That's true. However, Oden was going to be the number 1 pick regardless of if he went to school or not. Durant (as I mentioned helped himself in college). Last years rookie crop was considered one of the weakest since the Kenyon Martin draft (and it proved to be right) because of the one and done guys. All you would have to do is take a look at mock drafts, scouting reports and projections to know that Rose, Beasley and mayo were big time prospects coming out of high school. Beasley had scouts drooling in high school and especially after his performance in the McDonalds All American game. That same 6'7" pf/sf went number two this year in a much deeper draft. All the other PF prospects even worth mentioning don't exist. Horford is the only one. Rose is a big , strong, super athletic pg that has been on scouts radar for years. He is nothing like Telfair except both of them neede to improve their shot. Telfair was little and got worked over in pre draft workout thus causing his stock to fall. Conley wouldn't have passed them up. He was viewed as a solid playmaker (who can't shoot) but was the best of a very weak crop of pg prospects. You're mixing me up with someone else on the college debate. I think it would be better for Jennings to go to Arizona. He can't though. So he's put himself in this position. I believe that if he dedicates himself and comes back a better player, works out well, then it won't effect his draft status much or if any. That's been my point all along. I don't think all players need to go to school but I feel the vast majority benefit from it. I will say I think the one and one rule is lame for a variety of reasons.
Some people just aren't college material, some have learning disabilities. Most NBA quality freshmen don't really go to school anyway, they get schopro the first semester and don't even show up for class the second. I agree that if Arizona won 20+ games with Jennings starting and he had an outstanding run at The Dance maybe that does push him up into the lottery. But if he goes to Europe and plays well, why wouldn't he be drafted as high as all the other teen aged Euro's...plus he will have a couple of hundred grand in the bank. If you can qualify, you can't qualify. Normally we would say "well, the world needs ditch diggers too" but this kid has already shown he can play basketball and if the NBA arbitralily says you can play for us till you are 19 ( rather than just letting dumbass teams waste their picks on boys who aren't ready) and the NCAA says you can't play for us because you are r****ded, what other option does he have but to go make some money while someone will pay him to play? I would certainly rather get paid a few hundred grand to play in Europe than ride a school bus 100 miles to play a JUCO game. Good luck to him, if comes back next year and gets taken anywhere in the first round, he will be the first of many to play in Eurpoe.
He would have to go to hte lower level-leagues to get PT. That 's what Tony Parker did. He was drafted 28th. And he's going to be lucky to get 100,000 out of that, not 500,000.
UofA fan here. (as most of you might already know by now) One word that perfectly describes Jennings: Stupid. Why? He decided to go against everyone's warnings, including Lute Olson and many other NBA scouts and insider, and he made his decision irregardless of whether or not he was gonna pass the test or not. Just a stupid, stupid, stupid, move. Yes, now he'll be making some early dough as BENCH WARMER over in EUROPE, but this move will cost him millions of dollars in the long term, as its pretty apparent now that he will drop out of the lottery (where he was once considered a possible top 3 choice). Pratically everyone who has played overseas has testified that an 18 year old will not be better served playing overseas in the PRO leagues. Of course, the NCAA and the NBA is also to blame for this. The one year thing should be abolished or atleast turned into like what baseball does , which seems to be the common argument amongst many college sports advocates. Either let them make their own decision out of high school about whether or not to go pro; otherwise if they commit, they should have to play atleast two-three years. Here's a good local article from Arizona, including many testaments from ex-players who have played overseas for a while now. Big, dumb move kid, but best of luck to you anyways (slight PC) http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/sports/90474.php
Here are the benefits of staying in the US and playing for a major program like UofA: -guaranteed lottery spot due to next year's weak draft -easier way for scouts to see him, and thus for him to garner more attention. -he wouldn't have to get accustomed to new culture. -play with Lute Olson and a system that would perfectly mold with him -he would play on a loaded team with two other potential lottery to mid first round picks in Chase Budinger and Jordan Hill. -Arizona was a lock to be a top 20 team with him. The more successful his team is, the more attention he would (or rather would have) received.
Yes, I know, but I meant to say that the article had some interesting testimonies from ex-Cats players who played overseas. Those aren't bias and should be a red flag for Jennings.
Not disagreeing with anything anyone has written. Going to Europe is not without risks. It may end up hurting him more in the end. If he succeeds, then he'll end a better player and human being at the end of the day.
Let's see what happens.....he may go up in the draft, he may go down....but he might have done that at UofA too..... Gonna be fun to watch though. DD
I don't get why going to Europe is going to be worse than heading to Arizona. All he's going to be doing the once bball season ends is going to parties, drinking underage, and skipping classes. At least in Europe, he will be forced to take life seriously and not treat it like one big giant party.
He will get a much better life eductation playing in Europe than going to classes for a year....heck the first year of classes at college are all just repeats of high school anyway. Also, it is legal for him to drink in Europe....... Just saying.... DD
He might fail, he might not.....Did Lebron fail? There is no guarantee he would succeed at Arizona either. You just never know....that is what is fun to watch. DD
Repeats of high school? Life Education? The guy couldn't score 530 on his SAT. he needs a repeat of 3rd grade A guy that intellectually immature and superficial isn't going to Europe to study Mannerist paintings hanging in the Uffizi.
