HS basketball star leaves Israeli pro team early

Jeremy Tyler leaves Maccabi Haifa after a season full of hissy fits. Another player who thought he was entitled to much more, but will be lucky to hold a job at McDonald's in a few years.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/2010-03-19-972174040_x.htm

 

What the hell does he do now?

Way to walk out on a $140,000 contract. Shit. I guess he has to sit out for a year and try and enter the NBADL, but he probably isn't good enough to do that.

 

I can't believe they drove him away with Biden visiting. Way to piss away generations of goodwill Israel.

 

I wouldn't say that Tyler is done. Brandon Jennings didn't necessarily acquit himself well in Europe, and he's doing OK.

But this should cause some deep thought for high school ballers who decide to go to Europe in lieu of high school or their year of college -- Europe pro ball is fucking tough, and they don't have time for your shit.

 

Not only do they "not have time for your shit," American players are frequently seized upon as public scapegoats and whipping boys the instant anything goes wrong with the team -- not only by fans and media, but by the owners and coaches, too.

 

Kid needs to learn the ways of the real world.

You're getting paid $140 grand and you walk out? Real smart. Just collect your money and sit on the bench for two months. Keep your fingers crossed that an NBA team will still want you.

 

The "collect your money" part will be the hard part. In non-American pro sports, if you ain't playin', they quit payin'.

 

Then that's when he should have walked. Until then, collect the check.

 

Maybe Brandon Jennings didn't play as much as he wanted to in Europe or put up the numbers people expected him to, but his year in Italy was not disaster. Those involved will tell you Jennings did just fine for himself in Italy. Folks who did their homework, namely the Bucks, knew that. For the most part, Jennings was not a malcontent, enjoyed his time there and learned to play a different way through practice, both on his own and with the team. You'll be hard pressed to find someone in Italy speak negatively about Jennings' year.

 

I wouldn't want to play in front of some of those crowds in Europe. Just as bad as soccer.

 

It really takes a good situation to make the foreign thing work out. While I admire Jennings and Tyler for giving it a shot, I hope their decisions don't lead to a wave of knee-jerk sequels from others. The chances of finding a team that pays on time aren't that great.

 

I think he got a bad rap for fleeing for Italy but Brandon Jennings is actually a pretty nice dude and seems kind of down to earth for his station in life. (His interview in GQ this month was pretty funny) He had his mom and sibling live with him there. He just didn't play as much as you'd think, but it's not hard to see why he didn't. Travel is brutal, everything's foreign, literally and figuratively, you're not going to get any calls and you're playing with grown-ass men. And no one is coddling you, like in the league.