I'm really surprised more top guys don't do this. http://espn.go.com/mens-college-bas...angs-prospect-emmanuel-mudiay-headed-overseas
I completely agree. They could go overseas for 1 year make a lot of money, then declare for the draft. Besides Brandon Jennings, I can't really remember anyone else taking this path, although if it were me, I would do it in a heartbeat.
I wish the top 10 players or so would all just go overseas. The competition and player development programs are elite in Europe. The trend needs to emerge. The NBA Player's Union, owners & NCAA want what's best for them, not the kids. The kids actually have the opportunity to take back their leverage. Hopefully they use it. I do think what you learn in Europe can be superior to what you learn in the NCAA. There are a few exceptions though. #1 being playing for Larry Brown, lol.
Some entrepreneur needs to capitalize on this market and start an NBA style league in the big euro markets. Kids would leave the NCAA in droves.
Come on breh, we can do it!!! All CFers donate money and become part-owners of the league, we'll be riiiiich.
not that easy, these are 17-18 year old kids. Many are not ready for the culture shock, how do they handle the money? Do they have family as support staff overseas? CAn they deal in an environment of men, where they're not worshiped like they were in high school? In Europe they're not worried about developing you. They know you're only going to be there a year. Either you contribute right away and get with the program or you're rotting on the bench like Jeremy Tyler.
How much money is he actually making this year?? You can argue it hurts him long term because staying in college creates a brand value and following that increases with the length of an nba career.
Jennings seemed to struggle with it to a large degree despite having his mom and baby brother out there with him. Still, at the end of the day he was drafted 10th overall. There was another highly coveted prospect, Jeremy Tyler, who struggled mightily while overseas in Israel I believe. Tyler's draft stock plummeted (39th overall), and he's had an absolutely atrocious NBA career although this probably would've been the case even if he had gone to college. It'll be interesting to see how a top 3 overall prospect like Mudiay handles this very unique challenge. The entire scenario's likelihood of success rests in large part on the maturity level of the kid in question. I concur with the idea of building your brand in college, but every sneaker company and GM knows who Manny Mudiay is given his superstar potential. Should be fun to keep an eye on. And yes, I said superstar. Mudiay is definitely more Wall than Smart. Just a behemoth of a PG, who's also quick, and bursting with talent and skill.
It's strange to me though that he'd pick China- a country so drastically different than ours with a league with arguably worse talent than the NCAA. If I were in his shoes, I'd chose a European team and play there.
My thought, and I'm speculating here, is that playing time in China is much more readily available than say the more competitive European clubs. Therefore it might be a little easier to showcase one's talents, although you definitely bring up a great point. Pretty sure Jennings was only getting around 17-18 mins of run and his stats were underwhelming to say the least. Many college coaches dislike one and dones although they're learning to embrace them. I can't even imagine what some hot tempered Euro head coach would think of his new American hotshot.
D-league needs to move to legitimate markets not these Podunk towns and increase the hell out of their salaries and they would move into a new hemisphere as a league.
Nah, it's all about money. Once he play there a season as a team leading scorer, they will buy his jerseys once he be drafted to NBA. Btw, guess who is a coach for that team where this kid goin - the guy who coach Lithuanian national team, and China earlier. He won't be a leader in that system hahaha
lol, if he has a great success in China, he will have a HUGE fan base and could be voted all star every year. I would do the same if i were him.
The coach of a foreign team is not going to dedicate a whole lot of time to developing young talent, especially when they are going to be gone in a year or two. Every year we see talented NBA quality Euros in the draft getting 5 minutes a game for their Euro team because their coach is playing some scrub would never in a million years sniff time on an NBA roster, because the older player helps them win now. Larry Brown says in the story, "It's all about the kid." I don't think coaches in some cutthroat foreign league where fans throw coins heated by lighters at players would ever say the same. Even when it doesn't hurt draft status, I'd argue it hurts career ark. Nikoloz Tskitishvili is a name that comes to mind as someone who had a lot of promise that I'd have loved to see getting 3 years of dedicated tutelage under someone like Larry Brown at 18, rather than being buried on some 2nd tier Euro team's bench prior to being drafted. He ended up being as soft as baby poo, but a dedicated coach pushing him hard at a young age could have toughened him up. Undoubtedly I could come up with another dozen names with a little thought.
Or it could be that not every player lives up to potential. If James McAdoo can enter the draft after high school, he might've been a lottery pick. But after couple of years at NC, people realize his potential might not be there. Same for a ton of other top 10 HS players that were hyped at one point and then didn't make the expected development leap. I say the success rate is about the same and it depends on the player. If like Jalen Rose said, you keep grinding, you'll improve no matter what. If you don't, you'll fall back down to earth. But difference is, overseas will get you some money.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>One game into Chinese season already hearing murmurs of in-house frustration w/play of Guangdong's Emmanuel Mudiay. Something to monitor</p>— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNSteinLine/status/528910781426204672">November 2, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
