How much French did he learn?
“Not one thing,” Skeen said last week.
Too bad, too. It would come in handy about now.
Skeen has signed a professional basketball contract with ASVEL Basketball Club, a team in France’s top pro division (Ligue Nationale de Basketball Pro A). Details of the one-year deal have not been released, but Skeen will join ASVEL Aug. 7 for training camp and be overseas for 10 months.
“I can’t put into words how I feel right now,” said Skeen, the former North Meck High and Virginia Commonwealth University standout. “I’ve worked my whole life to get a professional opportunity and can’t wait to get over there and give it all I have. I feel so blessed to have such a great support system from my family to my teammates to my coaches.”
San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker, who grew up in France, owns a share of the team and is its vice president. Parker called Skeen last week.
“Jamie Skeen is a player that I know well,” Parker said in a statement. “I had the opportunity to seehim play on several occasions during March Madness. ... We are happy to welcome him among us.”
Having worked out for more than a dozen NBA teams, Skeen was not selected in the NBA Draft June23 and said it was difficult to sit and watch the festivities without getting picked. He had been projectedas a second-round selection by some analysts, his stock boosted by VCU’s run to the Final Four inMarch and April.
“It was frustrating seeing some guys go ahead of me that I’m better than,” said Skeen. “Hopefully, (theteams) are happy with their decisions.”
Skeen did not specifically reference any selected players, but five post players Skeen matched upagainst in the NCAA Tournament were selected in the first round, including Kansas’ Markieff Morris(13th, Phoenix), Kansas’ Marcus Morris (14th, Houston), Southern California’s Nikola Vucevic (16th,Philadelphia), Florida State’s Chris Singleton (18th, Washington) and Purdue’s JaJuan Johnson (27th,New Jersey).
But Skeen, who turned 23 in May, is not giving up on his dream to play in the NBA just yet. He saidhe’ll play overseas this season, then “try to come back here and see what’s what.”
“I’m excited to get out of the States a little bit and travel the world,” he said.
Skeen is the second member of North Meck’s 2005 4A state championship team to playprofessionally. Ben Stywall has played in Iceland and Germany since finishing his career as one ofUNC-Greensboro’s best players.
Located in the Lyon suburb of Villeurbanne, France, ASVEL has won 17 league titles. The team isknown as the “French Celtics.”
