Brandon Jennings Should Get the Same Tattoo Wayne Rooney Just Got
Brandon Jennings, College Basketball, Soccer July 10th. 2008, 11:30am
“Just enough education to perform.” It’s an ode to title of an album by Rooney’s favorite band, Stereophonics, but it could double as an explanation for Jennings’ reason to skip college and ball in Europe for a year, right?
A reader who has spent some time in the sports agent business felt compelled to write in regarding Jennings’ chances of landing a one-year deal in Europe. Apparently, things are looking up for Young Money:
brandon jennings will get a contract that is Net (unless he plays in france) and a tax certificate proving taxes were paid on that money so he gets a tax credit in the US. so not only is he benefitting from the weak dollar but saying he gets a “300000 contract” is the equivalent of a much higher amt in american currency.
multil year deals are extremely rare for american players. for one, most americans in major european markets still dream of the nba and getting a big summer league job/opportunity in the offseason (whether they actually do or not is another story), so getting them to sign on for more htan one year rarely happnes until they are older and have a reputation as a winner/hardworker and you dont rub people over there the wrong way; if it does happen theres typically tons of options for both the team and player. two, european contracts hold little weight. while fiba is trying to regulate the business as of this year, teams simply pay buy-outs and terminate contracts whenever they want as long as they can get the player to agree to it (in some shadier countries they just dont pay players and force their hands….thats where Fiba is starting to come in–they are not even close to having the capacity to deal w/ guarenteeing contracts yet).
Other interesting Jennings reads can be found here, here, and here.
Next Up, Sean Avery’s Sigur Ros-Inspired Piercing (Can’t Stop the Bleeding)
33 Responses to “Brandon Jennings Should Get the Same Tattoo Wayne Rooney Just Got”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.

July 10th, 2008 at 11:35 AM
If this Jennings move works out, more and more will follow.
July 10th, 2008 at 11:36 AM
agree completely with what was said on PTI yesterday.. if all works out well for him, expect A LOT more players to take this route,and skip having to go to school
July 10th, 2008 at 11:36 AM
irish beat me to it.. oh well at least a fellow cane beat me and not a rapist gator
July 10th, 2008 at 11:36 AM
there isnt enough HIV in the world to kill rooney in a way that would make me happy
July 10th, 2008 at 11:38 AM
Rooney has plenty of education
July 10th, 2008 at 11:40 AM
Tattoos are lame but I can at least understand them. My friend got branded when he was on high schoool football team. Why anyone would want to go through that hell is beyond me.
July 10th, 2008 at 11:40 AM
I have a tat on my junk that says TINY. When I get excited it says TICONDEROGA, NEW YORK.
That’s it for me!
July 10th, 2008 at 11:41 AM
theyre probably closet homosexuals, if theyre okay with the pain of getting sodomized by their ‘brothers’ on the team they can handle branding
July 10th, 2008 at 11:42 AM
ive always thought it would be clever for someone like peter north to get a ruler tattooed on their junk
July 10th, 2008 at 11:43 AM
I think it was actually Woody Paige who made a good remark, this will cost him millions in endorsements, at least early on. Casual fans know who Beasly/Rose/Gordon are because they spent that year in college making a name for themselves. This kid will still be on the NBA’s radar, but for fans he basically drops off the planet for a year.
July 10th, 2008 at 11:44 AM
Isn’t going to Europe for a year or two a better thing for NBA-talent level kids than staying here. they actually earn money for their work, and over in Europe they will learn to actually deal with being professionals instead of being coddled by coaches/schools who cater to their every need.
It would also be helpful to the kids who come from troubled neighborhoods, it’s more difficult for hangers-on to follow to Europe.
July 10th, 2008 at 11:45 AM
Ticondaroga has the best 4th of July fireworks display in the Northeast
July 10th, 2008 at 11:48 AM
I think there’s something to be said for learning the game in college. I don’t see coaches who don’t speak english taking time to teach the game to kids like this. This is the pros, youre not staying, why are they going to waste time trying to make you better.
July 10th, 2008 at 11:49 AM
For a player that needs 4 years of seasoning, i agree. But for a player who would get drafted after a year or two… it’s not like they are learning a whole lot they won’t learn in Europe.
July 10th, 2008 at 11:51 AM
Agreed. This hurts both the player and the NBA from a marketing standpoint.
July 10th, 2008 at 11:55 AM
The important question is where can you get more ass – college or in Europe?
July 10th, 2008 at 11:55 AM
The question in the whole Young Money issue for me has been: What is his motivation?
Is there a possible OJ Mayo/money-under-the-table situation here?
