Jeremy Tyler sent shockwaves through the basketball world last week. The 6-foot-11, 258 pound Tyler announced that he would skip his senior year at San Diego High, rescind his commitment to attend Louisville and play professionally in Europe.
He might have the talent to pull it off.
"He has more upside than any player I've seen since LeBron," said former NBA player Olden Polynice, who was a volunteer assistant this past season for San Diego High.
"He's one of those guys who comes along once in a lifetime," Polynice told Pete Thamel of the New York Times. "He's a GM's dream and a marketer's dream. He could model or do movies. On the court, he does things you can't teach and has a fire that burns within him that you can't teach."
But Polynice doesn't agree with Tyler's decision to go to Europe and said the player is being "pimped."
Tyler says he's making the right decision. "People can have their own agendas and opinion," he said. "That's fine. I have no hesitation at all going. I'm straightforward on everything."
Tyler's move was orchetrated by Sonny Vaccaro, the former shoe executive who is trying to establish a pipeline to send top prep players to Europe. Vaccaro, who successfully lured Brandon Jennings to Virtus Roma of the Italian League last year, wants the NBA to strike down the 2005 rule that forced American high school players to wait at least one year before joining the league.
Tyler will be eligible for the NBA draft in two years.
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