Goodbye Sonny Vaccaro....

.....don't let the door hit you on the way out.

In an article written today on ESPN, Sonny Vaccaro announced that he would not be holding many of his summer league camps. Vaccaro, who became famous for attracting the biggest names in high school basketball, was the leader of "grass roots" basketball programs in this country for many years.

It is good to know that the man that tried(intentionally or not) to ruin college basketball, won't be showcasing future college All-Americans to the NBA and their "potential is my favorite word" scouts. It is true that many college coaches go to Vaccaro run camps to recruit, but knew that they would be competing against the NBA and the possibility of making millions of dollars.

A year ago I read a book entitled The Jump by Ian O'Conner. It follows Sebastian Telfair's senior season at Abraham Lincoln high school in New York City, and also goes into the mafia like and dark world of big time high school basketball. At the center of this world is Sonny Vaccaro. Maybe Andy Katz wasn't that far off when he stated that Vaccaro is "The Last Don" of basketball.

In the article, Vaccaro says that he will start up basketball academies in major US cities. These academies will concentrate of the fundamentals of basketball. If this is the case, then I will tip my cap to him. However, looking at his track record it is hard to say that he really cares about the way kids play the game, but how much money they will make.

With Vaccaro away from the top high school kids in the country, the spotlight will be significantly darker for the NBA to see. And hopefully this will lead to the college basketball world keeping some of the talent for more than one year.