Maker cleared to enter NBA Draft
Any remaining glimmers of hope that college basketball fans might get to see five-star big man Thon Maker play for his scholarship rather than professional dollars are gone.
Just a few short weeks after indicating that he would seek eligibility for the NBA Draft, Maker, who played his last two seasons of high school Mono (Ont.) Orangeville Prep, has been ruled eligible.
The news was confirmed to Rivals.com on Thursday by Maker's guardian Ed Smith and I think this could end up having a pretty significant future impact on prospects considering a similar testing of the One and Done rule down the road.
The rules on draft eligibility seem to be pretty straightforward for prospects who have played high school basketball in the United States -- which Maker did through his sophomore year. To be draft eligible you have to be one year removed from your graduating class and you have to at least turn 19 during the year you are looking to be drafted.
What's so interesting on this one is that last summer there was a lot of talk about Maker moving to the class of 2015 and heading to college for the 2015-16 season. However, when he decided to stay in the class of 2016 he was said to be doing so because the strain to qualify as a 2015 prospect was too great.
Today, Maker is being considered draft ready because he did graduate in 2015. Connecting the dots that make it so doesn't seem so easy.
On one hand Maker can't go to college for 2015-16 because it was asking too much to get him graduated and qualified. But nine months later he's being considered a 2015 graduate?
As more time goes by, the rules that created the one-and-done era of college hoops are looking more and more antiquated and out of touch with the current landscape of basketball. So from that standpoint, Maker being cleared doesn't ruffle any feathers. But, there could be some wheels getting greased and doors starting to open here.
Take the cases of two other 2016 five-star prospects, Wenyen Gabriel (Kentucky) and Jonathan Isaac (Florida State). Both are actually members of the class of 2015 who did a true prep (fifth) year during the 2015-16 season and Isaac actually at one point planned to make a run at the draft. In speaking to NBA sources during the winter, the thought was that neither would be eligible because how could they prove that they had graduated?
Well, Isaac probably shot himself in the foot there by stating that he hadn't actually graduated in four years. However, Gabriel did graduate. How is Gabriel's diploma -- assuming he really did graduate in 2015 -- from a respected school like Wilbraham (Mass.) Wilbraham and Monson not proof of graduation in NBA eyes but whatever Maker produced is?
If somebody really wanted to become Draft Eligible, how hard would it be to come up with something saying they graduated? How will the NBA truly sort out what is legit and what's not?
Bottom line, this ruling looks to be opening a door to more high school/prep prospects challenging what does and doesn't constitute eligibility for the Draft.
Moving forward, people are going to be watching very closely to see how this goes for Maker and if it goes well, we could see more prospects looking to find loopholes in the rules in order to make it the NBA Draft a year earlier.