Has Brandon Jennings started a trend by playing basketball in Europe?

Brandon Jennings in uniform
for Oak Hill Academy in Virgina

The NBA rule that requires draftees to be at least 19 years of age and be one year removed from high school graduation is facing an interesting test right now.

A top-10 high school player who had committed to Arizona and was expected to start for them right away seems to be opting to play in Europe this year and then enter next year's basketball draft.

The usual route to expected fame and fortune in the NBA is to adopt the mantle of "student athlete" and tough it out for a semester (no need to get good grades in the Spring if you're dropping out). The kids who do this would have jumped right into the adult world of a career had there been no age limit.

NBA commissioner David Stern has already said he is itching to make the age limit 20 when the collective bargaining agreement comes up for renewal. Fans,  team officials and sports analysts are divided on the efficacy of this rule. I fall into the pile that thinks it's unnecessary to try and be a father figure to kids who have families to make decisions with them.

For others to impose their will on these athletes is to assume the kids have advisors and families that don't and can't know what's best for them. I call that social engineering, paternalism and in most cases bias of the worst sort. Even the teams know this is hogwash since this year's draft featured the most freshmen taken in the first round than ever before. Out of the top 8 vote getters in this year's NBA MVP voting never attended college.

Why isn't that same logic followed by professional golf, tennis, baseball and Olympic sports such as ice skating? Baseball might have it right: allow high school grads to enter the draft or decide to play college ball for three years before they can declare for the draft.

Brandon Jennings, who can't seem to muster the strength to pass the minimum testing requirements to enter Arizona as a college student has decided not to play the NCAA game. He wants to be paid to work and not pretend he is a "student athlete".  His stunning decision to bypass a top ranked school in the Pac 10 Conference, find an agent and play professionally might start a trend that will keep other talented seniors from playing the NBA's game, in more ways than one.

If more kids do this the NBA teams might actually have to invest in the Developmental League as a mirror image of baseball's farm system OR the NCAA might see that their archaic system is in danger because they deny kids the fruits of their labor while universities and TV networks get rich. This might wake people up. I hope so.