Heading for the pros a puzzling decision for UVa's Landesberg

Over the two years we got to know Sylven Landesberg, I really liked the kid. I liked his dad, Steve, and I liked the way Sylven played the game of basketball.

What I didn’t like was the way his career ended at Virginia — he neglected to show up for an art class a single time, which in the end, resulted in Cavaliers’ coach Tony Bennett suspending the super sophomore for the very end of the season.

While UVa officially announced Tuesday that Landesberg would not return after two seasons, it was essentially old news. Those who read The Daily Progress knew that on March 12 after two of Landesberg’s teammates whispered to our beat writer, Whitey Reid, minutes after the season ended in a loss to Duke, that the Cavalier star was not coming back.

The part of all this I didn’t like was Landesberg selfishly letting his teammates down.

Yes, it’s the kid’s right to play two years and skedaddle. Clearly, he had no intention to return to Virginia for his junior season, and apparently made up his mind sometime prior to the start of the second semester that he was no longer interested in being a college student, at least from the academic side of things.

From my view, it would have been fine if Landesberg wanted to scram after two years and make a living playing basketball. However, you don’t let your teammates down. You go to class and finish the season.

While Landesberg seems to have had no interest in coming back to UVa, his parents did. Our spies told us that the Landesberg parents wanted Sylven to stay in school.

Coming back for a third year made sense to almost everyone except to Sylven Landesberg and whomever he’s getting his advice from.

If the kid thinks he’s going to play in the NBA next season, he’s dead wrong.

We have talked to NBA scouts that have seen him practice, watched him play, evaluated his game. We have talked to guys who have played in the NBA that have observed him and there’s a consensus opinion: Landesberg, at least right now, is not an NBA player.

He’s an odd fit. Critics will note that he’s not a good enough shooter to be a two guard. He’s not good enough of a ball-handler, a floor leader to be a point guard, and there’s just no way he could play small forward in the NBA.

So, where does he play?

Scouts answer that question with two words: D-League.

That’s the NBA’s Developmental League, which would relegate Landesberg’s game to such potential exotic locations as Bismarck, N.D., Erie, Pa., Fort Wayne, Ind., and Orem, Utah.

There’s always Europe or another foreign country, but not the NBA. Not now. Maybe someday, but not now.

“For instance, just look at Landesberg and [Maryland’s] Greivis Vasquez,” one observer said. “They’re about the same size, same athletic ability. But Vasquez is more heady, more experienced, a better shooter.”

One couldn’t have said that about Vasquez after his sophomore season, but the Terps’ star profited greatly by sticking around an extra two years, developing his game.

Landesberg? As one scout said, “He would be better off developing his game in the ACC rather than in the Developmental League.”

Perhaps it’s envy. Four of his former McDonald’s All-American teammates are now in the NBA. Two of ’em (Tyreke Evans and Brandon Jennings) are vying for Rookie of the Year honors.

Somehow, rookie of the year in the D-League just doesn’t sound as exciting.