Hoop Teens: From High School to NBA riches?

For John Paul “Sonny” Vaccaro, there are three things more important than anything else in life: “The God you believe in, your family, and earning a living.”

Vaccaro certainly made good on the last point, spending nearly three decades as a highly successful shoe company marketing executive and trusted adviser to some of the greatest basketball players ever seen.

The man who signed Michael Jordan to his first sneaker deal in 1984 and has served as a close confidant to the likes of Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady and LeBron James, to name a few, stepped away from his professional career two years ago.

Vaccaro, however, remains an influential figure in basketball. With Vaccaro’s assistance, Brandon Jennings, a talented point guard from Compton, Calif., left to play professionally in Italy after high school last year, forgoing college altogether.

Earlier this year, Vaccaro gave the same blessing to Jeremy Tyler, a 17-year-old standout from San Diego. Tyler, though, is not just skipping college but also his senior year of high school.

The reason behind the pioneering moves made by Jennings and Tyler? The NBA’s 2005 collective bargaining agreement, which required that beginning with the 2006 draft all American players be at least 19 and a year removed from high school.

“In the easiest way to describe it, it was unfair. It wasn’t right because a precedent had been set very successfully in kids who do this,” says Vaccaro. “They don’t have the right to discriminate against your ability to earn a living. I just don’t believe that. Nobody. In any part of society.”

The precedent Vaccaro’s referring to is a 10-year period from 1995-2005 which saw many of the best high school players bypass college for the NBA. In total, 39 preps were drafted in that span, including stars such as Bryant, James, McGrady, Kevin Garnett, Dwight Howard, Al Jefferson, Rashard Lewis, Jermaine O’Neal, and Amare Stoudemire.

Making his case

Vaccaro has his own theories as to why the NBA would enforce an age limit.

“I think the most important reason they did it was that David [Stern], the NBA, can save on the contracts. If you make it 18-plus-one, or any discriminatory age, you automatically delay the future contracts by two or three years,” says Vaccaro. “It’s the third contract that’s the $100 million contract, it’s not the first rookie-based contract. There’s only four years guaranteed and two of them are team options. It’s the delaying the paying of the money, and David Stern and the NBA and the players’ association realize that they can delay the entry level of these kids.”

Vaccaro thinks the change is squarely about the money. He points out that NBA teams can save by holding on to veteran players at mid-level, or even minimum-level salaries, rather than having to open up their wallets for talented younger players.

Vaccaro also bristles at the notion that high school players aren’t ready for the grind of the NBA. To prove his case, he refers to the Cavaliers, Lakers, Magic and Nuggets – the final four teams (hypothetically, the four best teams) in this year’s NBA playoffs. Cleveland’s James, Denver’s J.R. Smith, Los Angeles’ Bryant and Andrew Bynum, and Orlando’s Howard and Lewis – all key contributors to their teams – made the jump from high school.

“Six of the key players, six of them. And they’re not just players,” says Vaccaro excitedly. “So how do you in good faith argue the point that they weren’t ready?”

Sonny Vaccaro signed Michael Jordan to his first shoe deal.

If only it were that easy. For all the success stories, there have also been some colossal failures. Names like Jonathan Bender, Darius Miles, Kwame Brown, DeSagana Diop, Shaun Livingston, Robert Swift, and Martell Webster were all lottery picks that haven’t worked out. Others such as Korleone Young, Leon Smith, Ousmane Cisse, Ndudi Ebi, and James Lang barely even broke a sweat in the NBA or saw trouble off the court.

Still, Vaccaro thinks the blame should not rest on the players, successful or otherwise.

“If the professional bodies, the pro teams themselves, don’t think these kids can do it, don’t draft them. Don’t employ them! The thing that’s missing, and even to the public, is the very people who don’t want them to come play in their league, are the very people that draft them,” says Vaccaro.

Responding to criticism

In a May 12 USA Today story, Wally Renfro, an NCAA vice president and senior adviser to NCAA President Myles Brand, spoke negatively of Vaccaro.

“He helped create an environment in which the value of high school and college education has been diminished in the minds of many young basketball players,” Renfro told the newspaper.

When asked about Renfro’s comment, Vaccaro claimed a double standard.

“Wally Renfro’s group [the NCAA] took more money from shoe companies than any other organization in the history of corporate sponsorships. … If he thinks I did these things, then why did he not think I did these things in 1978 when we signed our first colleges?”

Indeed, Vaccaro was the first person to pay college basketball coaches for exclusive apparel deals. He later orchestrated similar agreements with the schools.

“So Wally’s blaming me, and I accept … I publicized and marketed the kids, I accept that. But I also want him to say in the same breathe, ‘Thank you Mr. Vaccaro and Nike for publicizing and marketing Maryland and Georgetown and North Carolina,’” says Vaccaro. “They all sell our products. We’re on their bookshelves, in their bookstores. They let me in the door! No matter who wants to say I demonized or didn’t demonize, it all got its start 30 years ago when they [the NCAA] took the money.”

The future

Vaccaro believes that the NBA will eventually lift the age requirement. If — as Jennings and Tyler have done — more players decide to play in Europe before gaining eligibility, Vaccaro thinks the league will have to react and come up with a resolution to its collective bargaining agreement.

“What Jeremy Tyler did is open the door to a wider spectrum of people. You know, now you’ve got 17-year-old kids who want to do it,” says Vaccaro.

The easy money is certainly hard to argue against. According to Vaccaro, Jennings made over $1 million in salary and endorsements during his one season playing in Italy. That is money “very hard for normal people with college educations to achieve with their degrees,” says Vaccaro.

The alternative is to go to college and become a ‘one-and-done’ player, or one that leaves for the NBA right after becoming eligible. There are a growing number of ‘one-and-done’ players and the ramifications of the NBA’s 2005 rule change are slowly becoming evident. Young NBA stars such as O.J. Mayo and Derrick Rose have been in the news recently for investigations of NCAA rule violations that have been black eyes for the basketball programs at Southern California and Memphis.

Vaccaro makes it very clear that he is not against youngsters getting their educations. For most of his clients, going to college to forward their basketball careers is the right decision. Only a very selective group of high school players is physically capable and talented enough to make the jump to the NBA. For the few preps that fit that description and come from humble means, the choice between going to college or turning pro is often very clear.

“How do they [critics] beat me up? How do they beat this whole system up? When someone can take themselves off of welfare basically and have money in the bank,” says Vaccaro. “Isn’t it interesting? These kids are doing it the right way; they’re trying to make a living with their talent. We’re talking about people capable of earning money legally — without resorting to any criminal activity!”