Since last summer, I have spent countless hours watching and talking about basketball with Kobe. Not many people get that kind of opportunity, but it’s allowed me to study the game in a way I never could when I was actively playing it, and think about the path to development in more nuanced ways.

Meanwhile, there has been A LOT of critique about the college game this season — offense is lagging, players can’t shoot, there are too many timeouts, the game is over-coached — but a large part of the debate, at least as it relates to potential NBA players, is whether college is even necessary (and/or helpful) for all of them.

NCAA basketball is a lot different than the pros, beyond the level of talent you face. In college, you often get a week to prepare for one opponent, so the game plan ends up being schemed for that particular matchup. In the NBA, with the schedule so packed, coaches focus more on their own teams. Players have to improvise more at the pro level. There just isn’t enough time between games to fully prepare for any one opponent. Not to mention, there is a huge adjustment to the freedom of off-court life when you are a professional.

There are young players that would thrive with that level of responsibility, while others would benefit with the maturity that a year or more of college can bring. Perhaps NBA teams are protecting some players by forcing an age limit on the draft, but we have proof — Kobe and LeBron being the best examples — that some guys are ready sooner than the league currently allows. While I understand that exceptions don’t always prove the rule, we have more than enough cases to show that this is not a one-size-fits-all situation. NBA draft rules should accommodate that.

Just look at this year’s Kentucky team for an example. Coach has a bunch of potential pros sacrificing for each other and for the betterment of the team, and the result may be college’s first perfect season(!) in nearly four decades. They have been great to watch. Who can possibly argue that college basketball this season would be better off without this Wildcats team, or that next season will be worse once some of the best freshmen move on, in Lexington and elsewhere? Players like Jahlil Okafor and D’Angelo Russell have earned that right to make that choice.

Losing some stars after just a season has little to do with the quality — or lack thereof — of the college game today. I’d love to see the NCAA game open up by stopping defenses from packing the paint, for starters. And while many college teams would benefit from being able to keep their players together longer, it becomes a slippery slope when it comes to “student-athletes” on non-guaranteed scholarships who are at risk of injury every time they step out on the court. The pressure and benefits of leaving for financial security are very real.

What we need is an understanding amongst all the parties — the NCAA, the NBA, and the players and their families — that there is a lot at stake on all sides. Any one solution, whether its increasing the age-limit restriction, paying college athletes (an approach I am not on board with, but that’s a post for another day), or something else entirely, may end up opening a can of worms worse than what we have now. The current system treats players as commodities, but we are not.

The sooner everyone involved understands that our needs and wants as players are as individual as we are as people, the closer we will be to making changes that make sense for everyone.