Commentary: College basketball in big trouble

It was a perfect day for fireworks, and here was John Chaney, right on cue.

His friend and colleague, Mike Krzyzewski, was spending the weekend thinking about what should be unthinkable — leaving Duke to become head coach of the ego-fractured Los Angeles Lakers.

Krzyzewski’s temptation is not unthinkable to Chaney, though. Not now. Not the way things are going in college basketball.

“There’s a very serious thing happening in basketball,” Chaney said the other day. “There’s a big meeting of the National Association of Basketball Coaches on Wednesday, and I’m not even going. They want to petition the NBA to stop drafting high school kids.”

It’s not that he doesn’t see the damage being done to the college game by the new order of things. He does. It’s just that he isn’t willing to delude himself into thinking things are going back to the way they used to be.

It’s over. And that’s no doubt one of the things Krzyzewski is weighing as he considers the Lakers’ offer.

“Who are the best players in the NBA?” Chaney said. “Kobe Bryant? Kevin Garnett is the MVP. Tracy McGrady (is the scoring champion). None of them went to college. They’re all high school kids.

“As coaches, we have to stop lying to these kids. They can see the truth. It’s right in front of them. If someone wants to put a million dollars in your pocket, there’s nothing wrong with that. We talk about these kids being too young at 18, talk about them needing a ‘support system’ before they can turn pro.”

Chaney watched the recent NBA draft with keen interest. He came away convinced that it is just plain dishonest for college coaches — or the media, for that matter — to attempt to talk youngsters into staying in school.

Cases in point: Jameer Nelson and Delonte West.

Nelson decided not to go into the NBA draft after his junior year. He returned to St. Joseph’s, carried the Hawks through a magnificent season, and was named the college player of the year.

His reward from the NBA? He was drafted 20th, after a handful of younger, less proven guards.

“Jameer is going to be as great as Jason Kidd,” Chaney said. “But you know what? He should have come out last year. He could have been in the job market for another year, could have made a million dollars already.”

West, meanwhile, did choose to come out a year early. He was taken just four slots after Nelson. His gamble paid off.

“We have to find another way to deal with these kids,” Chaney said. “There has to be a way for them to get a better sense of whether they will be drafted and where. Jameer didn’t think he would be a first-round pick last year? Well, somebody lied to him.”

It is the dishonesty that bothers Chaney most.

“They can see what’s right in front of them,” Chaney said. “Look, education is a great thing. But if you have the talent — in acting, in basketball, blowing the flute, playing piano — to make a lot of money at 18, then do it.”