Men's College Basketball, NCAA Basketball NEWS
Brandon Jennings Made The Right Choice
Published by MFSKEN on July 11, 2008
Brandon Jennings says who needs the NCAA? He certainly doesn’t, as he has hired a lawyer to handle among other things, issuing the following statement on Jennings’ behalf.
“Over the course of the last two months I have consulted a number of people in basketball before coming to this decision,” Jennings said through his attorney, Jeff Valle. “I would like to thank the University of Arizona for their interest and support through this process.”
Jennings has yet to qualify to enter the NCAA and he had been awaiting the results of his third college entrance exam, but decided to give up his scholarship to pursue an opportunity in Europe.
Jennings was one of the top point guard recruits in the country and had signed a National Letter of Intent to play for the Arizona Wildcats. Jennings merely decided he was not college material and even if he were, would have stayed in Tucson for only one year. Of course his lawyer isn’t putting it that way.
What are his options? He can’t jump to the NBA, now that players must be at least one year removed from their high school class’ graduation before being eligible to play in the NBA.
He could sign with an agent and hire a personal trainer and work on improving his skills until he is ready to enter the NBA via the draft. That would give him some walking around money until such time as he is drafted. Mr. Jennings opted to sign with a European team which would allow him two things.
First, he would make a lot more money. He’s probably looking at something in the neighborhood of $250,000 to $500,000 in Euro Dollars, which at present is equal to $377,500 to $785,000 U.S. Dollars.
Secondly, he’ll have a chance to play against some good talent. The European Leagues have been a hot bed for NBA teams to scout talent and bring into the league.
Now that Jennings is going to Europe, you can bet there will be a lot of interest there. Not only from league executives; but also from other high school stars who would rather not stay at home to play for one of our fine American universities.
The system for funneling kids from high school to the NBA is terrible. Most of the time kids are dealing with runners for agents who in the case of O.J. Mayo, was accused of receiving a portion of $200,000 in cash and benefits from Los Angeles events promoter Rodney Guillory.
Guillory was the runner for Calvin Andrews, VP of Bill Duffy Associates Sports Management and Guillory got caught in the middle of the high stakes business of sports agencies and their potential clients.
Most colleges and universities view sports as a business and one of them has just gotten the shaft. Maybe now they’ll think twice about using the talent of these kids to generate millions of dollars for the school, who then fork it over to coaches and athletic directors.
So why not take the money? You get to spend a year abroad learning what it’s like not to live under mom and dad’s rules. You can spend your spare time working on your game so you will be that much more valuable to NBA teams and oh, I almost forgot, you can make some serious dinero.
It’s all completely legal, without the pretext of going to class to get an education. The only thing Brandon Jennings did was make the most of the situation in which he was presented.
Isn’t that what we all want for our kids?
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tophatal on Fri, 11th Jul 2008 19:08
Moon Dog
Don’t get me wrong as I understand what it is that Jennings is striving for. But by foregoing a college education this kid is merely hoping that he’ll cut it as a player in the pros . And if his career should be curtailed in Europe by way of an injury then where does that leave him ?
He probably sat down with his family and discussed the matter. But then again more likely than not all the family saw were the never ending dollar signs . It’d appear that in terms of an education this wasn’t uppermost in Jennings’ mind or that of his family. But as they say this has to be the silver lining at the end of his own personal rainbow.
I see that my boy Jesse Jackson ……I will no longer address him his reverential name as he’s done it a a disservice to my mind with his berating of Obama with the words uttered on O’Reilly’s show. Here’s a man who’s marched alongside Dr King and known first hand what has happened to young African American males over the years. And he utters the words that he’d like and want to castrate the Democratic nominee Obama.
I now feel that the likes of Sharpton and Jackson are past their prime and when it comes to the social issues that African Americans and males in particular face . They’re both absolutely clueless.
tophatal ………..
tophatal on Fri, 11th Jul 2008 19:22
Moon Dog
Within the wordpress.com forum I’ve got the following post up . I’ve provided a link below for you to view the piece in its entirety.
As and when you’re ready let me know what you think as to the merits of the piece ? I’ll look forward to reading your comments.
http://abritishmanwordpress.com/2008/06/23/What It Means Or What It Ought To Mean
tophatal ………..