Is Jeremy Tyler Being Set Up For Failure?

Pete Thamel of the New York Times moved ahead with the intriguing Jeremy Tyler story, investigating the European recruitment process for the amateur star who will skip his senior year of high school to spend two years playing professionally aboard before entering the 2011 NBA draft.

Tyler advisor Sonny Vaccaro -- the man behind Brandon Jennings' Italian foray and a former high-powered sneaker exec -- is attempting to place the prospect with Olympiacos or Panathinaikos. Those squads happen to be among the best in all of Europe. And that poses a problem, according to draft expert Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com.

Givony uses the example of Jennings to explain why landing Tyler with a great team will work to the player's detriment. Jennings went to Lottomatica Roma, a really solid club. Jennings didn't play a single minute in Roma's most important game last week. His playing time has been limited because Roma simply can't afford to lose ground in order to develop a player who is leaving at the end of the season regardless.

There are differences, though: Jennings has been seen as mature enough to handle the struggle, and he's only mortgaging one year's time. One of the knocks on Tyler is his mental strength ... and he's consigning himself to two years overseas. Givony thinks going to a great team in particular will cause problems for Tyler.

Two extremely mature, professional and well-established NBA rotation players in Josh Childress and Jannero Pargo were unable to live up to expectations this season with Olympiacos-so how would Jeremy Tyler fare there? Just the thought is downright preposterous. [...]

If things don't work out for Tyler with one of these ultra-rich clubs, they'll gladly toss him to the side and write if off as a business expense that provided them with plenty of global exposure. For Tyler, though, the damage will be much greater.

Of course -- and this isn't an accusation, just relevant common sense -- Tyler stands to make more money if Olympiacos or Panathinaikos signs him versus, say, a Turkish or French league team. I have no idea what the financial relationship between Tyler and Vaccaro entails, but it's hard to completely discount the role of the dollar sign.