An update on top high school basketball player Brandon Jennings, who was committed to Arizona but now… will go across the Atlantic.
Adam Zagoria wonders if other top players (Lance Stephenson, perhaps) will follow suit in a year’s time and go to Europe instead of playing on a college campus. And of course, it will be interesting to see:
+ What level of team Jennings latches onto;
+ How much playing time he gets;
+ How well he does, statistically and culturally;
+ What kind of exposure he gets stateside;
+ What his draft position is (I’m sure he doesn’t intend to play in Europe for a long time);
+ Whether he understands the rookie hazing in Spain or Russia or France.
Maybe he can pull a Chris Kaman or Becky Hammon*, get dual citizenship, and play for another country in London’s 2012 Olympics.
This is not going to take anything away from the NBA, It might actually improve the skill of these players better so when drafted and invested in by teams they are getting more back initially and it is not so long term. I don’t really see this as a bad thing at all. Besides, these kids hardly ever graduate from college.
[...] it’s not quite linear, Brown’s state-side return can prove that a return trip for a Europe-bound Brandon Jennings is quite [...]