Featuring Mike Mills
July 20, 2008

It’s Thursday, late in the afternoon and I am on a shuttle bus to the rental car terminal after my flight arrived in Las Vegas. Whenever you say Vegas, you always assume that someone will be partaking in gambling, drinking, and a number of other activities that support the saying “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.” Well, my trip was going to include some gambling, a little drinking, but no plans for the “other” activities. However, the real plan was to watch some potential, future NBA stars and 3 national high school basketball tournaments going on in Vegas this particular week in July. The big three shoe companies (Nike, Adidas, Reebok) host tournaments that showcase over 500 teams who come from all over the US, Puerto Rico, and Canada. These tournaments happen in the same week and are arguably the most important time of the year for these athletes to catch the attention of a potential college coach. Exposure to coaches is the name of the game and tournaments like these are where it happens.

As I sit here on my shuttle bus, I’m not paying much attention to my surroundings, but deciding which of these high profile games that feature the top athletes I will be attending this evening. Suddenly, in my peripheral vision, a tall, young, black youth enters with what appears to be an old school Kid n’ Play high top fade haircut. This doesn’t strike me as odd (except for the high top fade) considering there are 5000+ athletes here and many of which fit the same description. I look up to take a gander at the young man and determine that this is not in fact your average athlete. As I scan my memory bank to identify his face, I can’t place the name at first. Eventually, it comes to me and I realize that I’m looking at (and sitting across from) a young pioneer in the game of basketball. This young man has set a path that no other athlete has ever ventured down before. As a result, this path is now open to other young men in similar situations to follow. This young man had large enough testicles to not follow the norm or what society expected him to do. This young man is the first high school athlete to decide not to go to college, but to turn professional and play basketball overseas in Europe. HE is Brandon Jennings.

As we briefly lock eyes and his identification has been confirmed, I begin to recall the articles that I have read on this young man and the image that the media has created of him. Words like selfish, cocky, and loud are ones that immediately come to mind. I can not agree or disagree whether this is true based on my initial impression. One thing I can say is that I have respect for the young man and anyone who has the courage to go where no man’s gone before. Considering the media backlash he received, how impressive is it of him to withstand that criticism at such a young age and make the decision that he did? Numerous individuals will be rooting for him to fail, but I won’t be one of them.

As I exit the shuttle, we make eye contact once again. At this point, I decide to strike up a brief conversation to verify the media’s image of this young man. My first words were not “Hey you’re Brandon Jennings” or “Why are you going to play overseas?” The most appropriate in my mind, a simple “congratulations young man.” During our brief exchange, we didn’t go into detail of his whole thought process or why he made the decision that he did. Instead, we talked about his departure to Europe and what his decision means to the future of basketball. During our interaction, I didn’t get the impression the young man was loud, cocky, or selfish. The impression I did get, was he is a soft-spoken, respectful young adult who seemed to be at peace and satisfied with the path that he chose for himself.

When we went our separate ways, I began to ponder if HE is actually aware of the impact that he will have and has already had on the lives of many superiorly talented, high school athletes/ NBA hopefuls that will showcase their skills over the course of this week. This impact will be tremendous, based on his refusal to conform to previous standards set. Being that the new NBA rule prohibits high school athletes from entering the NBA draft until they are one year removed from high school, he has become a trailblazer. The standard for athletes has been to go to college for one year, gain some maturity, and then the NBA will open it’s doors for you to enter the draft. However, Jennings chose to forgo an amateur career to begin earning money now as a professional.

My question is, why is there such criticism when numerous other sports as well as society in general allows a high school graduate to enter the workforce immediately? Why is it different for Jennings and other aspiring, young basketball players to start their career right out of high school? Statements have been made in the past that these young men lack the maturity to be successful in the NBA and it’s in their “best interest” that they go to college for a year. My assessment, how much maturity will a youth actually gain by attending college for one year? Is this about maturity? Or is this really about NBA teams getting another year to evaluate a kid before they invest millions into his development? If all parties involved were truly concerned about the development and what is in the “best interest” of these athletes, then they would institute requiring a bachelor’s degree prior to entering the NBA. Now I don’t agree with that requirement either, because actually the reason you go to college is for personal/ social development and to increase your financial earning power upon graduation. If you have the opportunity to sign a 3 year contract that would allow you to make substantially more than you will make over a 40 year professional career, then how do you realistically tell a kid to turn that down? If my son is in a similar situation, I couldn’t advise him not to make the jump and it wouldn’t be for personal reasons.

So, I’m at a game featuring two of the top teams at the Adidas 64 Tournament and both teams contain top recruits that are from Ohio and Georgia. One athlete in particular, Terrance Shannon (126th rank per Rivals.com), broke into the open court and attempted to haul in a pass and go up for a shot. As he went into the air awkwardly, he let out a horrible scream and crumbled to the floor. For the next few minutes, he laid on the floor in immense pain while letting out a scream every 10 seconds or so. Being an expert on knee injuries, I could tell they were examining his knee for ligament damage. Shannon never played again that day and based on what I saw, will probably not play again for another 6 months to a year. This injury could decrease his professional career by one to two years considering these athletes have a small window to make money to support their families, why not give them the option to do so right out of high school? Let them play now...Let them make their money!

Mike Mills is the Founder and President of Operations of a nonprofit organization named LIVE HOOPS Inc, which assists in increasing the recruiting and collegiate options for student-athletes. To respond to this article you may email Mike Mills at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .