Not everyone has a good experience playing basketball abroad. In the summer of 2009, Jeremy Tyler became the first teenager to ever skip his senior year of high school to become a professional basketball player. Too young to join the NBA, the 6-foot-11 phenom from San Diego signed a contract to play in Israel for the Maccabi Haifa.
He played few minutes and had trouble adjusting to his new home, Israeli agency Ynet News reported last year: "Weeks after his arrival, Tyler got a rude introduction to Israeli society when a neighbor complained that he was listening to loud music on Yom Kippur—a major faux pas on the most solemn day of the Jewish calendar. Tyler said he didn’t mean to offend, but his gaffe received heavy coverage on Israeli sports pages."
And as The New York Times reported, "His coach calls him lazy and out of shape. The team captain says he is soft. His teammates say he needs to learn to shut up and show up on time. He has no friends on the team. In extensive interviews with Tyler, his teammates, coaches, his father and advisers, the consensus is that he is so naïve and immature that he has no idea how naïve and immature he is. So enamored with his vast potential, Tyler has not developed the work ethic necessary to tap it."
Tyler quit the Israeli team in March and in July signed a contract with the Tokyo Apache of Japan's professional basketball league, reported ESPN. He is expected to enter the 2011 NBA Draft.
