Jeremy Tyler took the Brandon Jennings formula one step too far when he decided to leave high school after his junior season to play professionally in Israel. It would have taken a remarkably mature high school junior to succeed under the circumstances Tyler chose to embrace, but he apparently had enough faith in himself to take the plunge.
Probably not the best idea. Tyler’s stay with Maccabi Haifa was short-lived for rather predictable reasons, and while having a year in the states dunking on his high school competition wouldn’t likely have done wonders for his development, it would have been something to keep him on the NBA radar. Instead, these days Tyler is already treated as a cautionary tale, a year before he would even be eligible to play an NBA game.
Thanks to the NBA age limit, Tyler still has one more year to burn before declaring for the NBA draft, and according to the Associated Press, he’ll spend it with the confoundedly named Tokyo Apache of the Basketball Japan League.
And how about this for random trivia: the Apache’s (or is it Apaches’) coach is former Pacers, Spurs, and Sonics coach Bob Hill.
Tyler has another year to improve his draft stock, but he squandered an opportunity playing for a legitimate international club in Haifa and will likely fall a few spots because of it. If Tyler could have played well -- or at least lasted a full season -- in Israel, he could’ve seen his draft worth benefit from a post-Jennings bounce. Instead, he couldn’t make it through the trial he chose to undergo, and now will play in a far less impressive international league.
Someone is going to take a chance on Tyler due to his size and athleticism, but it seems his legitimate chance to be the No.1 overall pick in the 2011 has been destroyed by his own devices.