Executives from several NBA teams – among them Knicks president Isiah Thomas and Nets general manager Ed Stefanski – watched some of the best high school players in the country practice yesterday at Basketball City in Chelsea for the Jordan Classic.
If David Stern gets his way and the league is able to institute a 20-year-old age limit, they may not have to spend their time at events like that much longer.
Andray Blatche, the only player in tomorrow’s game at the Garden who will definitely be eligible for the Draft, isn’t happy he could be one of the last of his kind.
“I definitely think it’s unfair,” said Blatche, a 6-11 center from Syracuse who spent the past year at South Kent, a prep school in Connecticut. “You can’t mess with people’s futures. It’s not just about money, it’s about having the chance to play against the best in the world. If you feel you’re ready, why should anybody try and stop you?”
And while the 18-year-old Blatche’s ability to enter this year’s draft is assured, next year could be a different story. The collective bargaining agreement expires this summer and the age limit is one of the hang-ups in getting a new one.
Although the issue figures to be settled before Blatche gets into the league – he likely will be a first-round pick – he still believes an undue amount of pressure will be placed upon him during his rookie season.
“I can’t say it won’t be more than normal because you know people are going to use me as an example of what to do,” said Blatche, who wants to move his mother and brother out of Syracuse to where his mother’s family lives in North Carolina. “If I’m a slouch out there, people are going to point at me and say, ‘See, he shouldn’t have gone.’ But if I do well, they’ll have to think differently.”
Blatche doesn’t intend to let people down.
“I know a lot of people are depending on me,” Blatche said. “I could open the doors for them if I do well.”