Terrible Mistake

I agree, Javale would likely have been better off waiting a year.  With the recruiting class Nevada has coming in, he could have become a much bigger target on the NBA's radar screen than what he is right now.  In my opinion, he never developed into a consistent impact player.  He could have with more time. 

I wish him luck though. 

One only need look to Nick Fazekas to see what can happen. Nick was far better equipped to take on the NBA and he's (barely) playing for the Clippers now. JaVale should've waited. Second team in the WAC doesn't even get you drafted.

P.S. I like your icon!

It's only a mistake if staying another year would improve his draft stock. Unfortunately it's not about getting better for most of these young kids. It's more of a business decision. Sometimes they get bad advice, but there is plenty of good advice out there if they take the time to do some research. Whether he is ready for the NBA or not right now is actually not the point. What matters is what his draft value is. And the fact remains that unproven 7-footers with potential have a huge draft value. Especially after the success of Andrew Bynum. I think it's highly likely a team in the middle of the first round will take a chance on this kid. If he stays in college and gets more experience he is putting that "raw with potential" tag more and more in jeopardy. Maybe the additional experience pans out and his game really improves and he works his way into a lottery pick eventually. But maybe the additional experience will just expose him as not very good. Then he's out of luck and he missed his window.

It's not always beneficial to your draft value to stay in college. Roy Hibbert would have been a Top 5 pick last year. Now he won't even be in the lottery. I know there is more important things than how high you are drafted and I applaud him for coming back for his senior year. But strictly as a business decision it was the wrong choice for him to come back. Of course on the other side of it is someone like Josh McRoberts. He made a horrible decision to leave when he did. He could have really improved his draft value by staying in school with a good Duke team and a deep tourney run. Instead he wasn't even drafted in the first round.

Bottom line, each case is different. In this case, a 7-footer with potential and not much else might be better off leaving early and hoping someone is too enticed with his potential to pass up on him.

shoktart-

Good points and I agree with much of what you said.

However, the flip side is how many of these guys come out, aren't ready, and you never hear from them again? Many of them end up playing in Greece,  Turkey, South America, or somewhere else. Can't think of his name but Cal had a guy few years ago who fit this scenario.

Maybe with one more year in college, many of these