A shallow talent pool after 1st round is killing the NBA

	When the NBA Draft is filled with players such as Yaroslav Korolev (right), it can't be a good thing for the league. Nathaniel S. Butler/Getty Images

The NBA has a big problem. I'm not talking about the non-issue that is the new dress code for players. (You work for a corporation, the corporation wants you to dress a certain way, you dress a certain way). I'm not talking about the lack of teamwork or bounce passes. I'm not even referring to Bill Walton's astonishing Homer Simpson impression during telecasts.

I'm talking about the NBA draft. A serious problem has evolved over the years in regards to the talent pool entering the NBA draft each year. To put it simply, most of the players stink and some never make it past the airport bar on their way to training camp. In most sports, the draft is a deep spring of talent and a team can rebuild quickly if it drafts wisely. In the NBA, unless you have one of the top 10 picks, you are generally out of luck.

In the NFL, the talent pool in the draft seems to be deeper than Star Jones' belly button, and teams can select future All-Pro players in the seventh round. By comparison, the NBA draft is as shallow as a Saturday Night Live after-party, and a team with a second-round selection is assured of a player who flat out stinks and will be washing cars (maybe at Oakley's car wash?) within a year.

In last year's NBA All-Star game, all 10 starters were first-round picks. Last year's NFL Pro Bowl had a sixth-round quarterback, Tom Brady, playing for the AFC. Brady had the privilege of passing to second-round pick Chad Johnson as well as an undrafted tight end named Antonio Gates. Ed Reed, a second-round pick, started at safety. Across the field, the Eagles' Michael Lewis, also a second-round pick, was playing safety too. His teammate, running back Brian Westbrook, was a third-round pick. The NBA doesn't even have a third round in its draft. And why should it?

If you think rebuilding in the NBA is tough, try staying on top. In 2001, the Spurs and Pistons used their second-round picks on Bryan Bracey and Mehmet Okur, respectively. They aren't exactly household names. Look up Bracey's professional stats and you will see something all too common for an NBA second-round pick -- there aren't any.

In 2002, the same year that the New England Patriots drafted wide receivers Deion Branch and David Givens in the second and seventh round respectively, the San Antonio Spurs drafted two forwards in the second round. Their names? How does Luis Scola and Randy Holcomb roll off the tongue?

It's easy to blame the split between Kobe and Shaq for the end of the Lakers' dynasty. But you have to attribute some of the club's return to mediocrity to the Lakers having used second-round picks on such notable names as Cory Hightower, Luke Walton and Marcus Douthit.

A big problem looms for every NBA franchise. With half of the game's superstars over 30, where will the players come from to fill their shoes? Goodbye Latrell Sprewell and Sam Cassell, hello Nikoloz Tskitishvili and Jackson Vroman!

With the new age requirement for NBA eligibility, the league may have shot itself in the Chuck Taylors. Forget 18-year olds, if the second round of the NBA draft continues to be so insignificant, teams might want to start scouting at the local YMCA. I'm there all the time and none of the guys I see playing pickup ball seem to be as bad as Maciej Lampe.