If the name Jeremy Tyler does not sound familiar to you, then it should not. Tyler is a rather obscure name in the sports world right now, but down the road it will be a new topic of discussion in the barber shops or some other outposts where wisdom and lore can be sometimes confused.
Jeremy Tyler is a high school basketball player in San Diego who had already verbally committed to the University of Louisville. However, young Jeremy has elected to forego his senior year of high school to turn pro…..in Europe. Yes, he is skipping his senior year to start his professional career.
Head scratcher? Yes. But, just where do you start?
Tyler has skills. He is 6’10” and is as good as it gets for his age as well as some that are already on campus. One
question about him would be if his mind can keep up with the body. Initially, the answer would be no by just making such a decision or is it?
Jeremy Tyler wants to fulfill a dream like all kids who play serious basketball and that is to play in the NBA. Most try and take a more conventional route by at least finishing high school and making an attempt to attend classes in college, at least remaining academically eligible until it is time to bolt for the NBA.
The NBA has standards and that is only because the NCAA threatened to cut off the free supply of players to the
league. Players now have to stay in college for at least one year. That has been as comical as anything whereas by the time his academic requirements catch up to some of the players who just practice and then play, they are already
holding a press conference to announce they are foregoing their college career to pursue a a job in the NBA. Nice,
real nice.
Some school has wasted a year’s worth of college education on some joker who will never make a contribution to the school if he does make it big time.
However, let’s get back to the case of Jeremy Tyler.
Tyler is too young to go to the NBA and some think he will not be able to achieve a test score that would make him eligible for college entry. So what do you do? You let some flesh peddler come in and hoodwink what family members that are over the of physical age of 21 to send the youngster off to Europe to forge a career. The question to ask here would be how could you let a kid go to a part of the world where he would have to learn a foreign language when there is no documentation yet that he has learned how to speak English?
The whole “doing this to help my family” thing is sad. That seed has been planted by the flesh peddlers as if that is
supposed to make it all right. Tyler was quoted as saying that he was doing this so he could by his mom a new car. Is
that what this is all about? How about if you are going to do it that you may want to send your mom to school to
further her education where as someone can look after you should the dreaded career ending injury come about?
Then there is the family. Money is tight. It’s tight everywhere but has it come to this? This is the best
solution? We all know the answer to that. If Jeremy Tyler is going to play in Europe maybe he should ask a few
questions. Questions like how much and when do I get paid?
What coach can continue to teach me the game to the point where I will someday be ready for the NBA? The reason why I raise those two questions are because some European teams are notorious for not paying players on time because of performance. Remember, there is no players association or union to cover your “you know what” over there.
As for coaching, many are as good as their last game. It is a very volatile business where the time for teaching children is limited as it all about the winning and covering the point spread. The Phil Jacksons of Europe don’t have that sort of time.
If you want to say the kid is going to be paid than fine. I get it. In all honesty, I really don’t care about Jeremy
Tyler with the exception that his kind make a small portion of aspiring basketball players who have dreams of the NBA. The problem is it gives some other parent the notion that their kid may be good enough to try such a stunt with a negative outcome.
When you think about it may be better for everyone. The colleges don’t have to waste money on recruiting him and watching him walk around for a year on campus. He could make a lot of money and the family gets a new car. And if it doesn’t work out he will be the subject of countless columns around the country and a certain feature for Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. I would love to tell you I will follow his plight but I think I may stick to trying to think about the real differnce makers in sports who along with their families get it.
