Jeremy Tyler Quits

deception · Mar 20, 2010

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/20/sports/basketball/20tyler.html

At halftime of a Maccabi Haifa game nearly a month ago, the American basketball prodigy Jeremy Tyler changed out of his uniform and spent the second half in street clothes. Tyler had not played in the first half, and he watched the rest of the game from the stands.
Off the Dribble

“It didn’t work out. Was he ready? No. Was the team ready? No,” Sonny Vaccaro, a sneaker executive who has advised Tyler, said.

That moment of petulance served as the latest turning point for Tyler, a 6-foot-11 center from San Diego who made headlines last year when he became the first American high school basketball player to skip his senior year to play professionally overseas.

“Since that game, he didn’t get any playing time,” said Tal Avriel, the Haifa team spokesman and lawyer, in a telephone interview from Israel. “That was the point that everyone lost belief in him.”

After a season of problems off the court and minimal production on it, Tyler, 18, quit the team and returned to the United States and an uncertain basketball future.

Tyler’s decision to return came as a surprise to his family, agents and adviser; he had not informed any of them of his decision. Avriel said that Tyler booked his own flight on Thursday and informed the team around noon. Tyler played in only 10 games for Haifa, averaging 2.1 points, 1.9 rebounds and 7.6 minutes.

“I’m disappointed and hurt,” said Makhtar Ndiaye, one of Tyler’s agents with the Wasserman Media Group, who was surprised by the news. “I think I did everything to make him understand what’s at stake. All I know is that I’m as shocked as anyone.”

Tyler struggled with maturity and discipline. In October his coach talked about Tyler’s poor work habits, and his teammates were turned off by what they perceived as arrogance.

Tyler’s basketball future is by no means over. The American system has long shown that athletic big men will get numerous chances.

Brandon Jennings’s overseas experiment eventually turned out well; he played in Rome, became a first-round pick and is thriving in the N.B.A.

Tyler’s road looks less likely to yield immediate dividends. His next move will be to explore heading to Europe or playing in the N.B.A.’s Development League. Tyler is still one year from being eligible for the N.B.A. draft.

His father, James Tyler, said he spoke to his son on Thursday, and Jeremy did not tell him that he was returning home.

“Please be kind,” James Tyler said in a telephone interview. “The kid is trying to get himself together. This honestly wasn’t a guinea-pig experiment that failed. He’ll show better as the story continues. This isn’t the end of the story. It’s the beginning of it.”

Sonny Vaccaro, a former sneaker company executive who has advised Jennings and Tyler, said that Tyler still had plenty of opportunities. He said that he had received calls from a half-dozen N.B.A. officials curious about Tyler’s next move and that an annual camp for foreign players in Treviso, Italy, had expressed interest in Tyler.

Vaccaro said he would still encourage other top American prospects to play overseas. “The experiment wasn’t what we had hoped for, but he had every right to do what he did,” Vaccaro said. “It didn’t work out. Was he ready? No. Was the team ready? No.”

Vaccaro said Tyler’s experience differed from Jennings’s because Tyler’s family did not move to Europe with him, as Jennings’s did. Jennings’s mother and younger brother were with him in Rome for his entire time there. Tyler often struggled with being on time, was visited at his apartment by police officers because he was playing music too loudly, and struggled with loneliness and adjusting to a different culture.

“The failing in my eyes was when the family didn’t move with him,” Vaccaro said. “That was the first sign that this was going to be the hard thing, even with all the fake bravado that Jeremy had. He was not prepared for what this was. Mentally, he never adjusted.

“I don’t know if he can. There are flaws, but there’s still people in his ear calling him and telling him he’s the greatest player in the world.”
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Sex Panther · Mar 20, 2010

hahaha

Chocolove · Mar 20, 2010

that last sentence...doesn't sit right with me. This kid fucked up big time to be honest, the physical ability might be there, but walk out on a team like that is BS. Still some NBA team will probably draft him and he goes on living life as a pretty rich man.

deception · Mar 20, 2010

Chocolove said: ↑

that last sentence...doesn't sit right with me. This kid fucked up big time to be honest, the physical ability might be there, but walk out on a team like that is BS. Still some NBA team will probably draft him and he goes on living life as a pretty rich man.
Click to expand...

this would be his grade 12 year and he was sent to israel, mercenary style to be the bread winner of his family all by himself. as far as im concerned- this was inevitable and his parents should be ashamed of themselves.

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Jeremy Tyler Quits

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Jeremy Tyler Quits

deception JBB Banned Member

Sex Panther works every time.

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