Brandon Jennings to take bullet for his successors

Brandon Jennings doesn't have a choice : He's a dazzling point guard who couldn't get the requisite test scores to enroll at Point Guard U of Arizona, so he is taking his game to Europe. There are sure to be romantic notions of the young American phenom taking his game to Europe and teaching the Europeans a thing or two about American inner city basketball, but my guess is that Jennings will be in for a rude awakening. Don't get me wrong. I am all for American kids fresh out of high school going pro wherever in the world and plying their craft. The globalization and decentralization of the basketball industry has already started and Jennings is definitely not the end. If you can't stop it, why not embrace it? Besides, it is time to have more options than the neither student nor baller world of American amateur basketball. I think that Brandon Jennings will be wise to just suck up the hard year in Europe and learn from his coaches and elder teammates. He cannot expect to go in and dominate at the premier division level of Euro pro ball. The best point guards in Europe are guys like J.R. Holden, Will Bynum and Lynn Greer, who weren't fits in the NBA, for reasons athletic, timing or otherwise. However, they are still world class athletes, with much seasoning. For example, J.R. Holden, in my opinion, is the most effective lead guard in international basketball, Redeem Team players included. Amongst the youngsters, Ricky Rubio is the best, and he is far ahead of Jennings. At 17-years old, Rubio has already been playing pro ball for two years, will play on Spain's senior team in Beijing, and his command of the ACB game on both ends of the floor shows signs of him developing into a taller version of John Stockton. In terms of hoops IQ, Rubio is already ahead of No. 1 overall draft pick Derrick Rose. Brandon Jennings undoubtedly has got some talent, but compared to Rubio, he just looks like a guy who is really good amongst his peers. Basically, Jennings is going to get his butt spanked in Europe for a year. He is just not developed enough to be an elite pro at that level. He will have to adjust to a whole new world linguistically, culturally and gastronomically, and it will make the basketball side of things seem easy by comparison. If he sucks it up, dedicates himself to improving as a player, and doesn't melt down, then he will become a lottery pick in 2009. The Pandora's Box has been opened for high schoolers to play professionally in Europe rather than go to college, and as cold and inhumane as it sounds, Brandon Jennings will be the first guinea pig in the big global experiment.