Even despite LA and Memphis having bigger needs than PG, you still have to think he would have went at the very latest #2. Hell, Thabeet is shaping up to be one of the biggest busts in recent memory. There's no way you can tell me Memphis' scouting is THAT bad to the point where had they had more exposure to Jennings that they wouldn't have ditched the drafting for need approach and took the best player available instead.
I think he is a much better player as a result of playing in Europe versus college. I think there was a much higher level of competition there and he learned a lot.
I don't get it? Is this somehow a thinly disguised "he wooda bin betta off at collegg" thread? IMO Jennings did the right thing. The NBA ruling that you can't go from high school to the NBA is ridiculous (a better option is to make teams accountable for players under a certain age in some way) Jennings said 'no dice' to wasting a year pushing around preppies, got some pay, got some life experience, and I'm sure is better for it! Oh - and he STILL managed to fulfil his dream of playing in the NBA. Let's start another thread on 'what spot do you think Lebron James would be drafted if he went to college' - it's really quite irrelevant!
the bigger effect with be on future american high schoolers who go to europe, like jeremy tyler. Scouts will no longer assume that if they are not dominating in europe that they cannot play.
THEN we wouldn't have gotten chase budinger. chases stats would've soared playing alongside brandon jennings and hed be a definite first rounder...way too far for morey to get his hands on...
There was an article that clearly states that he put more time working on his game than he could have in college. I really doubt he could have learned more in college. He might have gotten a higher pick but he would not be as good as he is right now.
Dang it. I saw the first 2 options and picked "drafted 1st or 2nd". Now I want to change it to Europe. He would have gotten the same practice time with coaches in the NCAA. It's limited to 20 hours a week.
Which is why having success so soon at the highest level is the biggest shock to me. I always felt that if one couldn't qualify academically at a college (SATs/ACTs), then there was no way they would have success at the next level. I figured you need some level of intelligence and communication that go hand in hand with a score comparable, at minimal, to what is required to get in to a US college. I guess athletic ability trounces most of this to an extent. Don't know enough about his basketball IQ.
School teaches you to be a good worker bee being a cog in the machinery, there is nothing school can teach anyone who wants to earn millions of dollars a year, whether it be as a basketball player, an entrepreneur, etc...
folks school is different for ncaa players, they have a minimum requirement of Ds, often have other people writing papers and doing work for them( witnessed this myself) have minimal attendance requirements and credit requirements, its hardly an education that people think they would receive by being enrolled... its more of a business as it generates millions for the school and ncaa and a lot of under the table work and the fact of the matter is that if there only aspiration is basketball they are better off not doing ncaa bc there are practice limitations so on, jennings got to wowrk with vets and a coach who did not baby and idolize him like he would've gotten in college, he did not get playing timte off the bat therefore learning he had to earn everything and taught him better work ethic and humility by getting roughed up by pros i think this prepped him better, if you come in with the right mentality, shutup, listen and work ,it coudl be a great success story and you get paid for it. Supposedly Jeremy tyler is acting like a brat, and that means he would fail at any level, but chances are in college he would get babied and catered to as the hot shot player. In the end of the day, I do agree with the NBA age rule...I think it should be 20, but i also think that players should not goto school if not interested in school at all bc its not much of an education anyway, so a different style dleague to cater to them or international ball is the way to go. and the age rule shows that nba will have the best final product instead of being a developmental league. people like to bring up the hs bball success stories like kobe, lebron, kg...people don't realize taht when they came out they weren't ready and had two or so years of developing while playing in the league instead of being the ready final product..so kobe had his season of 8 ppg as did kg and lebron avg 20, but he shot thirty somethign percent and led the league in turnovers basically they forcefed him the ball bc they knew he was ogin to be good and the ball would've been more efficient in someoneelse's hands ... sorry for the rant
