Oden shows why staying in school is foolish
When Greg Oden was standing before a packed room of teenagers in Times Square for the taping of MTV's Total Request Live in late June, he was asked if he had any regrets about leaving Ohio State after just one season. Greg Oden said he loved college and seriously considered going back. That is, until he looked at his bank balance. "Money is not the most important thing," Greg Oden said. "But it helps."
There's a lesson in the current ordeal Greg Oden faces, rehabbing from microfracture surgery on his right knee. It's not a lesson hoops purists want widely learned. But it's there nonetheless -- if you're a top-flight basketball player with a sure shot at being a first-round pick, you had better get yourself an agent and dive on into the draft as soon as NBA rules allow. You're always just a knee injury away from damaging or even ending your career before it gets started.
Greg Oden got himself drafted before this disaster struck. That was fortunate, because he secured a guaranteed contract that will pay him around $10 million. To pass on that and return to college would not only be unwise, it would be irresponsible. Greg Oden does not come from a particularly wealthy family. Opportunities to be given an eight-figure check don't come around very often.
Think about it. If Greg Oden had, indeed, gone back to school, it's possible that he would have suffered the same knee injury. Worse, it might have gone undetected longer and caused more damage. He'd have to sit out a year, do his rehab at Ohio State then try to come back in late 2008 or early 2009. He'd be under immense pressure, dealing with an injury that most players don't feel comfortable with until two years after surgery.
What if he doesn't heal well? What if his recovery from surgery is more Penny Hardaway than Amare Stoudemire? Where would that leave Greg Oden and his family, had he not already been drafted?
Around the country, the three fellas from Florida -- Joakim Noah, Corey Brewer and Al Horford -- who returned to school last year to defend the championship they'd helped the Gators win the previous year were roundly praised. They bypassed NBA riches for more work on their games and another year of fun in the leafy grove of campus, despite the fact that each of the three would have been first-rounders in 2006.
One writer called the decision, "all at once, wise, popular and a certified no-brainer." I, however, would call it foolish. Because knee injuries happen. Ask Greg Oden.
In fact, the Greg Oden injury can be extrapolated beyond players' decisions to leap into the NBA draft or return to college. It shows the inherent unfairness of commissioner David Stern's decision to prohibit players from entering the draft until at least a year after high school ends. That takes away a year of players' earning power. In a sport in which a career can be destroyed by one faulty cut, one awkward twist, it's simply not fair to prevent a willing team from selecting a willing employee. There's too much at stake for the employee.
There's nothing at stake, of course, for the league. Why should the NBA care about injured players who are not in the league yet? It doesn't. But in not caring, it leaves potential players at risk for injuries.
It's probable that point guard O.J. Mayo would have been a top-10 pick if he was in the draft this year. He would be guaranteed a contract around $4.5 million, even if he blew out his knee today. If Mayo did, in fact, blow out his knee today, he would stand to get nothing.
No question, there are benefits to going to college, to maturing socially, developing as a player and getting an education. And money is not everything. But the ability to get a guaranteed NBA contract, to start your life on very, very sound financial footing, is a rare gift. These guys have won a genetic lottery, and they darn well better cash in the ticket. More than that, they should be allowed to cash it in, as long as they are legally adults.
Because, as we've just seen, knee injuries do happen.
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