Mass Exodus

What up fellow Slamheads and basketball brethren. Due to popular demand I've decided to bless the masses (OK 5 people) with my own site to display my genius at work. This is an article that was posted by my brothers from another test tube over at SKO. Pretty busy at work right now so this is just the preview. For all you hip hop heads think of this story as a Da Drought Mixtapes before the Carter III dropped. So save up your allowance because "Where Basketball B Longs" hits stores on Friday!

“Brandon Jennings is doing something unpopular for the betterment of the masses, and I believe Congress will pay attention to this and see the foolishness of the ‘one-and-done’ rule. This will start a chain of events that will lead to the rule’s demise. This year and next, others will follow Brandon Jennings’ decision.”-Sonny Vaccaro-advisor, sneaker pimp, prophet?

For real? One skinny, gumby, and stunna shade rocking kid's decision will supposedly influence others to follow hundreds of thousands of dollars(millions now that he got his U.A. shoe deal) overseas instead of taking classes most of them won't care about, surviving on cafeteria food, and basically being pimped by the NCAA? You better believe it. Now I know what your thinking right now. Your replaying every Dick Vitale, Bobby Knight, and Coach K interview you've ever heard about all the glorious benefits of a college education and how nothing can compare to the college 'experience'. (Cough)bullshit(Cough). Anyways, I'm not here to point out the ridiculous hypocrisy that is the NCAA system,(Ryan Jones has already done a good job of that) I'm here with a warning to fans of college basketball. You better start petitioning Mr. Stern and Mr. Brand or get ready for the darkest days that the college basketball has seen in a long time.

NOW STARTING FOR PANATHINAIKOS ATHENS, LANCE STEPHENSON! Or Renardo Sydney, maybe Xaiver Henry, then Tristan Thompson. Yes sir, its coming. Whether we as American fans are ready for it or not a mass exodus is approaching. Unless the one and done rule is abolished and Myles Brand decides it's time for Obama-like change in the NCAA within the year expect to see a couple more All-Americans taking the extended senior trip to Europe next year and then even more the one after that. Now your probably saying to yourself that the only way this happens is if Brandon Jennings dominates overseas, cements his draft status and ends up being the number one pick, right? Wrong.

Let's jump in the DeLorean with Doc Brown real quick and gun it back to 1995. A tall and athletic as hell but Amy Winehouse skinny kid by the name of Kevin Garnett was causing quite a raucous with his decision to forgo college ball and head directly to the NBA. Most experts were saying no, no, no. Several were writing him off as a selfish punk who couldn't make the grades and claiming that there was no way that a prep school kid could make the jump directly to the pros and ever be successful. It just wasn't gonna happen. Initially even the Slam staff was (more than) skeptical.

A season later a decent rookie campaign of 10 and 6 and an All-Rookie second team selection was enough to convince another rail thin big man with an already NBA ready last name to test the draft waters. That same year some cocky Italian speaking guard from the Philly suburbs named after raw meat decided to buck the system. The next year a sleepy eyed super athletic swingman decided to throw his name in the lottery. And so it began.

You'd be hard pressed to find one NBA scout or anyone with a lick of basketball sense who has seen Brandon play that would tell you that he isn't at least talented enough right now to have same impact on an NBA lottery team that KG did as a rookie. We are talking about a player who many experts have labeled a young, taller, and more athletic version of A.I. I'm the last person who likes to put undo pressure on a kid by making comparisons to all time greats, but from the McDonald's game and practice footage I've seen with Vitrus Roma it's hard to argue. Now what do you think he's gonna do during the Euroleague season?

Don't get it twisted. I'm not saying that he's just gonna come out and crush the comp overseas. In fact I'll be very surprised if Brandon doesn't have some growing pains learning the lingo and banging in a much more physical professional game. Hopefully he's spending most his off-season with a chica named Rosetta Stone or in the weight room. What I'm saying that if he is just successful enough in Europe not to hurt his draft status next year and make bank at the same time, more are sure to follow.

We are living in a very socioeconomically conscious society especially in the realm of sports. Prep stars who once pondered which school would have the best student section and flyest honeys are now consulting with advisers like Sonny about what environment they should choose to best market themselves to the world. I like to call this the 'King James' effect. Everyone wants to emulate the most popular player in the game and the young guns of today are definitely trying to crib LeBron's buisness sense. Given the zero's in the mans bank account I can't say that I blame them.

Whether David Stern wants to admit it or not, Brandon is changing the game. In fact, there is a small part of me that says this is what the Commish had planned all along. He heard the rumors about Lebron, Bill Walker, and O.J. hoping the pond for a year. He had to have known that with if he enforced a one and done rule it was only a matter of time. What a better way to further globalize the NBA than to send it's future stars overseas for a year and build a strong fan base for that particular player in that part of the world without the NBA ever having to spend a dime. Kids in Rome maybe rocking Brandon Jennings NBA jerseys for the rest of his career, similar to the way a lot fans in Texas will always root for Kevin Durant after his stint at UT.

You've gotta hand it to Stern, Myles Brand never saw this one coming. Or maybe he too was looking for a way to avoid more O.J. Mayo type fiascos. Who knows? What we do know is that the world of prep stars and their decision making process has changed forever. You know what, screw Full Court. Does ESPN have a Euroleague package?