17 y/o leaving HS to go pro in Europe

[The Life]

The ideal situation is to have something for this kid to play in while he is here.

If they choose to not attend college (still a mistake, but oh well) they can go straight to a developmental league or a team that would play in a European League based in America (two weeks at home, two weeks on the road). They can make $100,000 or $200,000 (which most of them will still live paycheck to paycheck) for one or two years, then become eligible to play in the NBA.

Kids dropping out of high school to play 3,000 miles away from home with a fistful of dollars is not the best idea. There will be horror stories coming from this if it catches on. Horror stories.

I doubt this is going to open the floodgates for kids dropping out of school to play pro. Just like K.G. didn't all of a sudden make scores of ill-prepared kids decide to skip college for the NBA.

Also, I still don't get why it's so great for these kids to go to college. You go to college to prepare for your career. He's ready. Why not start his career now? It's not like these elite athletes are having the same college experience as us.

 

[Pancamo]

The ideal situation is to have something for this kid to play in while he is here.

If they choose to not attend college (still a mistake, but oh well) they can go straight to a developmental league or a team that would play in a European League based in America (two weeks at home, two weeks on the road). They can make $100,000 or $200,000 (which most of them will still live paycheck to paycheck) for one or two years, then become eligible to play in the NBA.

Kids dropping out of high school to play 3,000 miles away from home with a fistful of dollars is not the best idea. There will be horror stories coming from this if it catches on. Horror stories.

I doubt this is going to open the floodgates for kids dropping out of school to play pro. Just like K.G. didn't all of a sudden make scores of ill-prepared kids decide to skip college for the NBA.

Also, I still don't get why it's so great for these kids to go to college. You go to college to prepare for your career. He's ready. Why not start his career now? It's not like these elite athletes are having the same college experience as us.

The people who think it is great that these kids go to college are worried about their own viewing experiences and mask it behind the "kids need college to grow" garbage.

 

[prezclinton]

Good for this kid. He can do whatever the **** he wants. Despite what anyone on this board thinks. Anyone who thinks any of these superstars really benefit from the one-and-done bull**** is sniffing glue.

 

[93Devil]

The ideal situation is to have something for this kid to play in while he is here.

If they choose to not attend college (still a mistake, but oh well) they can go straight to a developmental league or a team that would play in a European League based in America (two weeks at home, two weeks on the road). They can make $100,000 or $200,000 (which most of them will still live paycheck to paycheck) for one or two years, then become eligible to play in the NBA.

Kids dropping out of high school to play 3,000 miles away from home with a fistful of dollars is not the best idea. There will be horror stories coming from this if it catches on. Horror stories.

I doubt this is going to open the floodgates for kids dropping out of school to play pro. Just like K.G. didn't all of a sudden make scores of ill-prepared kids decide to skip college for the NBA.

Also, I still don't get why it's so great for these kids to go to college. You go to college to prepare for your career. He's ready. Why not start his career now? It's not like these elite athletes are having the same college experience as us.

KG did open the flood gates.

These kids need to find work from ages 33-63 or they need to be smart enough to hold onto this money they earned in their 20s.

If a kid has only $1,000,000 left over from his playing days, that will not take him through life.

If he makes $50,000 a year for 40 years (30-70) that's two million dollars. Remember, he will have to pay all of his own medical if he retires at 30.

 

[RickStain]

Don't forget that athletes who retire aren't automatically done making money. They either get into coaching or they slap their name on stuff.

 

[Drip]

Can you say exploitation? Jeremy Tyler is in 11th grade. He may be going on his 18th birthday but come on, the kid hasn't completed school. Of course there will be others who will follow his lead.
Brandon Jennings was the first graduate to do it and after he becomes lottery pick, there will be a plethora of players attempting to do the same thing.
As for slimeball Sonny, well, he is what he is.

 

[Drip]

The ideal situation is to have something for this kid to play in while he is here.

If they choose to not attend college (still a mistake, but oh well) they can go straight to a developmental league or a team that would play in a European League based in America (two weeks at home, two weeks on the road). They can make $100,000 or $200,000 (which most of them will still live paycheck to paycheck) for one or two years, then become eligible to play in the NBA.

Kids dropping out of high school to play 3,000 miles away from home with a fistful of dollars is not the best idea. There will be horror stories coming from this if it catches on. Horror stories.

I doubt this is going to open the floodgates for kids dropping out of school to play pro. Just like K.G. didn't all of a sudden make scores of ill-prepared kids decide to skip college for the NBA.

