The NCAA has given the NBA the perfect chance to go out and make their own developmental league like they have in Europe. You might or might not be familiar with how teams develop talent in Europe, but it is a format that could be used to make the game better. Basketball would improve a lot if the NBA was willing to tell the NCAA to kiss off. The NCAA has long been a bastion of corruption and disgusting practices that exploit student-athletes, and it is time for all of this to stop. You do not need to pay these guys while they are in college. You need to put them in your developmental program.
The NCAA is pointless
The NCAA is a multi-billion dollar corporation that is making money off the backs of college kids who are either planning on going to the NBA or need to be in school to get a degree. The NCAA has forced a college to report violations for letting a female athlete use the hose behind an athletic building to wash her car. The NCAA has caused problems for students time and again while allowing nearly every state in the union to make a coach their highest paid public employee. All of this has been going on while the NCAA has been using students to make money in the name of amateurism, and it is a pointless enterprise. You can start a developmental program that is just like Europe that serves everyone.
You draft them young
The guys that are good enough to play professional ball are taken in a draft or signing period very young. They might start playing for some form of the developmental program when they are 10 or 12 years old, and there are teams that are affiliated with the professional franchises. These teams all play each other, and the team can develop their guys to do what they want.
Some guys can choose to graduate from high school early or do their coursework while playing professionally, and they are called up with the big club is ready. The teams do not have to send players to the NCAA to get ready to play, and the NCAA will have to stop abusing players in the name of profits. Most of the rules go out the window when the best talent is not in college, but some players can go to college if they commit to graduating.
This is the same model the MLB draft uses. Guys have their rights retained until they graduate.
Football should do the same
We cannot find guys to play in the NFL because college football is so different. The NFL could get college football to check itself by starting a similar program. It is only a matter of time for a similar scandal rocks football, too.
