Brandon Jennings signs with Pallacanestro Virtus Roma

[stuart]

From FoxSports: link

Reports: Jennings signs deal with team in Rome The 18-year-old point guard, the consensus top-ranked player in the country, signed a multi-year, multi-million contract with Pallacanestro Virtus Roma, an Italian club in Serie A of Euroleague, according to multiple reports.

Jennings is set to become the first American high school player to go directly to Europe since the NBA instituted a rule three years ago requiring that players be at least one year removed from high school before they can enter the league's draft.

Last week he declared his intentions to play abroad this upcoming season, giving up his scholarship at the University of Arizona. Still not eligible by NCAA standards, he decided not to wait for the results of his latest SAT.

Jennings spent three days in Las Vegas participating in unorganized workouts in front of team representatives from seven different countries. According to the Los Angeles Times and Washington Post, Jennings signed with the prominent Italian club.

In a statement, Jennings's advisor Sonny Vaccaro described the terms as a "three-year, multimillion-dollar" contract with buyout considerations that will allow Jennings to leave the team and enter the NBA draft when eligible next year, according to the Los Angeles Times.

[mvblair]

Holy ·$%!" Multi-year!? This kid must be serious about it, man. I guess he´s not just using that one year as a springboard to the NBA.

Like most foreigners, he´ll have some awful culture shock. If he gets through that and his skills are as good as people say they are, I think we´re going to see a fine, fine, fine player.

I´m kind of excited, honestly. I hope he gets a good, fair chance, unlike a lot of the younger kids in Europe.

[mvblair]

Holy ·$%!" Multi-year!? This kid must be serious about it, man. I guess he´s not just using that one year as a springboard to the NBA.

Well, if you´d bothered to read the article, you might know that he´s got opt-outs for the NBA draft, you moron.

[stuart]

Well, if you´d bothered to read the article, you might know that he´s got opt-outs for the NBA draft, you moron.

Matt, stop talking to yourself, mate. You're amongst friends.

Stuart

[Joško Poljak Fan]

I was against that signing at first... but:
He choosed an euroleague level team for 3 years (!!) meaning he is willing to stay 2 years there and actually learn, as first year in europe can be tough for most experienced US college players let alone HS player... and he got Jasmin Repeša there as a coach, that never was afraid to give a chance to youngsters.

I think this was a very well thought out signing... props to Jennings or his manager for that...

[penzias]

29-30 october Virtus Roma - Joventut

[911]

Wow, this guy is serious. He actualy want to learn to play a real basketball.
His stats in school was amazing: 35,5ppg 11,2 apg
Wish him good luck in Roma.

[mavs128]

there's about a 95% chance that he leaves after one year. But, if he really enjoys himself, or if he gets injured, or if something else unforseen happens, he might stay a 2nd or 3rd year. But that's very doubtful.

[damelo]

Let's see. But, he is very young, we'll see what his maturity will be. Anyway, that's interesting to see he finally found a place somewhere.

[alermac]

Well, if you´d bothered to read the article, you might know that he´s got opt-outs for the NBA draft, you moron.

Hey, it won't be so easy for Jennings to leave after one year, depending on what his buyout clause is.

So; in a couple years we should start to know if this is the beginning of another major change in European (and also NCAA) basketball.

[uhg80]

I think, this is a smart move. If Jennings struggles so much in his first year that his draftstock is significantly hurt in the process, he'll have at least another year to adapt and work on his flaws while making good money. So his agent managed to take away some of the risks of going to Europe.

[mavs128]

Hey, it won't be so easy for Jennings to leave after one year, depending on what his buyout clause is.

So; in a couple years we should start to know if this is the beginning of another major change in European (and also NCAA) basketball.

that's the point, part of the contract will be an easy buyout clause after one year. Jennings wouldn't go to Europe unless he could leave for the 2009 NBA draft.

[mvblair]

A great article by one of my favorite reporters...click on the headline to read the full article:

The Education of Brandon Jennings -- Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports, September 25, 2008

...Life isn’t so different in Italy, Brandon Jennings said with a laugh on his cell phone...

“The only difference is that we don’t have a dryer,” Jennings said late Tuesday night. “We hang our clothes on a line.”

