a different path than Henry did. 

Wiggins will also have a chance to become acclimated with the city of Lawrence, the KU campus and the community.  He will be able to take a little more time getting used to his new environment, so far removed from his home in Ontario, Canada.  Most significant for KU fans, every minute spent with the other players working on their games and getting comfortable with each other will be to KU’s and Wiggins’ mutual advantage.  His decision mirrors those made by several members of the University of Kentucky’s star-studded freshman class, and Self must be relieved to have the same opportunities for his players to work together that UK’s freshmen will enjoy.  These early pickup games help determine who is the team’s Alpha Dog, who will vie for minutes when the season opens, and who will be a good teammate and who might not be.  Summer pickup games don’t decide anything, but they lay the groundwork for decisions Coach Self will have to make when practice begins in October.  It is encouraging to see that Andrew Wiggins is thinking of what will make his first (and likely only) season at the University of Kansas as successful as it can be.  In a college career measured in months, there is no time to waste.

Rock Chalk, Jayhawk!

Basketball Players Need College

I watched a tear-filled press conference on television and saw University of Kansas freshman forward Xavier Henry announce his intention to forego the remainder of his college career and apply for the NBA draft. For someone about to become a millionaire, Henry didn’t seem very happy. It was easy to believe that he succumbed to the pressures of his father Carl in making this decision. Carl Henry insisted from the outset his son Xavier was a “one-and-done” player, and everyone had to be on the same page regarding his son’s future. Well, he got what he wanted, but from an outsider’s perspective it seems he sacrificed his son’s innocence along the way.


This isn’t about Henry’s undeniable physical skills; it’s about his level of maturity. Can a 19 year-old kid who can’t even announce he’s leaving without sobbing possibly be ready for the NBA? Will he have the emotional stability to handle the pressures associated with playing for pay? Can he cope with players on the end of an NBA bench who are hoping he will fail because he is a threat to their own job security? Will he be able to deal with intolerant coaches feeling the pressure to win immediately, unwilling to suffer the mistakes of a player still learning the game? Can he resist the temptations of drugs, alcohol and sexual favors and focus on the game?

The NBA has it right: kids fresh out of high school aren’t ready for professional basketball. They understand that players one year removed from high school aren’t ready, either, but the NBA Players Association thwarted efforts to mandate two years of college before application for the NBA draft was possible. It would benefit NBA players to keep kids that aren’t ready out of the league and prevent them from stealing roster spots, but they fought the rule anyway. Seemingly, the only reason the Player’s Association opposed sending kids to college was that the NBA wanted it.

There are many justifications for allowing kids to go pro out of high school, but they all lack conviction. The proponents of this illogical argument typically suggest:

1. LeBron James and Kobe Bryant went pro out of high school and turned out fine. That is essentially correct, but Bryant and James are exceptional players. Even Bryant had a very ordinary rookie season. You don’t see a player as good as them come along every year, or even every five years. The best player since James is probably Kevin Durant, and he survived a year of college. No one sadly wonders what Durant would have done if he had gone to the NBA out of high school. Nobody cares.

2. If they’re good enough, why should they have to wait to get their money? This is the most preposterous justification of all, and the answers are myriad. First of all, they should wait to give the NBA a chance to make certain they are good enough. High school and the AAU circuit don’t provide the opportunity for an accurate assessment of a player’s skills. Second, almost all of them really aren’t good enough. They are drafted on potential, and don’t deserve to be paid a fortune to ride the bench. Third, if someone told you they would pay you $20 million but you had to wait a couple years to get it, what would you say? You would likely respond, “No problem, I’ll see you in two years.” If you said, “Forget it, buddy, I want that money now!” you would accurately be considered insolent and undeserving.

3. It is wrong to make kids who don’t want to go to college have to be there. Well, a lot of people want to be lawyers but it’s likely none of them are thrilled with going to law school. They realize no one hires a lawyer on potential, and they put in the time to learn and hone their skills. If it is understood that going to college is a mandatory step toward their goal, players will probably accept attending college a lot better.

4. If a kid can join the military and die for his country, why can’t he join the NBA? This rationale falls into the category of two wrongs making a right, and we have all been told they don’t. Just because a teenager is allowed to join the military doesn’t mean it’s the correct thing to do to our nation’s youth. If our soldiers were a little older and more mature, they would be more capable as soldiers and suffer fewer psychological scars. If our basketball players were a little older, they would be more capable, as well.



There are so many kids pushed toward the NBA by people with other agendas—parents, relatives, agents, coaches and friends are all eager to get into a kid’s head and tell them they’re the second coming of Michael Jordan. If someone has a reason for wanting a young basketball player to go professional, that reason should always be questioned. It is the player’s life and career and future earnings that are on the line and no on should be able to claim they are acting in the kid’s best interests.

It doesn’t work that way, however, and it never will. Because these young players are still immature kids, someone will always try to manipulate them for personal gain. That is why rules prohibiting a player from entering the NBA from high school are in place, and it is why those rules should be even more stringent than they are. It’s in the best interests of the players and the league.

I’m willing to wait another year or two for the second coming of O.J. Mayo—how about you?



Read more articles on this subject by the author:

 
http://hubpages.com/hub/High-School-Players-Should-Attend-College-Before-the-NBA
 
http://hubpages.com/hub/Everyone-Loses-with-Xavier-Henry-Going-to-the-NBA-Almost
 
http://hubpages.com/hub/Lets-Save-the-NBA-from-the-Draft-Early-Entries