Also, I still don't get why it's so great for these kids to go to college. You go to college to prepare for your career. He's ready. Why not start his career now? It's not like these elite athletes are having the same college experience as us.

KG did open the flood gates.

These kids need to find work from ages 33-63 or they need to be smart enough to hold onto this money they earned in their 20s.

If a kid has only $1,000,000 left over from his playing days, that will not take him through life.

If he makes $50,000 a year for 40 years (30-70) that's two million dollars. Remember, he will have to pay all of his own medical if he retires at 30.

KG opened the modern flood gate. I remember when Moses, Dawkins and Willoughby did it. Talk about a beast, Moses was a monster during his high school days in Petersburg, Va.

 

[The Life]

KG opened the floodgates for successful preps-to-pros guys. That's my point. It's not like there was an influx of ill-prepared kids who's lives were ruined because they chose to go to the NBA rather than spend a few years not going to class at Louisville.

And it's not like pro athletes typically go from the NBA to a cubicle as an accountant. They typically remain in their sport or spend their money opening businesses. Just as many athletes who went to school end up broke after their pro careers. Going to college has nothing to do with it. It's idealistic to assume Tyler is sacrificing an MBA by going to Europe.

The NBA age minimum is not good for the athletes. It's good for the NBA and it's good for college basketball, though I'd argue it's not even good for that since the parity in the NCAA tournament is less than it once was.

 

[Webster]

For the most part, these kids aren't going to be making much cash in Europe. The reason to go straight to the NBA for top prospects was guaranteed cash -- even under the rookie contract structure, a kid out of HS picked in the lottery is making $1mm per year for 3-4 years.

Now, if you go to Europe, you are playing for much less. Maybe your draft prospects will hold up, maybe not. No chance at a free education and usually substandard coaching and facilities. The mature and talented players will prosper, but they would anywhere.

 

[Bamadog]

I don't understand how a kid goes straight from high school to the pros in baseball, plays in the minors for a few years and then becomes a big-league contributor and is extolled.
I don't understand why a basketball player makes the leap from high school to the professional ranks and is villified for not getting his education.
What's the difference?
I'd bet this kid's contract will likely have the pro team that signs him footing the bill for his college if he doesn't work out. Kind of like the deals a lot of baseball prospects sign. That's a win-win in my mind.

 

[Drip]

I don't understand how a kid goes straight from high school to the pros in baseball, plays in the minors for a few years and then becomes a big-league contributor and is extolled.
I don't understand why a basketball player makes the leap from high school to the professional ranks and is villified for not getting his education.
What's the difference?
I'd bet this kid's contract will likely have the pro team that signs him footing the bill for his college if he doesn't work out. Kind of like the deals a lot of baseball prospects sign. That's a win-win in my mind.

There is no difference.

 

[cranberry]

Good for the kid. On a larger scale this fully demonstrates the folly of the NBA or any professional league conspiring with the NCAA to deny elite athletes their right to earn money in exchange for their skills.

 

[JackReacher]

I don't understand how a kid goes straight from high school to the pros in baseball, plays in the minors for a few years and then becomes a big-league contributor and is extolled.
I don't understand why a basketball player makes the leap from high school to the professional ranks and is villified for not getting his education.
What's the difference?
I'd bet this kid's contract will likely have the pro team that signs him footing the bill for his college if he doesn't work out. Kind of like the deals a lot of baseball prospects sign. That's a win-win in my mind.

How many kids skip their senior year of high school and go straight to pro baseball? That'd be none, correct?

 

[Twoback]

It's not even a mathematical misconception.
As the No. 1 pick for 2008, Rose gets $12.96 mil for the first three years.
As the No. 4 pick for 2007, he'd have gotten 9.08.
So he'd have played the first year for free, anyway.
And he'd be in Memphis playing for a bad team and a bad franchise, instead of leading a playoff team in his hometown of Chicago, where I guarantee you he gets more in endorsements than just a shoe deal. Name recognition is essential in endorsements, and Kevin Durant, Greg Oden and Derrick Rose all have benefitted in this way by the 19-rule.
So players have "short lifespans" now? So how come Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal and Rasheed Wallace are still playing ball?

Garnett is 32 years old and MIGHT have another good year left. Bryant just turned 30 and he's on the downswing of his career. Shaq and Sheed came up in a slightly different time.

