• Pete McEntegart: The 10 Spot -- Wed., Dec. 1 • Truth & Rumors: Cubs want Nomar back • Chris Mannix: NBA needs an age limit • More Blogs: Scheft | Bechtel | Markazi Click here for Today's Sign of the Apocalypse, Game to Watch, Leading Off gallery and much more!

If you had a chance to sneak a peek at NBA commissioner David Stern's Christmas list, let me give you a hint at some of the things you might see.

• A Ron Artest-free league

• A reduction in the length of player contracts

• An age limit, presumably 20 years old, when a player can enter the NBA

Well, he's succeeded at the first, and he very well may get the second at the bargaining table by next summer, but as long as Billy Hunter is leading the players association, Stern will never get the union's blessing on an age limit.

Why? Exhibit A is the explosion of Amare Stoudemire in Phoenix, who has grown from emerging young talent to the next Karl Malone largely with the assistance of uber-point guard Steve Nash. True, Stoudemire doesn't have the post moves or the court savvy that Malone turned into an art form, but even in Malone's youth he didn't attack the rim with the same ferocity of Stoudemire.

Exhibit B is taking shape in Orlando, where Dwight Howard is percentage points away from averaging a double-double less than a year removed from his high school prom. Emeka Okafor has been everything a No. 2 pick should be, but the fact that there was even a discussion about not drafting Howard with the first pick in the NBA Draft is laughable.

And it is largely because Stoudemire and Howard have proven so good at such young ages that players are unlikely to acquiesce to an age limit. You can hear the arguments now from union management and agents (especially agents): "Look at how good Amare is. Do you think college would have made him better?" Or, "Check out Dwight Howard; do you think his body would be stronger if he had to take economics?"

The problem, though, is that for every Stoudemire there's a Korleone Young, and for every Howard there's a Taj McDavid. Many more, such Kwame Brown, Eddy Curry, and DeSagana Diop never live up to expectations.

It's understandable that agents would be against an age limit -- as it would undoubtedly mean one less impressionable 17-year old that can be brainwashed into signing a rich deal before washing out -- but I can't fathom why the players union would fight this concept. All 30 NBA teams have 12-man rosters (along with a three-man injured list that most teams take advantage of). Does the union think once an age-limit kicks in, teams are going to suddenly switch to 10-man rosters? An age limit does not cost the union jobs; rather it serves to lengthen the careers of some players whose spots are being gobbled up by teenagers who are planted at the end of the bench (has anyone even seen Ndudi Ebi?).

An age limit would only serve to make the game better, something Stern desperately needs to happen in the wake of the Motor City Melee. Gimmicks and sideshows are all well and good, but if games like the New Jersey-Portland debacle (in which the Trail Blazers led the Nets 10-9 at the end of the first quarter -- must have been a missed extra point) continue, even the most ardent of NBA fans are going to start tuning out.

Korleone Young played a total of 15 minutes in the NBA after being drafted out of high school by the Pistons in 1998. Doug Pensinger/Allsport

Did I also mention that an age minimum would make the college game better? College hoops fans would get to see top prospects for a minimum of two years, and players would get a chance to develop their games against a lower level of competition. Oh, and lest we forget that these kids would have a chance to earn a degree, something that no matter what happens to them in the pros no one will be able to take away from them.

This is an important topic right now for two reasons. One, the collective bargaining agreement is up at the end of this year and Stern already has announced his intention to look long and hard at this issue, and two, looming -- literally -- on the horizon is Indiana high-school phenom Greg Oden, the subject of a story in this week's issue of Sports Illustrated. Oden, a junior, is 6-11 and getting better by the day. There is a belief that if he decides to go to college, which at this point he says he wants to do, he could become a star the caliber of Tim Duncan. But what if he comes out and turns into Kendrick Perkins?

The union, under Hunter's leadership, should realize the perilous position it is putting these kids in and do what's best for the players in the long-term. Anyone want to bet that will happen?

Quick hits

• One win away from its first BCS berth, my alma mater, Boston College, gets blown out on its home field by unranked Syracuse. I'm speechless.

• Had a chance to sit down with former Bulls guard Jay Williams last Saturday for a story in this week's SI. Williams claims his knee has completely healed from the horrific motorcycle crash he was in 18 months ago, and that he fully intends to be in an NBA training camp next season. One of Williams' biggest supporters has been former Duke guard Bobby Hurley, himself the victim of a car wreck that left him fighting for his life. Six months after suffering a detached trachea and two collapsed lungs, Hurley was back on the court and went on to play four more seasons before hanging up his sneakers for good in 1998. Let's hope J-Will's comeback can be even better.

See you next week