Euro Menace Update

Remember Brandon Jennings? Probably not, in that this blog's readership isn't much for the NBA Draft, but Jennings is the kid who raised middle fingers to David Stern's one year on the plantation requirement for high school ballers to spend time in college. Jennings took the money and ran to Lottomatica Virtus Roma, a top Italian professional team, for $1.2 million. It turns out that, according to the Gray Lady, he's not happy.

Jennings was supposed to be a high-scoring point guard, but in the Euro game, he's been little more than a defensive stopper who only takes open shots. This has led some observers to note that since many of the top players in this year's class have said they aren't going to Europe, that this means the Jennings Threat is over. You see, players want to be famous in the NBA, more than getting paid.

Um... I realize that people *want* college basketball to succeed. March Madness is good times, after all. But I'm just not seeing it, for the following reasons.

1) Jennings is still likely to be a high draft pick this year. And if his draft position has been hurt by his Italian sojourn, it's probably still not enough to make up for the guaranteed $1.2 million.

2) Having one underaged guy come over doesn't necessarily mean that you are going to have a flood next year. What would, of course, cause that is a handful of catastrophic injuries to some highly regarded freshmen.

3) If this country continues having economic distress -- and, well, it's hard to see how that changes at least in the next 6 to 12 months -- the currency edge of getting Euros might continue to grow.

So, yes... it's a man's league over there, and there's no doubt that being the big man on campus has got to be more fun. But declaring the exodus over just because the first guy over is having no fun seems, well, silly. Money talks.