LOL - truer words have never been spoken, but he will get to experience a different culture, which is it's own life experience....and you know. He may not enjoy a fine German ale like you and I would, but he would know it tastes good. DD
http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=432745 Mike DeCourcy Jennings' European adventure won't be revolutionary Posted: July 9, 2008 When Derrick Rose arrived at the University of Memphis last fall, it would have been difficult to find an analyst projecting him as the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft. There were only a few brave enough to suggest it after he'd played several months with the Tigers. So how much did one season of college basketball mean to Rose? Talking just in pure economic terms -- and not about the joy that came with leading the team to the NCAA championship game, or the worth of anything he might have learned in class -- at the bare minimum it's $3.1 million. That's the difference over four years of rookie-scale contracts between the No. 1 overall pick and the No. 3, which was the consensus rating for Rose coming out of high school. Who seriously believes point guard prospect (and former Arizona recruit) Brandon Jennings will make that much with his one-year European sojourn -- let alone what Rose will earn in endorsements because of the fame and popularity he achieved at Memphis? Jennings will be fortunate if a major European team assigns 10 percent of that value to a player with so little experience and so little commitment to the team's future. Jennings wants one year in Europe, no more, because he is eager to enter the NBA as soon as possible. He'll be lucky if his performance overseas does not damage his appeal in the 2009 draft. "It's not a given that he's going to go over there and kill and come back as the first pick in the draft," Memphis coach John Calipari said. "What I hope is it works -- for the kid's sake. But it's not going to be for everybody." Calipari has encouraged his players to leave early for the draft when it appears they will be selected in advantageous positions. So this is not a college coach being territorial -- just realistic. There are some basketball insiders trying to convince the public -- and elite prospects -- that this will be the best new avenue for high school prospects to prepare for the NBA draft while waiting to meet the league's age minimum. Honestly, they're doing a heck of a sales job. Many in the media appear to be buying it. There are columns and stories all over the Internet about what a revolution this could become for American basketball. Not enough people are stopping to consider the facts of the case or the motivations of those leading the campaign. Some of those advocates bear such animus toward the NCAA that it does not matter if a small short-term gain for Jennings causes him great economic harm in the long term. If it looks like a defeat for colleges, it will have been worth it. Even if Jennings lands a decent job in Europe, gaining playing time will not be easy because of the severe penalties teams face for underperformance there. If a team finishes last in the Big Ten, somebody might launch a web site devoted to removing the coach. The last-place team in the NBA goes into the draft lottery. Placing last in Italy's Serie A means getting demoted to Serie B -- which would be like the Miami Heat getting dumped into the D-League. So teams overseas won't be interested in developing Jennings' game. Either he wins, or he's fired. Whatever the outcome is for Jennings, his adventure will cause no harm to the enterprise of college basketball. Agent David Bauman, who represents Peja Stojakovic and Andrew Bogut, got a writer from Reuters fired up by declaring that a string of American high school players following Jennings' lead would be disastrous for the NCAA. "College would be a bunch of nobodies," Bauman told Reuters. "TV interest would drop and the overall product would suffer." This would make a spectacular addition for the folks at Dumb Quotes. Between 1995 and 2005, college basketball missed out on the services of Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady and LeBron James. They are four of the greatest talents in the game's history, and not one played a minute of college basketball. But in 1999, roughly in the middle of the aforementioned decade, CBS offered $6 billion for the rights to broadcast only the NCAA Tournament. CBS' broadcast of the 2005 championship game between Illinois and North Carolina was viewed by 16.5 million people. Its ratings were nearly 50 percent higher than the recent NBA Finals involving the league's historic attractions: Garnett's Celtics and Bryant's Lakers. College basketball does not need Jennings to thrive. Arizona will miss him, certainly. The Wildcats might have been fashioned into a national title contender with another elite pro prospect on their roster. But to suggest his experience might lead to a flood of high school players moving to Europe is naive, and to declare that such a flood would irreparably damage NCAA basketball is ludicrous. Most players will recognize that the promotional value of NCAA basketball will make them far wealthier. They will find its proven track record of developing NBA draft picks and future stars more alluring. And European clubs won't be eager to turn their teams into finishing schools for McDonald's All-Americans. A positive experience for Jennings will lead to a trickle of high school players following him, at best. Only Jennings' future is at stake here. "If it doesn't work for him," Calipari said, "it'd be a sad story."
This is so sad. To get a 400 on your combined SAT total, you have to get each and every question wrong. So, while I don't have the number handy, this guy Jennings is probably dangerously close to the score you get when choosing answers at random and getting 20-25% correct. Best wishes to him.
Wow. he obviously isn't the sharpest tool in the shed and he put himself in a crappy situation. He didn't do anything illegal though and he's not a Pacman Jones or Chris Henry. It's sad seeing people wish for his failure. You're wishing for his failure because he's no longer going to your alma mater. That's pathetic
One, UofA is not my alma mater, its just my second favorite college sports program. Second, let me ask you how you would feel if your school or team went through hell and put all of their hopes on a kid , only to see him ditch the team and school for some instant cash? Its not like he failed it-the results doesn't come in till next week-he just plain ran with the money.
