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“Check Our Fresh”

September 1, 2009 NBA vs Professional Basketball in Europe

Rubio is going back to Spain

Rubio is going back to Spain

jennings

Basketball is a sport that’s been around for over a century and had been dominated by Americans and the NBA for essentially the whole time. There are many positives and negatives to both the NBA and Pro Basketball in Europe. Josh Childress made the first big splash when he decided that the NBA just wasn’t for him in 2008 and it was time to make a change. He went over to Europe and is currently one of if not the most popular players in Greece and living like a Greek God. This was shocking but only the beginning of the change. The NBA has a rule that says if you aren’t 19 years old you cannot enter the NBA draft until one year after you graduate from high school (dumb rule that I will discuss in a later post). This coming after the 2004 draft when 8 of the first 19 picks were straight out of high school from Dwight Howard to Robert Swift. High School players up until this time had been hit or miss. You had some players who became superstars and some who had fizzled out and lost their way.

David Stern, the NBA commissioner felt it was important that these players got an extra year of experience so that their bodies and minds could mature. He felt this was the best way to prepare these young men for the rigorousness of the NBA and its schedule. Then came the Brandon Jennings situation. Jennings was one of the most exciting high school players in the country but hasn’t always been the easiest players to figure out off the court. In 2006, Jennings committed to USC and had Trojan fans excited to get one of the top players in the country to commit to their school. In 2007, Jennings took his commitment away and changed it to the University of Arizona. From personal experience, I can tell you that Lute Olson and the Wildcat fans thought that he would come in and take Arizona back to the Final Four. In 2008, Jennings decided that college wasn’t for him (and he couldn’t get the score he needed to get on his SAT), so he signed with Lottomatica Roma of the Italian Lega A. He would earn $1.65 million for that season and an additional $2 million from an Under Armour contract. In 25 games playing 17 minutes per game, he averaged 5.5 ppg, 2.2 apg, 1.6 rpg and 1.5 spg. These aren’t exactly stats that blow you away, but he says that his experience was amazing and it prepared him for what he would eventually face in the NBA. As one can tell from previous sports articles that I have written, I am all about athletes, especially young athletes making as much money as they can while they can. I also understand that college isn’t for everyone and shouldn’t be something forced onto people. However, I think this idea of going to Europe instead of the NBA and college basketball in the United States is something that American basketball fans cannot be happy about. High school stars Jeremy Tyler (high school junior), Latavious Williams (was committed to Memphis), along with NBA players Childress, Earl Boykins, Leinas Kleiza, and more are under contract to play ball, not in the United States but in countries across Europe.

Ricky Rubio was arguably the most NBA ready player in this past NBA draft behind Blake Griffin. Rubio had international experience including playing well against the USA in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. He was one of the key players in leading Spain to a Silver Medal finish. Rubio was a near perfect player for many NBA teams looking for point guard help in this past NBA draft. Drafting international players in the NBA is always a tricky process. Most of them are under contract or have their rights with other teams in Europe, many are not able to adjust to the NBA style of basketball, and many just don’t like many American cities. Many would say that Rubio (18) fell in the draft from where he was projected to go (2) down to the fifth spot because of the fact he and his family wanted to only play in Los Angeles or New York. Minneapolis, Minnesota isn’t exactly L.A. or N.Y. The Wolves drafted him anyways and figured he would fall in line just like every other international player in the past. There were many complications including a large buy out of about $8 million and his parents getting involved. It was a huge mess. Well on August 31, Rubio and his family decided that it would be best for him to go back to Barcelona and play for a team in his home country. The T-Wolves still own his rights for right now. FC Barcelona is paying him $5.3 million and requiring that he stay in Spain for two years. The Wolves seem to think he is just doing this to better prepare himself for the NBA. I believe the truth is Rubio like many other international players come to America to play so they can live in a major market because they feel the transition and lifestyle will be better for them.

Unfortunately, I think this is something that will continue for the foreseeable future. Young players want their money and international players want to be comfortable coming to America. As a big time hoops fan, I hope that David Stern can figure something out so that this can come to an end or at least to an extreme minimum. It hurts college programs and takes away from the NBA fan as well. Luckily the Wolves drafted Jonny Flynn right after Rubio as an insurance policy (and also he might end up being one of the best pgs in the draft), but that could have really held the Wolves back if they didn’t have that mind set. The next Collective Bargaining Agreement meeting is in 2010 so they can hopefully decide that high school players can enter the draft and somehow figure out a way for international players to make a comfortable transition to NBA cities, even smaller ones.