This Years NBA draft will be filled with alot of familiar college faces, guys you feel shouldve stayed one more year, international players of who you cant even pronounce there names and one name many people may have forgot about....Brandon Jennings.
for those of you who don't know him, Brandon Jennings is a basketball player from Compton, California who decided to take a different route to the NBA. If Jennings is selected in this years NBA DRAFT he will he the first American born player to play for a European team rather than play for a college team since the NBA's age restriction was implemented.
Under an NBA draft rule put in place Three years ago, Jennings has to be out of high school at least one calendar year and be 19 years old before being eligible for the NBA draft.
It's a bad rule one that favors the big business of the NBA by creating more bankable college stars, and one that favors the big business of college basketball, which gets a quick loan of Derrick Rose, Michael Beasley, Kevin Love and other fancy talents.
The players, even the misguided ones, should have the right to try to make the NBA directly out of high school.
So Brandon reached out out Sonny Vacarro a Hoops Guru is against the NBA and NCAA making up rules to benifit themseves and not the players. Vaccaro is probably best known for his tenure with Nike and signing Michael Jordan to his first sneaker deal. Vaccaro left Nike for Adidas then Reebok.
He also known as the founder the prestigious ABCD All America Camp, an elite showcase of high school basketball standouts, which ran from 1984 to 2007. It featured future stars Kobe Bryant, Sebastian Telfair, Tracy Mcgrady, Kevin Garnett and LeBron James.
Vaccaro co founded the first national high school All-Star game, The Dapper Dan Roundball Classic. The game endured for 43 years and its alumni includes such greats as Calvin Murphy, Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, Chris Webber, Alonzo Mourning, Kevin Garnett, Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady, Patrick Ewing, Rasheed Wallace and Stephon Marbury.
Vacarro believes the NBA and NCAA need to be put in line and shown that you can't stand in front of a kids dream. So Brandon and Sonny are both on a crusade to make there point proven. Vacarro is also looking to take his case against the NBA and NCAA before congress.
The whole idea of kids like Brandon being forced to go to college when they are ready to make millions of dollars, that's just terrible!" said Vaccaro
Many people have there own opinion about what Brandon is doing, some believe this is good and some believe he will fail. Either way his decision will be the first.
“To me, this is the best path to get ready for the NBA,” one Western Conference general manager said. “But the thing is: You better be a mentally tough kid to pull this off. This isn’t going to be college, where they’re going to hold your hand and never make you figure out anything for yourself.”
Brandon Jennings was rated last year the #1 point guard in the country coming out of high school last year and decided that he wanted to break new ground by going to play a season in Europe instead of going to college.
Jennings, who originally signed with the University of Arizona but didn't received the standardized test score necessary to play, decided to use the right to use his basketball talent to pursue a living.
Honestly Who can blame him for not wanting to be a pawn in the NBA and NCAA's hypocritical age-limit system, which takes advantage of kids and punishes them when they look to do what's best for themselves and there families.
Brandon had his choice of colleges, but he never really had a choice. Despite being talented enough to make money playing this game right now, a kid in his situation has to "choose" to play at least one season for free before he can get paid to play in the world’s top league. This was a risk when he took the flight over the atlantic but again, it was a legitimate choice to make a living, which some might even call a "right".
This is the best thing that ever happened to him. As money goes, the NBA Developmental League can’t come close. As coaching and competition go, the Euro League is mostly superior. There are no NCAA limits on practice time. There are no AAU bag men pretending to be assistant coaches. Jennings will get coached and get benched and get the best-paying professional apprenticeship in history.
So Brandon Decided to take his game overseas. Brandon plays for Lottomatica Virtus Roma, is a prominent Italian League professional basketball club. The club was founded in the year 1960.
Lottomatica Virtus roma have Well-known players that have played with the club and have included: George Gervin, Michael Cooper, Anthony Parker, Dino Radja, Brian Shaw, Rick Mahorn, Danny Ferry, Gregor Fučka, and the legendary Dejan Bodiroga, who became the team's GM after his retirement from playing.
Dejan Bodiroga one of the greatest modern-era players never to appear in the NBA -- runs Roma is a pretty interesting note. Bodiroga had ample opportunities to cross over the Atlantic (Geoff Petrie drafted his rights for the Kings in 1995), but preferred stardom in Europe over the tougher competition of the NBA.
So the team is known for having NBA players and play on the Higest European levle in Italy, so on July 16, 2008, Jenings signed with Lottomatica Roma of the Italian Legague.
