Jeremy Tyler was a 6'11" high school phenom who, had he continued playing in high school could have played for one year at any college of his choosing and... potentially... spun that into getting paid millions as an NBA lottery pick.
I say he WAS a high school phenom because Jeremy skipped his senior year... went overseas to make $140,000... and THEN make the jump to the NBA. And shocker of shockers... it's not going so well (via FanHouse).
His coach calls him lazy and out of shape. The team captain says he is soft. His teammates say he needs to learn to shut up and show up on time. He has no friends on the team. In extensive interviews with Tyler, his teammates, coaches, his father and advisers, the consensus is that he is so naïve and immature that he has no idea how naïve and immature he is. So enamored with his vast potential, Tyler has not developed the work ethic necessary to tap it.
“The question is whether he’ll take responsibility of his career,” Haifa Coach Avi Ashkenazi said. “If he thinks he’s going to be in the N.B.A. because his name is Jeremy Tyler and he was a very good high school player, he will not be.”
I'm going to call this the "see what Brandon Jennings started?" phenomenon. High school guys thinking they're too good for the US system so they chase a little bit of money overseas. I will admit, it worked out for Jennings because it knocked him down a peg. It forced him to grow up. He's better for the experience. But Tyler's not following the same path:
“All he had to do was go and do what Brandon did, shut up and go learn,” said Sonny Vaccaro, an adviser to Tyler and Jennings. “He obviously isn’t doing that. He thinks that he’s Kevin Garnett.”
This is almost like when KG came out of high school. There were a couple of guys... like him and Kobe... that were good enough to do it. But then everyone got starry-eyed and figured THEY could do it too... leading to a bunch of busts.
Who knows... maybe this kid will shape up and turn it around. It's early yet and he's young. But I just don't like this trend of players going over to Europe first before coming to the NBA. If it continues, expect David Stern and the NCAA to get together to figure out a way around it.
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