I'm even more convinced Jennings made right move
LAS VEGAS - After chatting for two hours on Monday with Brandon Jennings, Sonny Vaccaro, Kelly Williams and Kacey Jones ? the teenage basketball star and his handlers ? I'm even more convinced Jennings made the right call by choosing Europe over the University of Arizona.
We met inside my small hotel suite at the New York-New York casino, cameras rolling and rollercoaster whizzing outside my hotel window. Jennings, who is in Vegas meeting with prospective European teams, came dressed looking like the typical 18-year-old ? white T-shirt, matching white shorts, sneakers and an oversized ball cap. He was shy, a bit nervous, very soft spoken and articulate.
Dumb? Not to my eyes and ears. Whatever trouble he may or may not have had with the SAT ? the NCAA red-flagged a score of 1,300 the second time Jennings took the test ? was probably a result of indifference, immaturity and lack of preparation.
More than anything, Jennings struck me as determined and resolute. He knows there are people hoping he fails in his bid to go from high school All-American to European professional success to NBA lottery pick in a calendar year. He wants to make those people look foolish and evil.
"No, I'm not nervous," Jennings said about playing overseas, though he's never been outside of the country. "I'm not scared at all. It's basketball. I've been doing this my whole life."
Why demonize a kid for pursuing his dream? We don't do it to baseball players who join the minor leagues for relative peanuts straight out of high school. Why basketball players?
That bothers some, including Jennings.
"This is something we've always dreamed about ? playing in the NBA, taking care of our families. When we see other kids going pro at 13, 14, 15, it bothers us. We're doing the same thing they're doing."
Regardless of his score on the SAT, no one can say that Brandon Jennings is trying to hurt anyone by approaching his basketball career in a more honest fashion than Lute Olson and the NCAA administrators who protect a morally bankrupt system.
Jennings is going to spend the next year developing his basketball skills.
"It's not about money," Jennings said. "It's about developing. Getting better. Playing against better competition. I'll be playing against professionals. ... Some guys over there should be playing in the NBA." For better or worse, Jennings isn't going to waste time putting on the charade of being a college student. At this time, he has no interest in a formal, traditional education. He wants to learn basketball.
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