What would have happened if Derrick Rose had torn his knee in college, or Greg Oden? It would have cost them millions of dollars. They were lucky, coming out early. I'm not saying don't go to college. There are plenty of players like Shaq [O'Neal] who went back and graduated. I commend that. But do it at your leisure - don't hurt your finances.

Very unfairly, there's a negative image of the kid, which really stems from the greed and selfishness of the NBA and NCAA. They're forcing these kids to go to school.

Now the kids are portrayed as dirty when they talk to an agent, a shoe guy, some hanger-on. Well, it's only natural that people are circling them - there are millions of dollars involved.

In terms of my work with Nike, obviously signing Michael Jordan to a $500,000 contract in 1984 set a new precedent for the business side of the game.

NBA has a selfish rationale. It saves the owners money by delaying the time a player gets to a second, more lucrative contract. Even the player's union is on board. There are only 450 jobs in the NBA, and the one-and-done protects veterans' jobs.

I was starting out in the business, there was only one path to playing professionally - graduate, or go four years. With the creation of the ABA [American Basketball Association] in the early 1970s, the sanctity of having to go to college was broken. The ABA took anyone, starting with Spencer Haywood.

Kobe [Bryant] had the biggest contract for a high school kid. He was the first one to get more than a million a year.