Many people would love to see the NBA put rules in where college basketball players have to stay in college for two years before they can become pro. If it was up to Louisville coach Rick Pitino though, he wants the system to go back to the way it used to be where players can commit to the draft straight out of high school while bypassing the college game altogether. [lead image via Getty Sports / Ezra Shaw]
During Pitino’s pregame comments Sunday before Louisville took on Northern Iowa, he said, “I’m very much in favor of high school kids going pro.” There have been plenty of players who have succeeded by going that route like LeBron James and Dwight Howard but there are just as many stories that don’t go as well for players who don’t even get drafted out of high school and have to look elsewhere because they can’t go to college then.
Pitino has been using freshmen in recent years to take his teams deep into the NCAA Tournament. It would be a whole different world for him and the rest of the sport if kids know that they don’t have to go to college to get the big paychecks of the NBA. The odds of a switch back to that happening are slim to none but it is clear what Pitino would love to see happen instead of the current system.
