20-year-old draft age limit?

[zett]

I get the legal age thing from a "FACT" it is the legal age in the U.S., And if you cared to list the rest of my statement you would see that I also mentioned the fact that, where there is no other law in place restricting you from working there. and the NBA does not make the laws in this country! and where do you get off on telling me that who ever challenges this will lose. Are you a lawyer who has tried or defended against a case of this nature?
By the way I do not believe any one has to sit on a commitee or be a lawyer, or be the coach, as an excuse for having there opinion stated or challeged.

 

[elindholm]

I get the legal age thing from a "FACT" it is the legal age in the U.S.

For some things, but not for others. At 18 you can vote and be tried as an adult for criminal offenses. At 16 you can drive. At 21 you can drink.

I also mentioned the fact that, where there is no other law in place restricting you from working there

You are apparently confusing age discrimination with the ability of employers to establish qualifications for its employees. Minimum-age requirements are very common in the work place. To mount a challenge, someone would have to argue that being below-age does not make them less qualified to do the job. In the NBA, this argument wouldn't stand a chance. Even the All-Star players who entered straight from high school (Bryant, Garnett, J. O'Neal) were much more qualified at age 20 than they were at age 18. It's obvious from the numbers, and the players would tell you that themselves.

Are you a lawyer who has tried or defended against a case of this nature?

No, but I obviously know a great deal more about the legal system than you do.

By the way I do not believe any one has to sit on a commitee or be a lawyer, or be the coach, as an excuse for having there opinion stated or challeged.

I don't either. But most people learn from experience. I know from abundant first-hand experience doing job searches, including serving on an Affirmative Action Committee, what kinds of things are and are not permitted. I don't know all of it, but I know a reasonable amount.

 

[Krangodnzr]

Didn't Mose Malone challenge the league in court? I seem to remember hearing that had happened. The league tried to keep him from coming in, and he sued and won. So it is a winnable case.

 

[Chaplin]

Originally posted by Krangthebrain
Didn't Mose Malone challenge the league in court? I seem to remember hearing that had happened. The league tried to keep him from coming in, and he sued and won. So it is a winnable case.

But at that time, was he challenging a rule in the Collective Bargaining Agreement that says you can't enter at a certain age? I don't claim to know everything about that case, but I'm guessing it was an under the table thing where the ABA said, "Don't declare", and Moses said screw you and declared anyway.

If you can find info on that case (this is the first I ever heard it), then can you please post it? I think it'll help some of the confusion.

Also, if the Player's UNION agrees to it, what precedent will a kid have to sue? Alienating the league AND the Union won't get a kid on an NBA team.

 

[Joe Mama]

Originally posted by Krangthebrain
Didn't Mose Malone challenge the league in court? I seem to remember hearing that had happened. The league tried to keep him from coming in, and he sued and won. So it is a winnable case.

Actually, I think it was another guy that challenged the NBA in court, but I can't remember what his name is.

Not that makes a big difference, but the minimum age to serve alcohol is not 21. At least it wasn't a few years ago. It is 19 years old. That one probably varies state to state however. This is a poor example of age limits for employment anyhow because it involves a controlled substance.

My father is an attorney. I'll ask him about this later this afternoon and report back.

Joe Mama

 

[Krangodnzr]

Originally posted by Joe Mama
Actually, I think it was another guy that challenged the NBA in court, but I can't remember what his name is.

Not that makes a big difference, but the minimum age to serve alcohol is not 21. At least it wasn't a few years ago. It is 19 years old. That one probably varies state to state however. This is a poor example of age limits for employment anyhow because it involves a controlled substance.

My father is an attorney. I'll ask him about this later this afternoon and report back.

Joe Mama

I looked it up, and I think I was just confused or something...

I heard something about it.....it might have been the NFL where it was challenged...........I know who it was! It was the Arizona Cardinals Eric Swann. He was only nineteen and he was going out for the NFL draft without any college experience. The NFL wouldn't allow him to apply, so his agent hired a lawyer and sued the league. Well obviously it worked (on the grounds that the league could not bar an adult from applying for the draft.)

 

[Joe Mama]

OK boys and girls, I read just a little bit on age discrimination quickly. Here is a link to the law that applies.

http://law.freeadvice.com/resources/gov_material/eeoc_age_discrimination_in_employment_act_text.htm

Basically it says you cannot use age is a factor when hiring somebody if you are a public employer or a private employer with more than 20 employees. However "age" is used to describe somebody over 40 years old. Apparently the act does not cover the younger crowd.

Joe Mama

 

[Skkorpion]

I'm confused Skkorp. So then you are in support of throwing millions of dollars to 18-year-old kids to play basketball (and most not very well), instead of letting them either work on their games or at least get some sort of education?

Absolutely yes. Works for baseball players coming out of highschool, and it works for 13 year-old country singers with a fresh sound.

We have a free market system. Every time we mess with it, we foul things up. If Jerry Buss wants to pay some 14 year old kid playing driveway hoops in Bakersfield a $huge$ contract, he should be entitled to do it.

If an age limit had been in place for business students a while back, Bill Gates wouldn't have been allowed to quit Harvard in his sophomore year and found Microsoft.

 

[Skkorpion]

Originally posted by schutd
With a valid developmental league, I dont see how Skorps claim of freedom of employment is then an issue. Cant make it in college? FIne, go play in the NBDL where at the very least you still get the skills coaching and fundamentals teaching that you wouln't in the NBA. You still make a salary, a nice middle class alary at that, and you're more prone to appreciate money if you dnt get 6 million as an 18 year old. Sorry, but rights aside, at some point people need to make decisions based on what best for the people involved, and in the VAST majority of under 20 year old NBA players, it would have behooved them to groom their skills before hitting the NBA.

Elindholm, I appreciate your point about Shaq having a degree and that being an affront to te higher eduction system in general. Funny too, how Kobe Bryant only has a high school diploma yet is fluent in 4 languages and is one of the most well spoken players in the whole league. Just an interestin gthought Id say.

And Skorp, if the Players Union and the league agree to terms on an age restriction, would there still be a constituionality challenge?

whew. Lots of permutations. A developmental league like baseball has would help but even baseball doesn't have a major league minimum age, even though baseball has an exemption from the antitrust collusion laws.

My guess is that if both the NBA and the Players union entered into a restraint of trade agreement based on age, they could then BOTH be sued.

The NFL Union agreement with management only specifies entry-level wage rates, it doesn't prevent any player from asking the NFL to be elligible for the draft.