Back in the States, Jennings understands what they’re waiting to hear: Oh, I made such a mistake with a leap out of Compton, Calif., to Virtus Roma of the Italian League. They won’t let me play my game. I’m all alone. The Euro League is no place for an American teenager trying to do his purgatory year before entering the NBA draft.

Back home, the college basketball propaganda machine is waiting to issue it’s typical “I told you so’s” about how life in its warped system is somehow still beneficial. Jennings heard it all on his way out, and still hears it across the Atlantic Ocean. Just understand something: He’s a point guard learning to see the floor, to open his mind, and the education of Brandon Jennings is well underway.

...“I would’ve loved to have gone to college, and I’m sure I would’ve learned a lot there, but I’m learning a lot more over here.

...He is thinking globally, but acting locally. For Jennings, a slicing, explosive 6-foot-2 lefty, has to be a grown-up in Rome. He has to survive the physical and mental toll of a long Euro season. He doesn’t have to always play great, but he has to never back down. He has to leave behind the AAU culture, the one-on-one mentality of grassroots American ball and immerse himself in a Euro game that rejects those false basketball gods.

Jennings is an experiment that has repercussions at every level of basketball. If this goes right, European franchises will be inspired to invest in the next year’s high school class. Kids who don’t want college – and maybe don’t belong – won’t have to play that foolish one-and-done game. Sonny Vaccaro made this deal happen, and promises there’s a line down the street and around the corner wanting to follow a Jennings success story...

“To me, this is the best path to get ready for the NBA,” one Western Conference general manager said. “But the thing is: You better be a mentally tough kid to pull this off. This isn’t going to be college, where they’re going to hold your hand and never make you figure out anything for yourself.”

Virtus coach Jasmin Repesa introduced his young millionaire to pro ball in the first week of training camp, insisting that he had to play hard all the time. Alone in that locker room, it hit Jennings again: This is the best thing that ever happened to him. As money goes, the NBA Developmental League can’t come close. As coaching and competition go, the Euro League is mostly superior. There are no NCAA limits on practice time. There are no AAU bagmen pretending to be assistant coaches. Jennings will get coached and get benched and get the best-paying professional apprenticeship in history.

“We just got back from a three-day road trip to Serbia, and it was three days on the road with older guys, where I had to work to fit in,” Jennings said. “This is the pro life. Nobody is babysitting me. The biggest thing for me is this: I have to prove myself. I want to let these guys know that I’m here to help them win. I don’t want them to think that I’m just some hotshot American kid trying to take all the shine here so I can set myself up for the NBA draft.

“Here, it isn’t like what basketball was in the U.S., where everyone just sits back and watches the individual player. It’s team first here. People come to watch the team play, and the team win. What I want to do is build relationships with my teammates, with my coaches. That’s what people are wondering if I can do …”

...Outside the NBA, the most intriguing games in the world this season will be the two meetings of Jennings and Virtus Roma with Ricky Rubio and Spain’s DVK Jovenut. Those are the nights everyone in the Euro League will want to see, the best two young point guards on the planet playing far, far away from the college game.

“Yeah, yeah, I hear all about that,” Jennings said. “I’ve got a lot more to worry about than that, because there are so many great players over here. I better get used to playing with grown men, and I better learn to adjust to the Euro system. I can’t just be ‘that guy,’ worried about the hype of those games with Ricky Rubio. I know everyone is watching to see what happens with me all the time, not just then …”

He just turned 19, his basketball burden is immense, and Brandon Jennings swears that he understands the truth. Like his laundry, the kid hangs out on a line in Italy.

How can anybody not be impressed with this kid? Jennings hafs the perfect attitude for someone in his position. He is humble, smart, and hungry. Every basketball fan, whether they watch the NBA or the EL or the ULEB or the PBA, should be ecstatic to hear a 19-year-old rookie say "Here, it isn’t like what basketball was in the U.S., where everyone just sits back and watches the individual player." This is a 19-year-old who is not going to college, but he's got the attitude of Tim Duncan. Kudos to Jennings. I hope he's succesful.

[JGX]

Jennings article from ESPN Magazine:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?section=magazine&id=3715746

[robbe]

Jennings against Siena