A point guard who failed the SATs twice. Not very promising lol.

Jennings: College No Guarantee Even If SAT OK

Jun 30, 2008 3:36 AM EST

Brandon Jennings, the nation's top-ranked player, may bypass college entirely and opt for a professional career in Europe, Christopher Lawlor from ESPN.com is reporting.

There are questions surrounding whether or not his SAT score will qualify him for college, but now he is considering going to Europe even if he does make the grade.

"It would take a perfect situation," Jennings said. "I need a team that needs a point guard, a coach who would take the time to work with me, an American on the team who could show me the ropes, and playing time to show off my game."

Jennings, who is expected to receive his latest set of SAT scores on July 5, is not ruling out the University of Arizona, but the latest episode has stirred his ire.

"It's made me mad," he said of the college board's decision to flag his second round of standardized test scores, forcing him to retake them in May. "Even if I get the scores this time, there's no guarantee I'm going to college. No one has answers and the NCAA is a different group."

"Besides I was planning on one year at Arizona."

 

I prefer this. If players want to go pro after HS and feel they are ready then they should be able to.

Enough of this one and done bullshit in the NCAA. Europe is a good opportunity. These players will come back to the US more ready than they would have been coming from the NCAA. Professional experience is always nice in a rookie.

make that money maaaaannnnnn

I think this is better to do a one and done, make some f'n money and stick that euro straight up David Stern's pompous ass.          

Watch the top youngsters start making Euros, loving it and the Euroleague become bigger than the NBA.

Not gonna happen, but it would be hilarious if the age limit kills the league. 

In many ways I think the NBA might end up happy with this. The end product will be better with players playing pro ball for a year than playing NCAA ball for a year. They will compete against more mature strong faster players. The 3 point line isn't so dinky. Its not NBA level but the travel and lifestyle are closer than NCAA meaning they will simply be more ready.

The only downside will be if this happend en mass they would be forced to change the rookie salary scale and some other rules to enable NBA teams to get these guys to come to the NBA in the first few years. If a low 1st round pick can make 3 M plus in Euro play they'd have no incentive to come play under rookie salary scale.

Long term it would be good for the NCAA too since it would eventually so dilute their product that they would be forced to alter the stupid rules that allow the NCAA to make millions off these kids and pay them nothing but room board and tuition.

 From CNBC

Jennings’ contract is a three-year deal, but has buyouts at every year. And he’s taken on shoe guru Sonny Vaccaro as his advisor. When asked what the interest is from the shoe companies, Vaccaro – who worked for Nike, Adidas and Reebok – said the financial prospects from a shoe company are “much better” than what they are for Rose or Beasley.

“There’s great interest in this phenomenal kid from Compton,” Vaccaro said. “He’s a trendsetter.”

Sources told CNBC that Jennings is more intriguing than Rose or Beasley because he has a more dynamic personality. Having him in Europe could be a nice global play, though Italy is known for having a relatively weak system in terms of distribution of its sporting goods.

Besides the usual players in the mix – Nike and Adidas – Under Armour

Under Armour Inc UARM 28.09  -0.25  -0.88%  NYSE

Quote  |  Chart  |  News  |  Profile

[UARM  28.09    -0.25  (-0.88%)   ] cnbc_quoteComponent_init_getData("uarm","WSODQ_COMPONENT_UARM_ID0EFDAC15839609","WSODQ","true","ID0EFDAC15839609","off","false"); is definitely in the game as well. The company is likely going to have a basketball shoe out in 2009, when Jennings could enter the NBA Draft.

Jennings has to report to Roma by Aug. 20, but Vaccaro said he looks for the shoe deal to be done by the first week of August.

I've read some other articles about this.

It could work out very well for him. He's got an out every year so he can bolt when he wants. He could make very good $ over there and might even decide to stay for a while. It could also backfire bigtime.

The issue is that despite his talent over there the veterans who are "ready" play and the young guys sit the bench. Doesn't matter if you are some hotshot prospect. They play fewer games so every game is a MUST win. He's not going to neccissarily get playing time and although he may actually be really improving due to all the practice etc. a lot of the luster of young prospects to the NBA is that they are young and full of potential. If he went to Arizona he'd start play big minutes and be on TV for the NCAA tourny. He couls dissapaer from the spotlight for a year or more. Its going to be hard to hype him.

I hope it works out for him. I hope that young players flood there and leave the NCAA wondering why their TV revenues have plummeted becuase they can't exploit these kids anymore by making millions form thenm and paying them essentially nothing more than room and board.

This might work for one or two guys in any given year but I don't think we will ever see it become a real problem for the NCAA or the NBA.  The biggest reason for the age limit was that there was too many guys who simply weren't ready for the NBA.  Even guys like Kobe and McGrady weren't ready when they first came into the league, who knows if it would have been the same had they gone over to Europe after HS.  That is really the big risk for Jennings, if he goes over there and isn't ready to play against pros, he is going to find himself sitting on the bench and watching his draft stock plummet while the next set of one and dones take the NCAA by storm and solidify their draft stock.

true , im getting tired of GM's picking HS kids out of "potential" and seeing them just rot away on the bench or them getting the nod over a solid veteran and the HS kid turning out to be a total flop.  If they want to go overseas let them, but no more boys allowed in the NBA i want to see quality players.  This will also allow more qualified students to attend college instead of kids who just want to play ball and getting a "free ride"  

I don't believe it'll become a problem for the NBA either, because I think most top recruits will stay, play their year of college, and go in the draft after.

However, this kid is the real deal imo.  Think Kenny Anderson with Baron Davis hops:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWX0ufGTHtE

 Check out the crazy azz handles at around 1:15. 

PGs need to be intelligent and failing the SATs twice kinda has me questioning.

Lets hope he is not another Steve Francis. 

Good point.

Just saying. Last super talented PG with a low IQ that comes to mind is Steve Francis and look at him now. 

Adelman:

Good point.

 

Just saying. Last super talented PG with a low IQ that comes to mind is Steve Francis and look at him now. 

Did Steve Francis fail his SAT? Is SAT a measure of basketball intelligence?

I agree that having a PG with poor basketball intelligence is bad but I've never seen an correlation between acedemic achievement and high SAT scores and sucess as an NBA pGs. otherwise there would be 10 DUKE PGS running around the NBA or PGs from Harvard but there isn't.

 Dont' know how sophisticated NBA playbooks are .... guess it depends on coaches, but I would think there has to be some sort of correlation in ones ability to comprehend and absorb new material, whether it be academics or X's and O's.   That being said ... don't think there is any direct correlation between academics and one's natural instincts on the floor and for the game.  Unfortunately, Francis' instincts were to dribble alot, and take bad shots.

I believe to be a good player in the L ... one must have both, especially at the PG position. 

just read on espn.com that Josh Childress is looking at a 3 year deal with $20 mill in Greece. Doubt that he would take it but it would be an interesting scenario if he did.

AngryMan:

just read on espn.com that Josh Childress is looking at a 3 year deal with $20 mill in Greece. Doubt that he would take it but it would be an interesting scenario if he did.

Also, don't they play less games in Europe and in the Euroleague?
 

Yes they do - taxes are paid, fantastic exchange rate, gets to spend his season in Greece on a shorter schedule.

Seriously, why wouldn't Josh take that deal? In my article yesterday I wrote about how he absolutely should take it and he did (no, I don't think it's because of what I wrote). Good to see that Stanford education paid off some.