Gary Parrish

I've been operating under the assumption everybody understands the process.

But it appears I might've been wrong.

So let me take this moment to address any readers who think the slew of juniors making themselves available for the NBA Draft without hiring an agent is proof that these wacky kids are acting stupid. Actually, there's nothing stupid about it. In fact, it's incredibly smart to the point where any junior with any sort of reasonable pro aspirations would probably be wise to declare and go through the process because of a rule change that allows NBA teams to cover all expenses of private workouts.

In other words, if an NBA team asks a prospect to workout said NBA team will pay for the flight, hotel, meals and any other expense a prospect might incur, meaning there is no obvious downside to juniors declaring for the draft as long as they do not compromise their amateur status. The worst-case scenario will have somebody like West Virginia's Joe Alexander bouncing around the country, staying in nice hotels and getting professional feedback on his game, professional feedback about what scouts like and dislike. If the feedback is positive, Alexander can then sign with an agent and remain the draft. If the feedback is negative, he can return to school with a solid understanding of where he stands in regards to his NBA dreams.

Either way, it's all good.

So don't be surprised when you see guys like Jeremy Pargo or Antonio Anderson or Luc Richard Mbah Moute make themselves available for the draft without hiring an agent. In the end, there's a good chance it won't mean a thing, and they'll likely be back playing at a college near you in less than seven months.

I wrote Monday's column well aware it might upset some readers, particularly some Georgetown fans.

Thus, I'm not surprised by the feedback

But I'd like to address some of it here.

To be clear, I think it's great that Roy Hibbert was able to earn his degree by returning to Georgetown for his senior season. Good for Roy. Honestly. But he could've earned that degree on-line or during the summer or after his playing career is complete -- you don't think he's using it any time soon, do you? -- and not run the same risk he ran, i.e., the risk of not selling his own stock when it was at its highest and consequently squandering lots of guaranteed money. In other words, you can tell me I don't understand the college experience or the joy of Big East play or whatever, but don't tell me Hibbert didn't make a terrible professional decision by returning to Georgetown. Any financial advisor would agree with me considering Hibbert cost himself, by my estimation, roughly $1.7 million over the first two years of his career.

On the other end of this spectrum is Mike Conley.

He wasn't necessarily ready for the NBA. But the NBA was ready for him, and that's all that matters. Had Conley returned to Ohio State for his sophomore season scouts might've decided he wasn't the same player without Greg Oden beside him and that he couldn't shoot all that well. Suddenly, his stock could've slipped just like Hibbert's, and even if it didn't Conley would've never been picked higher in the 2008 NBA Draft than where he was picked in the 2007 NBA Draft. By recognizing this, Conley secured a guaranteed two-year contract with the Memphis Grizzlies for $5.8 million. Far as I can tell, that's smart business.

And, finally, let me clear-up the Acie Law debate.

One reader pointed out that Law is an example of  how a person can benefit from staying in school because, you know, Law benefited from staying in school. That's true, no doubt. But Law never really had a choice of whether to turn pro or stay in school because he wasn't a projected lottery pick after his junior year of college like Hibbert was a projected lottery pick after his junior year of college. At that point, Law was considered little more than a really good college point guard. So while he did enhance his stock greatly by playing his senior season, it's not like he rejected millions of dollars to do it. Rather, he did it because he had to do it. Otherwise, he might've gone undrafted.

So to summarize ...

Players who can't get drafted (like Law after his junior year) should always remain in school (except for in rare circumstances) and projected lottery picks (like Hibbert after his junior year) should always turn pro (except for in rare circumstances). If prospects followed that simple guideline, they'd be better for it because, like I said, lottery picks tend to cost themselves money more times than not by returning to school, regardless of the reason.