When Commissioner David Stern implemented his minimum age requirement for the NBA, no one thought it would have an Israeli twist to it. Yet that is exactly what happened when Jeremy Tyler, a rising senior at San Diego High, decided to forgo his final year of high school and instead sign a one-year deal with Maccabi Haifa of the Israeli Premier League.
The age requirement prohibits any player under age 19 to enter the draft, effectively forcing all players to spend at least one year in college. The rule, first implemented for the 2006 Draft, has led to a rise of “one-and-done” players in college basketball, such as Kevin Durant, O.J. Mayo, and Tyreke Evans who spend the obligatory one-year in basketball purgatory before fleeing to the big money of the NBA.
Last year, Brandon Jennings, ranked the No. 1 prospective college freshman in his class, bucked the system, signing a one-year contract in the Italian League. Jennings had previously committed to Arizona, but was unable to pass the entrance exam, so he jumped the pond to Europe for a year before becoming the No. 10 pick in the 2009 NBA Draft.
Now comes the news of Tyler. At 6’-11’’ and 260 pounds, Tyler simply dominated his league and verbally committed to play at Louisville after graduating from San Diego. One more year of high school basketball did not excite Tyler, though.
“I was the best player in San Diego this year and it was boring. Next year, it would be extremely boring,” Tyler said. “I'd go into the game with no enthusiasm.”
So, he will suit up for Maccabi Haifa for a year, try to lead it to back to the championship game, and likely enter the 2011 Draft.
Search
Archives
Subscribe