Written by: Joe Ryan

Twitter: @joeywingspan

Twitter: @wingspansports (follow for all your Sports needs by clicking the @wingspansports handle given there) (we’ll follow back, you won’t regret it)

Wowowowowowow. Alright Shams, I see you dropping 💣💣💣 out here.

Major rules changes that are being put into place that impact both the NBA and College Basketball.

For sure this a major step in the right direction for the sport, even though I understand if people view it negatively. But, for the longest time, the NCAA and the NBA have been trying to find a happy medium for agreements like this. And no we finally got it.

As stated by the above tweet, the major changes are as followed;

1. “Elite” (McDonald’s All Americans probably) recruits, are now allowed to go to college with an agent.

2. The agent can pay for a recruits food and transportation for the player and the families.

3. If a player goes undrafted, they have a chance to return back to College.

Initial thoughts is that I love this. And how I laid out the rules, is the same way how I’m going to explain why this is a good thing.

1. These players are 18-20 years old. A lot of them come from broken families, poor neighborhoods and basketball is their way out. They need to make it to the NBA as a “get out” card. Making the NBA doesn’t only affect the players lives, it affects their immediate families and the future generations of families that they’ll have. It’s tough for an 18-20 year old kid to think about that and make the right decisions. And I understand a lot of agents can be sleazy guys and in it for themselves but a lot of them are good people. A lot of these agents are looking out for their representative because let’s be honest, the better the player is on and off the court, the more money the agent makes. Now, these kids have someone they can trust and help lead them down the right path. With this rule, you may not see a Mitchell Robinson type case where a player is just getting such poor advice.

2. This is pretty simple but this helps the players and families. The players are pretty taken care of as players by the university. I think it’s nonsense when these players say they “go to bed hungry” and they have no money for food. These teams have nutritionists and good all over campus. They’re well taken care of. And they travel for free. But it’s a good thing to have because now, it’s a lot easier for their family and friends to come to games and see their kids play basketball. These kids pack up and leave their family for, basically, the whole year. Now, they have a chance to see their families and let their families get to games and they don’t have to worry about paying for it. I love that.

3. This is the best rule of them all. Allowing kids to return to college if they don’t get drafted is a homerun. Kids make impulse decisions and think they can get to the NBA by what they read online or what they think of themselves. And if you’re confident in yourself, then go for it. But you should have a cushion to fall back on. Players have that now. For example, players like Malik Newman of Kansas and Trevon Duval of Duke, went undrafted in 2018. If they were allowed to return to school, they could’ve been All-American players and be first round picks in a lesser 2019 draft. Why penalize kids for taking a chance on themselves? Everyone deserves a 2nd chance. Especially if they feel like they have to make the jump to support heir family. And if they don’t make it, and go undrafted, well then they have another year of free school and another year to improve their game. No shame in that. Awesome rule.

All in all, this needed to happen. This needed to happen for the NBA and the NCAA and they got it right. Surprisingly.