Meet 6-5 Lance Stephenson, Brooklyn Finest's:
Lance Stephenson’s nickname is “Born Ready”—as in, ready for the NBA. But on a winter night in a tiny gym in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, the 6-foot-5 high-school senior mostly looked ready for a time-out—of the preschool variety. Stephenson slumped when teammates failed to pass him the ball, shook his head in disgust when they missed shots, jogged back lazily on defense, and whined about fouls. Stephenson’s other nickname is “Sir Lance-a-lot,” but he seldom looked heroic, and seemed to be doing little to lead his team...
For all his pouty shenanigans, though, "Born Ready" racked up 38 points and 14 rebounds to lead his three-time defending New York City public-school champion to another victory.
Uber-agent Sonny Vaccaro, who brokered the deal sending Brandon Jennings to Rome, sees Stephenson - like a handful of other high school players - as another possible Europlayer, if he can handle the adversity of juggling new culture, new playing style, tougher coaches and playing with grizzled-ass professional veterans on the court. All these factors, though, form a crucible that could make Stephenson all the more "Born Ready" come the 2010 NBA draft.
And if a 17-year-old high school senior can't skip college and go pro abroad, why couldn't a 17-year-old junior? For that matter, why not a 16-year-old junior, or younger? It's bound to happen soon, Vaccaro said.
If that seems like one more sign of the basketball apocalypse, consider that many of the Europeans who populate NBA rosters began playing professionally as young as 14. In any case, Vaccaro believes Europe should be a destination only for exceptionally talented and relatively mature players. And Jennings has cautioned that his Italian sojourn hasn’t been one big scoop of gelato: “I don’t want anyone coming over here thinking it’s easy,” he wrote on his Under Armour blog.
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