17 y/o leaving HS to go pro in Europe

Don't think I saw this posted anywhere else, apologies if I did.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/23/sports/ncaabasketball/23prospect.html?_r=1&hp

I expect you'll see more of this in the future.

 

Does it get slimier than Sonny Vaccaro?

 

Better he goes pro than pretend to go to school for a year.

 

I don't agree. A year of college is still a year of college. To remain eligible he has to pass his classes. When has a year of college ever hurt someone?

 

Torn here. I hope it works out for him because I don't wish anybody ill. But at the same time, I would hate to see this become a trend.

 

When they blow out their knee and realize they would have made more money from a year in Europe than an entire career with a sports education degree.

 

I don't blame the kid for not wanting to take Senior English.

 

Yup, that happens all the time. :

By that logic, no kid should ever go to college and play ball.

 

No, but Worldwide Wes and others aren't too far behind.

 

European and South American soccer clubs would like a word.

 

No kid who is good enough to make a big payday in the pros should, imo.

 

While I'd agree that Vaccaro is among the most unseemly figures in sports, but I don't get the criticism here. If this kid can get a European team to pay him six figures (how many of you earned six figures your first year out of college, let along high school) to play basketball, why shouldn't he be allowed? Because he hasn't "paid his dues"? Bullshit. This is no worse than a 17-year-old tennis player doing it. That doesn't always work out, but it doesn't always fail, either. A year overseas might teach him more than a year in high school and/or a year in college, where he'd be making Pitino or some other coach rich. I like that he's making an effort to graduate high school, and I'd submit that college is not for everyone. If he wants to do it this way, who are we to say he shouldn't?