> One is that doing this is very rare but secondly there were many more who jumped in early who disappeared quickly either into limited roles or out of the NBA and no one remembered them. What he pointed out was that playing college ball was an important part of learning the game as well as growing up. Players who skipped college often had only their natural talent which while it might be significant limited them at the professional level.

As an NBA fan... that's not really true. If you look at the list of players who skipped college, it's filled with superstars like LeBron James, Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, etc. Even the less spectacular ones still all had productive careers with high paying contracts, like CJ Miles and Lou Williams. Abject failures are very few and far between. Gerald Green is the only one that immediately comes to mind.

The only reason players don't skip college now is because the NBA doesn't let them anymore. They set a minimum age limit.