At least Jeremy Tyler won’t have to worry about coming down with a case of senioritis next year.
The 6-foot-11 junior from San Diego decided last week to forgo his senior season of high school basketball in favor of playing professionally in Europe. That’s right, high school.
Tyler cited better competition in the professional ranks than on the high school or collegiate level as his reason for the decision.
This is the second major instance, in as many years, where an amateur American hoops star has made the move to Europe since the NBA instituted an age-restriction rule in 2006. Brandon Jennings, a point guard from Los Angeles, decided to bypass college and play in Italy last season.
Jennings inked a contract worth $1.65 million instead of hitting the books at the University of Arizona, where he had planned to attend. He added a reported $2 million endorsement deal with Under Armour.
Tyler’s choice, however, doesn’t seem to be money related, but rather a chance to play against better competition in preparation for the NBA.
Yet, without an apparent back-up plan, Tyler’s decision is not fool proof. If a career-ending injury were to occur in the two years before the 17-year-old is eligible for the NBA, Tyler would be left without anything to fall back on.
Tyler does plan on being home-schooled in order to receive his GED, but he has no urgent plans for college.
Tyler’s decision speaks to a bigger problem, though, as this was the exact situation that was feared by many basketball fans when the NBA put the rule into place.
The restriction, which doesn’t allow athletes to enter the NBA draft until they are one year removed from high school, ultimately forces players to attend college or go overseas to play.
A model similar to the one used by baseball recruits might be something to look into. Baseball players are able to be drafted out of high school by a professional team. Yet, if an athlete decides to attend a four-year school they can’t turn pro until after their junior season.
The NBA and the college game could both benefit from this same idea. The high school players would be able get drafted when they want, and college teams would be able to have players stick around for more than one season.
The college level has seen many superstar players over the past few years, but it doesn’t benefit the program when the player decides to leave after only one year. Sure, the university garners recognition on a national scale, but there is a good chance that it will not last when the player bolts for the NBA the next season.
If a player thinks he has the skill to play professionally, and a team is willing to use a draft pick on him, then he should be able to take his chances. Maybe Tyler would have stayed in school if he only had to wait one more year to be drafted into the NBA.
It is understandable that Tyler feels the high school game has nothing left to offer him, but he shouldn’t have had to make that choice before his senior year.
If Tyler has success, though, one can only imagine that more high school players will follow suit and take their games international until the rule is changed.
This is a really well written and clearly thought out article Matt. Good job!
$1.65 mil plus $2 million in endorsements? Now Brandon could pay a tutor to teach him how to read and write.