Don’t stay in school. Joakim Noah “had a Cinderella run for Florida last season and most likely would have been the No. 1 pick in the 2006 NBA draft had he declared,” but times have changed, and “Noah is still ranked by most scouts as a top-five player in the draft, but lately I’ve been hearing a chorus of questions about his position, offense and failure to improve much this season.”
I always find it incredibly frustrating to see sportswriters and tv commentators laud college underclassmen who make really, really dumb decisions not to turn pro. It was Matt Leinart a little while back, Joakim Noah last spring, and potentially Greg Oden this time around. I think people do it because they think staying in school sends a positive message to the kids or something. But while it generally is advisable to stay in school, there’s no reason kids should be taught to celebrate people who make stupid financial decisions just out of some generic pro-school sentiments.