I gotta cry foul on this. You seem to be distorting the argument here: kids aren't "forced" to go to college. If they were "forced" to go, then Jennings would have had to go. Why should the NBA not be allowed to impose an age restriction? IYAM, the quality of play in the league has improved since the NBA imposed the one-year limit; more rookies are coming to the league actually ready to contribute to an NBA team, at least, in my opinion.Absolutely. He got better preparation for the professional game, a head start on marketing opportunities (Under Armour contract), more time in the weight room, and he got paid to do it. Seems like a no brainer to me. It isn't the best thing for every player -- Jennings worked really hard to make it work-- but it's ridiculous to force kids to go to college for one year when they're already good enough to be professional basketball players.
He had 57, not as a rookie, a couple years back.Redd dropped 57? Last rookie I remember going for 50 was AI. Well regardless that was the best rookie performance I have ever seen.
Jennings definitely has the makings of an elite offensive NBA player, but he is nowhere close to Evans on D. For our team, I believe Evans is and will be the best player.
He had 57, not as a rookie, a couple years back.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/recap?gid=2006111115
Jennings set the rookie record.
I gotta cry foul on this. You seem to be distorting the argument here: kids aren't "forced" to go to college. If they were "forced" to go, then Jennings would have had to go. Why should the NBA not be allowed to impose an age restriction? IYAM, the quality of play in the league has improved since the NBA imposed the one-year limit; more rookies are coming to the league actually ready to contribute to an NBA team, at least, in my opinion.
If I had anything to say about it, they'd raise the requirements to two years out of high school.
One career high night - even if it is 55 points - doesn't make ROY. What's happening, however, is we might actually have a really interesting battle for the title of top rook this year, to the benefit of basketball fans everywhere...well, except Golden State.![]()
Or does it have more to do with Jennings ability? Me thinks yes. Brandon Jennings reminds me ALOT of a young Allen Iverson.He has been the best rookie so far even without this 50+ point performance!!
I think his success is a great ad for Euroleague and killer for NCAA. Obviously, I am hyperbolizing now but Jennings proved to many people that 1 year in Euroleague is better than 1 .. ok, may be even 2 or 3 years in college.
Only because you can't actually force players to go to college (and not all of them would qualify). The age limit effectively did force most top high school players to go to college. Rose, Mayo, Oden, Wall. None of those guys would have gone to college otherwise. Jennings has shown that some high school players would be better served turning pro right away. That's what he did and he's a better player a year down the line because of it. Lebron was an instant success as well.
You're right that the age rule alone isn't the problem. It's all the agents and college coaches who see dollar signs instead of players and abuse the system. From what I've seen the level of development most players get in the NCAA system is rather low. In a lot of cases the elite players succeed in spite of it rather than because of it. And the NBA is doing nothing to help these players find alternate means of advancing their careers. Basically you find a college program to play for or you're on your own. The NBA did nothing to help Brandon Jennings when his eligibility at Arizona was in question and their head coach had just left. And before the draft there was story after story about how Jennings had hurt his draft stock by playing overseas. Draft stock, yes. Actual development? Quite the opposite. But the NBA will be rolling in jersey sales now. I'm sure they'll find a way to spin this story to get what they want.
The NBA doesn't exist without it's players. What's going on between the NBA, the NCAA, and corporate sponsored youth basketball programs is collusion. If the 30 teams of the NBA don't want to foot the bill to help develop these players, they should at least be doing something to help match them up with teams that will.
Defense wins championships. What would you rather have? AI (incredible scorer)who has never won a championship ....
or D-Wade ( good/great scorer and Great defense), who plays both sides of the game?
But ya, right now Jennings is in the lead for ROY...I admit that. But we still got TONS more games to play...
Way premature. It takes more than scoring. I admit, Jennings could very well be the best this year, but once Reke gets that Jumpshot, look out. He's a whole 'nother kind of point guard. Who would you rather have, Iverson or a bigger Walt Frazier?
This.
Jennings has the makings of an Iverson (for the good as well as for the bad) 'Reke has the makings of a Billups 2.0 (never saw Frazier play) Flynn has the makings of an Isiah, and Rubio, IMO has the potential to become something altogether more special, but he hasn't progressed at all in the past two years and as Dylan Moran said, potential is like your bank balance, there's always less then you thought.
Aside from that, from what I saw of him in Rome last season, he doesn't do nearly as well in a structured offence as he does when he's simply allowed to take the ball and go to work.
All thinks considered, I think the Kings made the right decision.
Welcome to the board!