Morning Report: Quitting high school to turn pro

You just knew it had to happen sooner or later, didn't you?

High school basketball players have been heading to the pros for more than 30 years. Now a high school junior is making the move.

Further, he left school during 11th grade so he can head overseas.

The New York Times reported yesterday that Jeremy Tyler, a 6-foot-11 junior, has dropped out of San Diego High School and said he would skip his senior year to play professionally in Europe.

Tyler, 17, will become the first player born in the United States to leave high school early to play professional basketball overseas. He is expected to come back in two years, when he is eligible for the NBA draft. According to the Times, he'll probably play in Spain.

"Nowadays people look to college for more off-the-court stuff versus being in the gym and getting better," Tyler told the Times. "If you're really focused on getting better, you go play pro somewhere. Pro guys will get you way better than playing against college guys."

The trend is becoming obvious. A year ago, a point guard from Los Angeles, Brandon Jennings, became the first American player to bypass college and play pro ball in Europe. Jennings, who graduated from high school, has finished his season with Lottomatica Virtus Roma in Italy and is projected as a high pick in June's NBA draft.

The law of unintended consequences has come into play here. When the NBA and the NCAA agreed on rule changes three years ago to keep high school players from going straight to the pros, the intent was to help American colleges.

Instead, it is helping European pro leagues, and the movement can only get stronger.

Virtually every high school star from the last three seasons has gone to college for the mandatory one year - Kevin Durant and Greg Oden, for example - then gone on to the NBA.

But if you can develop faster in Europe and earn, say, $100,000 while you're doing so, why go to college?

Nobody should pretend such immense stars are in college to discuss the dialogs of Plato or the wonders of the metric system.

They - like future accountants, meteorologists and engineers - are in college to prepare for their future professions.

The only difference is that Derrick Rose can hone his skills sufficiently in one year at Memphis to enter his (highly lucrative) profession at 20.

There will be the predictable weeping and wailing about Tyler's decision, with pompous talking heads on television bleating about the kid abandoning his education.

But consider this: If a young man drops out of school or college to go to work, to enter the military, or to pursue a religious vocation, nobody complains.

Why squawk about Tyler pursuing his future, which clearly is on the court?