Billy Walker must wait

As reported on CSTV and many other places, super-prep Billy Walker cannot jump to the NBA Draft in 2007 - he must wait until 2008. The new NBA draft rules take effect here as Billy Walker's senior class is graduating in 2007, even though he is not eligible to play in high school. He has to be one year removed from his senior year in HS, therefore he won't be NBA-eligible until the 2008 NBA draft.

This no doubt adds more fuel to the speculation of sneaker companies signing up the highly touted recruits to lucrative contracts and doing showcase tours (ala AND1 or the Globetrotters). Since things are so competitive among sneaker companies, one of them maybe likely to pull the trigger on such a venture. This will no doubt make both David Stern/NBA and the elite college coaches unhappy.