Cousins not ready for NBA, Barkley says

Cousins not ready for NBA, Barkley says

By Kevin Scarbinsky -- The Birmingham News
May 13, 2010, 4:42PM



I asked Charles Barkley if Birmingham native DeMarcus Cousins is ready for the NBA, which is where he's headed after one season at Kentucky.

Barkley said, "No. He's too immature. He's got plenty of talent. It won't come down to talent. It'll come down to maturity. He's a very, very talented kid. From a maturity standpoint, he's not ready for the NBA.''

What about another early entry, Birmingham native and Kentucky freshman Eric Bledsoe?

"He's more of a question mark,'' Barkley said. "I don't know enough about his maturity, but he's not a slam-dunk NBA player.''

Like, say, John Wall?

"Yeah. He's not that.''

Barkley also said that UAB's Elijah Millsap, another early NBA draft entrant, "should stay in school.'' And then one of the NBA's 50 greatest players, who turned pro after three years at Auburn, started rolling on the subject.

"I don't know what these kids are thinking,'' he said. "If you're not going to go in the lottery, or in the first round, you should not go in the NBA draft. You put yourself in basketball limbo. You won't have anywhere to play. I'm not a big disciple of the D League (the NBDL).

"And you don't have your education so you're really putting yourself in a situation where you're going to fail for life. You don't have a degree. You're probably going to become a basketball nomad.

"One of the reasons I wish they'd stay in school, it's going to have a huge effect on the black kids. That's not to be racial, but moreso the black kids are leaving school early, and they're not ready. ...

"I just hate the system the way it is now.''

Barkley pointed out that CBS and Turner Broadcasting -- which owns TNT, the network where he works as an analyst on "Inside the NBA'' -- are paying $11 billion for the rights to the NCAA Tournament.

"So people can quit giving me this bull... that this is amateur athletics. ... The guy said, `Well, it's for 14 years.' I don't give a ... if it's for a lifetime. If you give $11 billion, that is a ton of money, and I just worry about these kids not getting their education.''

Barkley suggested that the NCAA and NBA should work together to require players to stay in college at least two years before turning pro.

"It's not us against them. We're all in this thing together. It would benefit college, and it would benefit the NBA if we work together."