Who?
I read about Brandon Jennings recently. He's a high school kid who, instead of playing one year at Arizona, is going to play in Europe
Sportswriters reactions ranged from glee because the NCAA is somehow going down (huh?) to announcements from Lute Olson that he'll no longer sign players who will say for just one year (riiiiiight).
I think it's good and I read exactly one column that started to touch on why. I follow neither high school basketball nor the Italian pro league. I have no idea whether this will be good for Jennings or not.
But it seems to me that the NBA shouldn't be unhappy. Part of the whole point of preventing kids from going pro right after high school was to try to ensure that they were more developed and well rounded both on and off the court. I'm sure that Jennings would grow as a person and as a player at Arizona, but nowhere near how he'll do at, uhhh, Pallacanestro Virtus Roma. I say good for him. I expect he'll learn quite a bit and he'll be a better player if and when he enters the NBA draft next year.
What's the problem?
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
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1 comment:
i think the nba wanted the minimum age rule (which translates to one and done in the nba) to get free publicity and hype for these kids who would have been drafted into the nba out of high school but for their stupid rule... with the rule, kids like greg oden, kevin durant, derrick rose, etc played in college without getting income (other than a one year free college education with room and board). as college superstars (without receiving income), they provided a lot of hype for the nba teams that drafted them without getting paid for it.
what jennings did is to basically say, f u to the nba. he will earn his money while presumably "auditioning" for nba teams as he plays abroad.
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