The contract he signed with Roma was for $1.65 million net pay guaranteed and after earning the contract with Lotomatica, has buy-out options as early as this summer.
The Jennings family (mother and brother) will be along for the ride, with the club landing B.J.'s 13-year-old brother a spot on a Roman junior team. Under Armour also gave Jennings a $2 million contract to showcase their products in the Euroleague.
Not bad for a kid straight out of high school? 3.65 million for a season. Although Brandon has been financially successfull he has had some ups and down throughout this season.
In the team's first 25 games of the Italian Lega A 2008-09 season, Jennings is averaging 5.8 points and 2.3 assists per game in 18.1 minutes per game. In 16 Euroleague games, Jennings averaged 7.6 points, 1.6 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 1.2 steals in 19.6 minutes per game. He shot 38.7 percent from the field and 26.8% from 3point range.
Most NBA teams that are picking in The NBA Draft lottery are teams who are building for the future or are basically looking for players with potential. Brandon has alot of upside and seems to be something special.
One scout analyzation on Brandon was:
Strengths: Tremendous lefty point guard with a scary package of speed, athleticism, point guard skills and tenacity … A natural. Really understands how to play the point guard position, the type who can penetrate at will and create offense for everyone … Exceptional vision and passing ability … Makes everyone around him better
His speed pushing the ball up the floor is at an elite level … Very feisty, a fighter, won't back down to anyone … Has a great toughness and competitiveness about him … A spectacular leaper, who regularly converts backdoor alley oops Shows a solid outside and mid range jump shot … Creates very well off the dribble and gets to the rim well due to his explosive first step.
Weaknesses: Desperately needs to add muscle mass to his body … Right now his body is about 20-25 pounds too light … He can be pushed around by bigger and stronger guards, and is less effective at penetrating because he can't absorb contact … He may struggle to put much strength and weight on, as he appears to have a naturally skinny body … Can improve upon his offensive game. His jump shot and decision making are good but he'll need to develop those skills further Inexperience.
As of today and judging by 3 mock drafts (NBADraft.net, Draftexpress.com , ESPN.com) Brandon is expected to go 6 or 7 in this years NBA Draft. Most scouts believe he will be the second Point Guard to be selected, Ricky Rubio another international Point Guard will be the first.
Sonny Vacaro, who was behind Jennings move overseas has heard from 12 other elite basketball players and their families with interested in possibly making similar moves.
Many younger players will be watching him to see how he fares. If his decision works out, there may be other players who follow his path. This is unmistakably a groundbreaking decision Jennings advisor and former shoe company executive Sonny Vaccaro says. One that could have significant consequences for amateur and professional basketball in the United States.
One inparticular is Jeremy Tyler, Tyler is an agile 6-11, 260-pound San Diego native, the nation’s top player in the junior class who already committed to the University of Louisville. He’s as close to a can’t-miss NBA prospect as there is; a tantalizing mix of size, speed and smarts. Scouts project him to be the No. 1 pick in the 2011 draft, when he’s eligible under the NBA’s age requirements.
“It may not be the best way to get to the NBA, but it’s the best way to get ready for the NBA,” Jeremy Tyler told Yahoo Sports this week. His decision was first reported by the New York Times this week.
Over the next couple of weeks the Tyler's said they will hire a financial planner and professional sports agent and pursue early feelers from professional teams in Spain, Italy and Israel. Jeremy Tyler is likely to receive a contract worth at least a few hundred thousand dollars a year and could sign endorsement contracts worth at least that.
Tyler's Dad James, who owns his own home improvement company and is about to open a family restaurant decided it made sense to make the jump now, and went looking for a solid plan for his son. They called retired sneaker executive and hoops deal maker Sonny Vaccaro and plotted a course for Europe.
Tyler will play against the grown men who can challenge a player of his size and potential. Away from the court he’ll be home-schooled, earn a GED and return in two seasons when he’s eligible for the 2011 draft
Brandon's Projection has alot of high school players reevaluating there future but all will wait to see where he is drafted this June.
To Brandon the dream comes true in less than 2 months. He says hes been waiting his whole life for this and so are we.
Will Brandon become the High School Basketball Jackie Robinson or just another player who the NBA proves there system works.
Either way this Crusade is starting to heat up and more people are starting to become convinced this works. If Brandon has success this June, The "Basketball Revolution" has begun, and many seekers for NBA stardom straight out of high school will soon follow.
