Re: Mike DeCourcy On The Muted Success Of Early Declarers

[j.hironaka@unesco.org]

Excellent article, Way. Thanks for posting it.

Still, if  hypothetically I were a likely Rhodes or Marshall Scholarship candidate
at an Ivy-covered school but also had an option to enter the NBA draft early as a
sure top 25 pick, I would do the latter without hesitation. It's a no-brainer in the
sense that you'll get a guaranteed headstart in life via the four-year multi-million
dollar salary. Just a lame 4% interest off of your 5 million+ dollar headstart in
life (minimum) would be sufficient to raise a family and send your kids to a fancy
college. I'll never earn this amount working as I do for an international
development agency (that's over $200,000 per year, excluding all that compounded
interest). Obviously, very few college grads will sign multi-million dollar
contracts before the age of 25 unless they are single-minded/ruthless geeks like
Bill Gates or are willing to sweat their youth and moral principles away on Wall
Street. No question Al Harrington etc made the "right decision", economically
speaking. It could be the smartest decision he'll ever have the capacity to make.

One downside is he won't necessarily meet a good, educated woman to eventually
marry, or know how to deal with such people etc. The other downside is that he may
have short-circuited a reasonably promising pro career. It's a bit like forcing an
olympic boxer too soon into the ring for a pro championship bout (bad idea), or
rushing a young pitching phenom quickly through the minor league system to pitch in
Fenway Park. Of course, these days everything is smelling like a rose (Sox righty
Brian Rose). :-)


Joe

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Way Of The Ray wrote:

>         Monday, May 17, 1999
>         NBA draft lesson: Stay in school
>
>         BY MIKE DeCOURCY
>         The Cincinnati Enquirer (article clipped)