[chumdawg]

Originally Posted by Tokey41

And that is quite possibly the stupidest thing i've ever heard. As Erica pointed out it kind of diffutes the purpose of the draft in the first place. You don't get to pick your team, and what happens if you sit out that year and then get drafted the next year by another team you don't like? Where does it end?

You are thinking too narrowly--or rather, seeing things too much from one side. Where does it end, you ask? It ends when the players exercises the leverage he has. You would seem to imply that by entering the draft the player signs a contractual agreement to play for whomever drafted him. That is not the case. If the player has other options, the draft was just an exercise--and one that should have been fully contemplated by the franchise who drafted the player.

As a simple case in point, consider the rule that says a player can retain his collegiate eligibility so long as he does not sign an agent. If that player is drafted in a slot that he does not like, he can back out and go back to college ball as long as he has not hired an agent. He is most certainly not contractually tied to the team drafting him in this case.

So, would a team think twice about drafting a player who could go back to college and be lost to them forever? Well, if they are smart they would.

In this case Yi can go back to China and try the NBA again if he desires. Did Milwaukee know this when they drafted him? They should have. The idea that Milwaukee somehow dictates his destination is flat-out wrong. The kid can do whatever he wants to do.

Of course, Milwaukee is calling his bluff, more or less. But if he carries it out, Milwaukee just wasted the #6 pick in the draft. That would not end up looking too good for them.

It will probably be useful to get past the idea of the NBA draft as a one-way street where teams conscript whoever they wish. There is another side to the deal. Teams can dismiss that at their own peril, perhaps.

If Oden openly demanded to play in say Dallas do you really think every other team is going to let him slide to pick #34?

No, I doubt they would. Someone would call his bluff. But if Oden was serious about playing for Dallas (or some larger set of teams) and no one else, Oden could certainly make that happen if he had enough wherewithal to to refuse to report to the team that drafted him.

Players just need to shut up and play and the league would be a much better place. In a sense it's Ron Artests problem and it's also Yi's problem, and i'm hoping it doesn't become a league wide problem in drafts to come.

Players need to shut up and play, eh? That is NEVER going to be the only option available to them. It's a free market economy, in every way. If a kid is willing to accept the consequences of his actions, he is free to carry out any actions he desires.

Why would you wish it to be any different?