Overheated press reports before today's joint NBA-NCAA news conference in San Antonio had NBA Commissioner David Stern and NCAA President Myles Brand about to announce a deal requiring college players to stay for two seasons instead of one.

This was not only in error -- there's no deal, nor was one discussed -- but missed a fundamental point:

This isn't between the NBA and the NCAA. It's between the NBA and the National Basketball Players Assn.

The NBA Won't Be Increasing the Age Limit for the Draft originally appeared on NBA FanHouse on Tue, 08 Apr 2008 12:12:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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1. The NCAA has nothing to do with the age limit. Myles Brand can wish wish wish to his heart's content, but he has no role in "negotiating" a bump in the age limit with the NBA. The rule is for the NBA and its player association to decide, just as it was in 2006. Which brings us to the real reason this isn't happening...
2. The NBA's collective bargaining agreement isn't up for negotiation until 2010-11. The bump in the limit will happen, I'd bet -- but not until 2011. It's an important issue to David Stern, but not one he'd be willing to trot out (as a controversial topic) on the eve of possibly the greatest postseason in modern NBA history. He could presumably have negotiated this into the CBA, but then the player's union would be a party to the press conference, not the NCAA.

Don't Expect an NBA Age-Limit Bump ... Yet originally appeared on NBA FanHouse on Sun, 06 Apr 2008 18:32:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Brand hinted Thursday the NCAA and NBA had worked out a deal to create a 20-year-old age limit, which would keep the best players in college for a minimum of two years.

The NBA adopted a 19-year-old age limit in its collective bargaining agreement with the players' association in 2006, which prevented high school players from jumping directly to the NBA.

This would essentially eliminate those "one-and-done" guys like Greg Oden, Kevin Durant and Brandan Wright from last year.

I love the rule because I think it is in the best interest of both the NBA and NCAA. The NBA will get a more experienced and skilled player (for every Kevin Durant, there are dozens of Brandan Wright's not playing) and the NCAA gets to keep its stars a bit longer. Imagine if Texas still had Durant or Ohio State had Oden? Would UNC been exposed by Kansas like that if Wright had still been around?

The rule change really doesn't effect anyone currently. The rule most likely won't come into effect until the 2011 or 2012 draft, so the one-and-done guys (like Eric Gordon, Derrick Rose, Kevin Love, OJ Mayo and Michael Beasley) can still come out and declare for the draft. It won't make guys jump ship early (like when the 19-year old rule went in) because those guys that were going to stay for their sophomore year can still become draft eligible as planned.

Please spare me the "if they can play, they should be in the draft" comments because the NFL and NCAA has the same kind of agreement and it isn't anyone's right to play in the NBA. If you want a pro job playing basketball, go to the CBA or Europe.

It will help the health of college basketball because (a) the top programs know they'll have guys for at least two years and can recruit accordingly and (b) that means there will be better talent trickling down to the mid-majors.

Rumor Alert: NCAA and NBA Agree to New 20-Year Age Limit for NBA Draft Eligibility originally appeared on NBA FanHouse on Sun, 06 Apr 2008 17:13:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You can officially cross the Miami Heat off the list of NBA teams that would potentially be interested in hiring Billy Donovan as their next head coach. Pat Riley did his best today to shoot down those rumors, and even went as far as to suggest that Donovan may have problems adjusting to the NBA game:

"I think my name has come up a lot of times with Billy, because he and I have talked, simply about the game and not about anything else other than that. I have great respect for him and what he's done with that program. I think he's truly one of the great coaches in this country.

"Whether or not that can translate into the NBA someday for him, you have to go back and look at the track record of a lot of the college coaches who have come in, and it's not the easiest thing in the world."

Man, you can almost feel the SLAP coming from the back of Riley's hand at the end of that compliment. But he does have a point. Very few college coaches have been able to make it in the NBA, so just because Donovan is a great recruiter doesn't necessarily mean he can manage the egos of the athletes in the Association.

Billy Donovan has had great success at Florida in a relatively short period of time, so I don't expect him to be that anxious to leave just yet. But I'm sure we can expect an onslaught of rumors to the contrary.

Riley Doesn't Think Billy Donovan Would Succeed In The NBA originally appeared on NBA FanHouse on Wed, 04 Apr 2007 13:01:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Devil Incarnate Fired at USD; Musselman A Candidate? originally appeared on NBA FanHouse on Thu, 08 Mar 2007 21:49:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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