Preps-to-Overseas Trend Continues

Before choosing to play at Memphis in late May, Latavious Williams, an athletic 6-8 forward in the class of 2009, took recruiting visits to Georgetown and Florida International.

It looks like he kept the urge to travel - internationally.

Yesterday, Williams, who is ranked as the 17th best talent in his class by Rivals, announced that he will be playing abroad next year, the latest in a trend of prep players who've decided they'd rather not enter the college ranks - paychecks abroad will suffice just fine, thank you.

Like with Brandon Jennings, it appeared that Williams' might not have been able to academically qualify for a scholarship. Playing overseas is a vastly more lucrative option to playing for a junior college while gaining eligibility.

Williams has already mentioned China as a possible destination.

NBA sees ebb of international talent?

NBA teams drafted eight international players into their ranks in the first round of the 2003 draft.
Since then, not as many. The NY Times examines why, and brings up an interesting stat:

Teams appear to be straying from the recent trend of drafting overseas players because many of them have not lived up to expectations. Of the 39 international players selected in the first round since 2002 with no prior experience playing in the United States, only Yao Ming has surfaced as an All-Star. In that same time, 14 of 171 American players drafted in the first round made at least one All-Star team.

There are international players who have been productive (Boris Diaw and Leandro Barbosa), quality role players for playoff teams (Nene and Mickael Pietrus) and full of untapped potential (Rudy Fernandez and Danilo Gallinari).

Is Sonny Vaccaro Basketball's Version of Rasputin?

Visionary, schmoozer, crusader, master manipulator - the 69-year-old former basketball tournament organizer and shoe marketing executive with been called them all.
His creations are legion, his vast influence undeniable: Vaccaro formed the first national all-star game in 1965, first paid college basketball coaches for exclusive apparel deals and signed Michael Jordan to Nike in the early 80s. As a trusted adviser to nearly every high schooler that successfully jumped to the NBA, Vaccaro has helped Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James amass droves of wealth by securing endorsement deals and lucrative contacts. He claims he never took a cut. The NBA barred such jumps in 2005, saying it needed more mature entrees. Vaccaro has called the rule a sham, accusing the league of funneling players into the "The Machine," or N.C.A.A, to exploit them. Instead, the money should go to the players directly, he told ESPN Magazine in 2002. "Amateurism lost its virginity a long time ago," he told USA Today in May. Vaccaro today rails against the entities that made his career - the NCAA and NBA - on a college lecture circuit including the likes of Harvard, Yale, Columbia. As he works toward his ultimate goal of destroying the NBA's age-limit legislation, basketball's arch-influencer has cast his eye toward a new horizon. In Europe, he sees a destination for America's top-flight prep talent, now for the short-term, but one day possibly for much longer.

P.S. The above was written as a sidebar for an upcoming article I'm writing about how high school basketball players' circumventing college for Europe may affect Arkansas. It's not going in, though - my editor and I have decided to not focus so much on Sonny.