blakngold4

actually, i didn't. you just missed part of the point. it's true that any league action would affect lots of black players, as the league is 80% black, but when you consider the general population of the league compared to the early entrants in the draft, you get a totally different story. one white american kid has been drafted out of high school. one. i can't think of any white kids turning pro after their freshmen year of college, but marbury, melo, abdur rahim, maggette, and others have made that work too. so, when you consider that standard league rules would take 80% of their toll on black players, and the players affected by this rule would be 97 or 98% black, it's VERY easy to see how this could be construed as racist, WITHIN the framework of a league that's mostly black anyway.

if that's not clear enough, contrast that with something like the rookie pay scale implemented almost a decade ago: assuming league demographics stay the same over time (80% black) THAT rule would affect all players coming into the league equally, and 80% of those restricted by the rule would be black, just as 80% of the league is black. with early entrants who wouldn't be allowed in the league, you're looking (historically anyway) at one american white kid against dozens and dozens of black kids affected. instead of 20% of those affected being non-black, it's more like 2%. that's a huge difference, and THAT is why i could see the rule being interpreted as racist.