I argued last year that he would have made more money as a high lottery pick than he would make after a year in Europe + low lottery pick - the math on that is pretty undefeatable I'm surprised this is bothering you so much. If you don't want to participate in the thread, because it is very clearly and obviously based on hypothetical situation, and with the benefit of hindsight - nobody is forcing you to participate. Fortunately time travel is not yet possible so by participating in it you are not demeaning society as much as you'd like to think by engaging in "what if". The fact that he put up 55 in an NBA game leads me to believe he would be able to do the same thing against Western Carolina or Santa Clara or whoever - again reasonable minds can disagree, that's what the discussion is for. But from Derrick Rose's example - we have a pretty clear precedent in recent history for the top high school guard coming in, dominating for a year, generating a buzz, and being picked #1. For you to compare him to guys like Taylor is pretty silly. Taylor wasn't even close to beign the top high schooler in his class, and there's a reason why he stayed at UCF (which nobody watches) for four years.
The math is - but the logic is long lost. I just think this thread should be in the fantasy NBA forum.
Not sure if yall remember correctly. Brandon Jennings wanted to go to college. He just had to get a high enough score on his SAT's, and after his THIRD attempt he said screw it I will go make real money over in Europe. http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/related/247016
I strongly disagree. I know many successful entrepreneurs that got their essential tools from academia. Many have retired before age 35. It's true success is more dependent on personality more than academic achievement. However academia will only help someone with the right personality.
Brandon Jennings in the 80s and early 90s would have been no better than spud webb. The rules of the nba have allowed speedy pg to dominate. It is out of control. Aaron Brooks is another kid who is exploiting the favorable rules. These guys have talent don't get me wrong but neither is as good as he seems to be.
Every gm in the league KNEW that jennings had tremendous talent. Every one of them. The reason he fell was that jennings is a shoot first pg who lacks the size to convert to sg. GMs despise shoot first pg, almost as much as they hate short pfs, and that's why wade, mayo and many other pgs get drafted lower than their talents.
Jennings himself said going to Europe was a wise decision for him, Jennings himself said he learned a lot from his stay in Europe, and that he himself credits it as a factor in his performance in the NBA now. Are you somehow better equipped and more knowledgeable about this than Brandon Jennings himself whether staying in Europe was better for him or not? Considering the fact that Jennings was basically "forced" to go to Europe (due to his abysmal SAT scores), college wasn't an option anyway. Jennings going to some big name college wasn't just hypothetical, it was an impossibility. Jennings is good, but I doubt even he can carry a sad-sack college team against the very best out there and make into the NCAA sweet 16. He would have been buried and some other team would have picked him in the 2nd round or so. Basically the logic goes this way: 1) You said him going to Europe was a bad decision 2) He became a lottery pick, and is now tearing up the league Considering he is doing so well for himself now, I doubt his decision can be considered bad at all. There may or may not have been better options, but the matter of fact is going to Europe wasn't "bad" by any means. Therefore IMHO you should eat crow. Maybe you can ask DD if he has some left over...
You're naive to think what Brandon Jennings thinks makes or breaks your argument. It's, still, just an opinion. He never even said that Europe was a better experience than going to college - only that it helped him - and that can be expected, is natural, even. If he went to college and turned out as good as he is now, he'd be praising college all the same. I'd hate to feed words into another guy's mouth, but I'm pretty sure that what this thread is calling for is a comparison between college and the Euro pro league(s) at preparing preps for the NBA. If they're going to turn out better playing pro ball in Europe, why not just go there rather than college? They'd be earning, too...
Think about it this way. He goes to Europe, no one knows him, he is no longer catered to as a star athlete and he matures a ton because of that. College would have just been a continuation of high school. I think Europe helped him a LOT. DD
I've said it before that i think aau ruins players. Just as the high school jumping does as well. Alot of kids are never coached or coached hard, just managed. Once you get to coaching these kids hard, they bolt to another school or aau squad or both. Its part of the new sissified united states. What happens to jennings is he got coached hard, real hard and was taught that pro ball is no joke. Not only that, he got to be a pro. He had to manange his money like a adult and grow up even if his mom and brother were there. Alot of people rave how the international gusy are more fundementally sound. Well, they should be. Yao,parker,and dirk never had to go to class, worry about grades or anything like that. All they do is shooting drills, manuver drills, and just hoop drills. If you take the 9th grade prodigies and put them in that environment, they would be better also. Going to college class from 8-12, then practice from 3-6, then study hall from 7-10, when do you have time to work on your game? My buddy played for that coach and he said many times after finishing his pro career that the coach is like larry brown. He will ride the crap out of you for every detail. Even though i'm prety much set for life financially, if my son was the new lebron or garnett in 10th or 11th grade, i would take him out of school and go overseas to develop his game. Its nothing beneficial to playing for free and limiting the developement for your future.
Yes, but we don't know that he would have been a high lotto pick. Sometimes guys go to college and their value drops. Budinger is a perfect example. He put up 55 after he went to Europe. He says the things he learned there are helping him to succeed now. So I don't see how we can just say he would be balling the same if he went straight to juco or wherever when he himself says going to Europe helped him. Rose went to a big time school that made a national title run. Jennings wasn't going to a bigtime program. I don't think it makes sense to assume he was going to retake the SAT's or do whatever it took for him to get into a major program, unless you have something showing he was considering doing that. We keep throwing college at a big program into the equation when it makes no sense to do so, since he wasn't elgible to go to a D1 school.
I didn't realize he failed it 3 times. With that info known, it really makes no sense to use a hypothetical that has him passing the SAT and going to a D1 school. Now the question is does anyone see him getting drafted higher going the juco route, or from whatever other options were available to him? Let's stick to the real options when we make these comparisons....
How is he making $4M a yr? Are you saying he would have had a higher draft pick considering he couldn't have played at a D1 school? He already failed the SAT 3 times and seemed to be done with it (someone else posted the link). So what alternate route does he take that leads to a higher draft pick? Have other #1 picks taken that route?
How is someone so dumb they can't pass the SAT? When is the last time a player like that actually took his team anywhere?
You're comparing something that actually happened (Jennings went to Europe=late lottery pick) with something that is just a theory (Jennings goes to college= early lottery pick). Sure I can prove 1 mm is better than 4 mill, that Jennings went to Europe and became a late lottery is a fact. That Jennings would have been a top pick had he gone to college is an opinion, specifically yours. A bird in hand is worth two in the bush, or in this case, 1 million dollars in real cash is better than 4 million dollars in theoretical earnings...1 million time better lol. As someone already said, Jennings was ineligible to go to a big name college. Please tell me how he is going to make a name for himself with crappy teammates and in some no name school.
