I'll Take Your Wiggins and Parker Stock: A Sports Page Primer

Texas was drubbed by USC in round 2 of the 2007 tourney...

I shook my head at the television after  2-seed Kansas' loss to 10-seed Stanford in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Kansas, or Stanford for that matter, was not my cause for disgust. I was utterly disappointed in Charles Barkley's assessment of Andrew Wiggins of Kansas and Jabari Parker of Duke. The Chuckster postulated that Wiggins and Parker are not ready for the NBA as the NBA is full of grown men after their performances in the tournament. I find that to be lazy analysis, but then again we all know we should only take about 30%, maybe, of what Chuck says seriously and just be entertained by the other 70%. It is easy to say Wiggins and Parker are not ready for the NBA just because they had lackluster games as they were eliminated in the 2nd round and 1st round respectively.

While there will be those that overreact and panic about the duo's draft stock, I will sit here patiently and realize what really goes on in college basketball. For starters, in college basketball the coaches are the real stars; it is all about their system. Their power is uninhibited and players either acquiesce, ride the pine, or worse, have their scholarships discontinued. Great prodigies are often inhibited in the college by their coaches as coaches have the power of willing their system onto said prodigies before they move on to the NBA. 

I was in a Twitter conversation with Young Moody over the weekend when I Tweeted about Kevin Durant's Texas team getting plastered by USC in the 2nd round and his current success. Moody brought up another point. In college, teams are allowed to play any defense they want. Thus, Stanford was able to keep a 6-11 and 6-10 guy in the paint at all times, not giving Wiggins any space to operate. The focus of all 5 guys on defense was to monitor Wiggins' every move. This cannot happen in the NBA because defense is regulated; a defender cannot be in the paint more than 3 seconds without being at least an arm's length from an offensive player. Not to mention that the key is wider and 3-point line further away making the floor more spacious for basketball artists to go wild.

Parker and Wiggins also had to play with college level teammates while having to attend class, study hall, and media and promotional obligations, all of which have nothing to do with actual basketball. They will be able to spend much more time on enhancing their game while getting professional coaching, strength and conditioning, dieting, teammates, and experience once they enter the NBA. 

The NBA is a freer game that will let the talented freely display their artistry. Talent will rise to the top. In the NBA, talent has more weight than systems regardless of what anyone will make you believe. A system helps, but talent is probably more important here. I will definitely buy up Chuck's Wiggins and Parker stock. If anyone else is selling, come talk to me.