Jeremy Tyler: Top prospect to cautionary tale

The New York Times report from Israel that Jeremy Tyler is failing as a European pro brings a lot of descriptions to mind.

He’s pegged as lazy, immature, ill-prepared and a loner.

The now former can’t-miss NBA prospect out of San Diego High School scored just one point in his first two games suiting up for Maccabi Haifa.

It’s sad. It’s disheartening. It’s disappointing. It has all the makings of a cautionary tale.

What it’s not, though, is surprising.

When SDNN was in its early planning stages in February, we pegged Tyler as the subject of the sports story we wanted to feature for our launch. At the time, the SDHS junior was considered by many the best basketball prospect in the country — the most promising big man since Greg Oden.

He had signed to play for Rick Pitino at Louisville (pre-Pitino sex scandal) and was planning to return to the Cavers for his senior year. San Diegans had the chance to watch a future pro hoop it up for one more year.

Then came the bombshell.

With the likes of infamous sneaker pimp Sonny Vaccaro in his ear, Tyler decided to forgo his senior year — of high school — to turn pro.

Vaccaro — the man who signed Michael Jordan to his first million-dollar shoe deal with Nike and orchestrated Brandon Jennings’ move to Europe as a high school graduate last year — guided Tyler and his family through the decision to risk his future, drop out of high school and play in a foreign country with no friends or family around. All before he turned 19.

When the news broke, SDNN placed a call to then SDHS coach Martin Thomas for a reaction. The response we got was stunning — and poignant.

Thomas — a supposed Tyler family confidant who took over the reins of the Cavers program after a recruiting scandal led to the dismissal of previous coach Kenny Roy — had no idea about Tyler’s decision. We broke the news to him. Instead of getting an informed reaction, we filled him in on the details.

It’s indicative of the process that has taken the future of a once-promising NBA prospect and by all accounts good kid and put it at grave risk.

With a complete lack of reasoned guidance in his life, Tyler never had a chance in Europe. When we sat down with him in February, the Cavers were in the aftermath of the recruiting scandal that took Roy off the bench. The team that Tyler had led to the 2008 San Diego CIF championship was in disarray and struggling to earn a postseason berth.

Meanwhile filmmakers Andrew Gallery and David Bolno were filming his moves and pumping his ego for a “Hoop Dreams”-like documentary on the rising star.

On the court, Tyler was enigmatic — a huge talent and physical presence prone to mental lapses and poor judgment.  He failed to run the court at times. He got into verbal jousting with opposing benches (video).

When we sat down to chat with Tyler, he was very likable, though, and had the charm that one day could pay big dividends alongside NBA successes on the court. He came off as a bright, personable high school kid.

But he was just that — a kid. And he still is. Except he has a $140,000 contract to play a game in a foreign country without the benefit of informed, trusted people looking out for his best interests.

While Pitino’s stock as a role model has surely plummeted, his track record of molding young talent into responsible, prepared basketball players and citizens is unquestioned. And Louisville, Ky. is a much smaller shock to the system for a Southern California kid than Israel.

But now, instead of watching Tyler prepare for his senior season with an eye on a Louisville team ranked in the top 25, we’re stuck with reports of Tyler’s failures as a basketball player and adult.

He’s playing with a team of Israelis who have spent a mandatory three-year stint in the military and for a coach who doesn’t have patience or sympathy for the lack of discipline and guidance that Tyler brings to the court.

We’re left with wild, hypocritical statements from Vaccaro who had the gall to say the following to the Times reporter:

“All he had to do was go and do what Brandon  (Jennings) did, shut up and go learn. He obviously isn’t doing that. He thinks that he’s Kevin Garnett.”

It’s hyperbole to call the situation a tragedy. Tyler is one kid who is getting paid six figures to play a game.  The mess he’s in is partly of his own making. But it’s the guidance of others — his coaches, his family and Vaccaro — that stands out.

People that he thought had his best interests in mind have led him into the mess he’s in now.

And while it’s still too early to call Tyler a complete bust, the odds are now firmly stacked against him. Just 10 short months ago, the SDHS star was a can’t-miss NBA prospect. Now he’s a long-shot project without a high school diploma stuck in a foreign land.

It’s amazing — and sad — how quickly things change.

Jason Owens is the SDNN sports editor. Email: jason.owens(at)sdnn.com; Follow on Twitter

Tags: Dave Telep, jeremy tyler, Kenny Roy, Maccabi Haifa, Martin Thomas, San Diego High School, SDNN, Sonny Vaccaro

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 at 3:59 pm and is filed under Local News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.