But that's besides the point. There are always exceptions. Always. What about Jonathan Bender? What about Bill Walker, who would have been a lottery pick out of high school and is now lucky to be in the league. What about Leon Powe, who has now torn his ACL three times, I believe? What about Randolph Morris, who would have gotten first-round money out of high school but choose to go to college and now is barely in the league.

That's the fantasy.
Bill Walker -- a lottery pick out of HS.
According to whom? Nobody who has any real knowledge of the subject, I can tell you that. He had no chance to be selected that high with his limited skills.
Randolph Morris did not CHOOSE to go to Kentucky. He HAD to go to Kentucky because it was his only option. He had two AAU teammates taken in the draft. If he were going to be a third, he'd have gone. If he'd entered the draft out of HS, he'd have been fortunate to be chosen 45th.

 

[Pancamo]

I don't understand how a kid goes straight from high school to the pros in baseball, plays in the minors for a few years and then becomes a big-league contributor and is extolled.
I don't understand why a basketball player makes the leap from high school to the professional ranks and is villified for not getting his education.
What's the difference?
I'd bet this kid's contract will likely have the pro team that signs him footing the bill for his college if he doesn't work out. Kind of like the deals a lot of baseball prospects sign. That's a win-win in my mind.

How many kids skip their senior year of high school and go straight to pro baseball? That'd be none, correct?

Where is the outrage with tennis players?

 

[cranberry]

Ryan, what's the hangup on senior year of high school as opposed to freshman year of college? I just don't get what makes that year of high school education so valuable or irretrievable relative to an opportunity to earn the kind of money that most people never see in a lifetime. Why should any individual be denied an opportunity like that to fulfill other peoples' notions of what's "best" for you.

 

[poindexter]

I don't understand how a kid goes straight from high school to the pros in baseball, plays in the minors for a few years and then becomes a big-league contributor and is extolled.
I don't understand why a basketball player makes the leap from high school to the professional ranks and is villified for not getting his education.
What's the difference?
I'd bet this kid's contract will likely have the pro team that signs him footing the bill for his college if he doesn't work out. Kind of like the deals a lot of baseball prospects sign. That's a win-win in my mind.

How many kids skip their senior year of high school and go straight to pro baseball? That'd be none, correct?

There aren't pro baseball leagues in europe who want out 17 year olds. There apparently are pro basketball leagues.

 

[JackReacher]

I don't understand how a kid goes straight from high school to the pros in baseball, plays in the minors for a few years and then becomes a big-league contributor and is extolled.
I don't understand why a basketball player makes the leap from high school to the professional ranks and is villified for not getting his education.
What's the difference?
I'd bet this kid's contract will likely have the pro team that signs him footing the bill for his college if he doesn't work out. Kind of like the deals a lot of baseball prospects sign. That's a win-win in my mind.

How many kids skip their senior year of high school and go straight to pro baseball? That'd be none, correct?

There aren't pro baseball leagues in europe who want out 17 year olds. There apparently are pro basketball leagues.

Exactly. So the comparison of baseball and basketball players skipping high school to go pro is worthless.

 

[heyabbott]

“It’s significant because it shows the curiosity for the American player just refusing to accept what he’s told he has to do,” Vaccaro said. “We’re getting closer to the European reality of a professional at a young age. Basically, Jeremy Tyler is saying, ‘Why do I have to go to high school?’ ”

Does it get slimier than Sonny Vaccaro?

They shot Sonny on the causeway.

 

[I Digress]

Why are you even talking about college? This kid is leaving high school. Good that he's going to get his diploma.....But, he's a kid. Grown men in athletics get robbed blind every day by friends, acquaintances, hangers on and lose money otherwise because they don't know what the **** to do with it. If I'm the parent of a world class athlete, I make sure the kid gets an education of some sort in business, so he knows what the **** to do with the money. Doesn't have to be full-time college. But you need to know. What does this kid know? Can he balance a check book? Fill out a tax return form? Ever checked into a hotel by himself? Have trustworthy people to help him?
Hopefully, everyone involved here knows what they're doing. If this is just agents and Sonny Vaccaro getting rich off this kid (oh, you know Sonny gets a cut), how is this not simply exploitation?
Skip college. Whatever. One and done is it's own kind of exploitation. But finish high school and move into life.
Or let's just get rid of child labor laws altogether.
And each and every one of you extolling this kid's decision making, well, if it doesn't work out and he ends up just another misled kid, or injured kid, or kid who wasn't that good to begin with.. with no education.. gonna send him a buck or two?