Ah, Youth

The Bulls drafted forward Patrick Williams last week, or should I say the Baby Bulls drafted Williams? Because the 6’8” product out of Florida State is all of 19. The odds are he’ll join 20-year old guard Coby White and 21-year old Wendell Carter as starters. Lauri Markkanen would be the old man here, at 23. New head coach Billy Donovan had better like dealing with kids. Youth is not served like this in other sports. The White Sox drafted two high school pitchers in the early rounds in 2019, but neither of them has made it to the South Side yet. My God, even Mitch Trubisky was a 23-year old rookie for the Bears. But NBA teams consistently tap teenagers; give them big contracts; and put them in the starting lineup. This is asking for trouble. Allow me two Chicago examples. Jabari Parker was 19 when the Bucks made him the second pick in the 2014 draft. After four seasons in Milwaukee, Parker has played for four teams, the Bulls included, the last two years. A twenty-year old Jahlil Okafor was the third overall pick in the 2015. To say he wore out his welcome in Philadelphia after two-plus seasons would be an understatement. Okafor is now on team number four in his career. The thing is, Parker and Okafor were both considered great kids in high school, and I never read anything about them being a problem in college. But they’ve struggled in the NBA. I can’t help but feel the problem is the one-and-done approach that allows NBA teams to pluck young talent out of the college ranks. Caveat emptor. I’d argue there aren’t that many Kevin Garnets ready to step onto an NBA court at the age of nineteen. But there are way too many nineteen-year olds who think they are.