July 10th, 2008 at 11:56 AM
Oh and as for Rooney, well, that tat should have read “Just enough education to get grandmas.”
July 10th, 2008 at 11:57 AM
I don’t buy the marketing angle. If he comes into the league and lights it up, no one will care that he was an unkown the year before. It will actually help his marketability, because he’ll be a pioneer who succeeded. If he plays well once he gets to the league, he’ll be fine. Well known players that toil in obscurity on the bench aren’t that marketable.
July 10th, 2008 at 11:57 AM
This is complete BS. The college coach has very little incentive on the long term outlook of his players where there is a huge incentive to do whatever it takes to win now. The winning now manta could invovle a style that no way suits a kids talents. Euro is much more suited to basketball development. They have structured national teams of all levels and all clubs have juniors teams. They are way advanced in this area and its why Ricky Rubio will be more polished as a 19 year old than 99% of college players.
July 10th, 2008 at 11:59 AM
I’m sure that one year of college education Beasley, Rose, Oden, Durant, etc., recieved has prepared those guys for life after basketball much more than a year in Europe ever could.
July 10th, 2008 at 12:00 PM
If the player wants to go get paid for playing like he deserves, let him go. If it hurts the NBA from a marketing standpoint, they can go sit and spin – they’re the ones that don’t want him this year.
July 10th, 2008 at 12:00 PM
Agreed. This hurts both the player and the NBA from a marketing standpoint
In this one case I don’t think it hurts either. Jennings will probably be more well known as the “guy who went to Europe” than he would in one year as an Arizona guard on a team that gets a 5 seed int he tourney or whatever. If this becomes a legit trend, I do think that the NBA will be pretty upset though.
July 10th, 2008 at 12:02 PM
Depends on the player. Lebron didn’t go to college, but if he had been forced to for a year, he would have had to wait to make any endorsements. If he bolted for Europe, he could have started building the global brand sooner. No better place to build a global brand than outside the US.
July 10th, 2008 at 12:04 PM
From a marketing $$ standpoint, look at it this way – the people who play college ball and make it to the tournament get WAY more exposure earlier on than anyone who decides to take money and play in Europe. Fast forward to the draft, guys like Beasley and Rose are talked about for months, are approached by Nike, Reebok, Adidas for marketing deals and they haven’t had to set foot on an NBA court. The guys from Europe? They enter the draft and NO ONE has heard of them. They won’t get approached for marketing deals until they prove they’re good players.
July 10th, 2008 at 12:04 PM
Again, the NBA can’t have it both ways. They think one extra year is going to protect them from drafting a bust so they have to live with it.
July 10th, 2008 at 12:09 PM
First it seems you are only talking about US based marketing deals. They probably do well in home countries (I know this is true for Pau in Spain). Also the chance of scoring a huge marketing deal is small. Not to mention you can start taking in marketing dollars right away (as opposed to being subject to a schools brand).
Who was last top pg Zona had. Mustufa Shukar? Where is he with his marketing dollars?
July 10th, 2008 at 12:14 PM
fans of the game, and certainly marketing departments, know who the good H.S. players are and know who’s recruiting them. Going to Europe for 1 year isn’t going to diminish their marketability. Instead, the WWL will televise a bunch of European games.
July 10th, 2008 at 12:19 PM
Who cares if it hurts the NBA? It’s self-inflicted pain.
And spare me all of this “college education and experience” bullshit. If by education and experience you mean not attending class and banging college chicks then I agree, but these one-and-done kids aren’t sitting in Philosophy 101 pondering deeply.
Going to a foreign country where nobody knows who you and could give a shit less about your basketball prowess is a far more beneficial life lesson than getting fawned all over at some college.
July 10th, 2008 at 12:21 PM
Also, being drafted has much larger effect on your marketing dollars than making a name for yourself in college/high school.
July 10th, 2008 at 12:23 PM
Agree with SG. No one knew Tony Parker in the US when he came over other than the more hard core NBA fans. His marketability now? About zero, even with his marriage to Eva Longoria. And the ability of unknown US kids to make endorsement money in Europe? ZERO. Guys like Gasol are natives, and therefore can get the deals.
Heading to Europe as an unknown only guarantees you will return as an unknown.
July 10th, 2008 at 12:34 PM
GYD you seem to be wrong on a few fronts. You really think Tony Parker has zero marketability? really? The dude gets more non sports coverage than any other NBA player…
As far as heading to Europe as an unkown only gaurantees you will return unkown… Anthony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Andres Nocioni to name a few non European natives came to the US after Europe.
July 10th, 2008 at 1:32 PM
Another interesting Jennings read…If I do say so myself.
http://www.jarrett-carter.com/2008/07/high-school-basketball-players-strike-back/