Let me start by saying I agree with what the NBA is trying to do by imposing an age limit on players who want to enter the NBA draft. I don't know too many people who want to spend top dollar going to a professional basketball game just to watch high school players run up and down the floor - in the case of a young team - or sit in their suits behind the bench on a playoff team. It's very difficult for scouts to determine whether or not a player is ready for the NBA based upon watching them against high school talent, and when a team takes a chance on a young player who doesn't pan out it hurts the game. It's one thing to make a mistake when watching a player compete against Division I talent. At the high school level, you can almost just flip a coin to determine whether or not a player can make it in the NBA.

There are exceptions. LeBron was a sure bet, as was Dwight Howard. Andrew Bynum seems to be coming along, and obviously Kobe Bryant didn't need a whole lot of college ball, though he did spend most of his rookie year playing garbage minutes. Rashard Lewis skipped college, and here he is in the NBA Finals as one of the top players in the league. These are the players people point to when they say the NBA's new age limit isn't fair. These are the players Tennessee Congressman Steve Cohen pointed to in his recent letter to NBA Commissioner Stern, which called for a repeal of the age limit.

"Well, you can serve in the military, or you can play Major League Baseball and professional hockey, tennis and golf, or be an entertainer like Elvis, other entertainers, Stevie Wonder or Michael Jackson. . .at any age," Cohen told KTAR in Phoenix. "It's your talent that is what's determined - then it shouldn't be any different in basketball. You ought to be able to earn your living and take care of your family. Most of these players have great talent, it's been observed early, they can get paid a lot during that year and their years to play aren't that numerous. It just seems unfair to keep these guys out for a year because the NBA wants to have another year to judge them."

That's exactly what the NBA wants. Ask any scout. The first thing they'll tell you is it's almost impossible to judge a player on NBA potential while they're playing against other high school kids. That said, Cohen makes a pretty good point that the NBA is trying to use the NCAA ranks as a sort of free farm system.

"A lot of players have come straight out and been successful. I think the NBA is using the NCAA as its farm system. You know Major League Baseball has a farm system. I think the NBA wants to get it for free, but what it's done is make the term 'student athlete' an oxymoron. Some of these players have no desire to go to school and wouldn't go if they didn't have to. They're forced to do it. Commissioner Stern rightly points out that they could go to the NBDL or to Europe, but many of them don't want to be away from their families and their culture and all those things. As it is, as soon as they finish Tournament play they're working out for NBA teams . . .they're not going to go back to school."

More important, says Cohen, the flash-in-the-pan pseudo-students who are using the NCAA experience as a mere springboard to the NBA are costing long-term student athletes who have worked hard to get where they are.

"They put athletes who are truly student athletes back a year or two. In Memphis we have a guard named Willie Kemp. He started for us at point guard two years ago, we made the final eight, then Coach Cal tells him he has to take one for the team, sit out his sophomore year because they had Derrick Rose coming in. He does it, no problem. The next year, Willie's not doing great at the point, Tyreke Evans comes in, now he's asked to take one for the team again. Here's a kid who is a student athlete, will be here four years and graduate, but he gets shoved back for the one-and-done-er. That's just not right."

Whether you agree with Cohen's position or not, he makes some good points. At the end of the day, what's really needed is a more developed NBDL. There needs to be an element of social training and preparation that takes place, not just basketball. These young men are handed an insane amount of money, as well as celebrity. They need to be adequately prepared to handle the pressure that the money and the notoriety will bring. The college experience brings more than just structured basketball instruction, it also teaches young men to be responsible. The NBDL doesn't spend much time at all on that aspect of developing professional athletes. If it did, a good argument could be made that the NBA doesn't need an age limit. For now, requiring a year of college or some other level of basketball before being eligible for the NBA Draft seems like a decent alternative.