Detroit Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy raged against the NBA’s ‘racist’ rule not allowing players to join the league directly out of high school.
Van Gundy told the media the following, according to ESPN:
People that were against [players] coming out [of high school] made a lot of excuses, but I think a lot of it was racist. I’ve never heard anybody go up in arms about [minor league baseball or hockey]. They are not making big money, and they’re white kids primarily and nobody has a problem…But all of a sudden you’ve got a black kid that wants to come out of high school and make millions. That’s a bad decision, but bypassing college to go play for $800 a month in minor league baseball? That’s a fine decision? What the hell is going on?
This is one of the most absurd takes I’ve heard in a very long time. The NBA’s rule not allowing players to join immediately after high school is dumb, but it’s certainly not racist.
Do you know why the league invented this rule? It’s actually very simple. Scouts and general managers didn’t want to deal with high school students that they don’t know much about. Do you have any idea how hard it is to actually judge a high school kid’s talent when he’s playing against 16 year olds? I know plenty of kids that were high level recruits coming out of high school and sucked in college. Happens every single year. Now, try to understand the frustration of NBA executives drafting an 18 year old and finding out he’s not ready.
As a friend of mine pointed out, the NBA’s decision is selfish. They’re hedging and protecting themselves against NBA busts. It’s pretty easy to judge a guy after a year of college basketball, especially the guys in big conferences.
Naturally, Van Gundy doesn’t want to simply understand logic. No, he decides to just lobbing thoughts about racism. It’s sad how stupid some people involved with sports are.
