duncan228
11-27-2009, 12:59 PM
Rookie goes from O.C. to NBA with big detour (http://www.ocregister.com/articles/jennings-220871-nba-game.html)
By Marcia C. Smith
The Orange County Register
Before Thanksgiving last year, the NBA's top rookie was an aspiring American basketball player and tourist walking through Rome, Italy, in search of a turkey and a wishbone and a plane ticket home.
Brandon Jennings, who grew up in Orange County and became the 2008 consensus national high school player of the year from Dominguez High (Compton) and Oak High Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.), was hungry and, in a sense, homeless.
"A year ago, I just wanted to get back to the States," said the Milwaukee Bucks point guard who is leading all rookies in scoring (25.3 ppg) and assists (5.5). "I was lost, not playing so much, away from everything I knew. I just wanted to go home."
Coming out high school, Jennings was snared by the NBA's age restriction, which requires that players be at least 19 years old and one year removed from high school to play in the league.
He didn't have the test scores to play one season at Arizona before jumping into the draft. So he packed his shoes and a ball, turned pro and played in Europe.
This was Jennings' first signature move, a groundbreaking end run around the NBA rule, finishing with his 10th overall selection by the Bucks in 2009. It was a gamble, perhaps a cautionary tale – not much of a European vacation – for the kid who went halfway around the world not knowing whether he'd return.
At 19, he signed with Lottomatica Roma of the Italian Lega A and started building a bank account with his $1.65 million Euroleague contract and a $2 million Under Armour endorsement deal. He saved everything but what he used to buy his family a Ladera Ranch home that he, his mother, Alice Knox, and half-brother, Terrence, 12, had seen only on the Internet.
But while playing overseas, Jennings wrestled with a lot of doubts, lost in a city with his mother and brother in a team-rented apartment, and lost in a foreign game he could barely play.
In 27 Italian Lega A games, Jennings averaged just 5.5 points, 1.6 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game – statistics he would have amassed in a high school quarter. Even basketball had become strange to him, with the Euroleague's smaller courts, slower game, more team-oriented scoring, older rosters and aging arenas.
The game he had known was that of the frenetic NBA, one that allowed for the one-on-one and above-the-rim showcases that he had relished since his childhood days watching Allen Iverson play at night and studying Magic Johnson on video.
"Over there, it just wasn't my style of play and I was worried that my numbers weren't showing what I could do," said Jennings, the young gun with "Young Money" needled on his body among his family-tribute tattoos. "The main thing was that I needed to stay mentally strong. If I couldn't ride it out and decided to come home before the season ended, it would seem like I was a failure."
He rode it – the bench and the season – out. The NBA scouts did come to see him. His workouts impressed them enough to make him a lottery pick and bring him back to America.
Now he's an NBA rookie paying a different set of dues. The 6-foot-1, 169-pound lefty starting point guard has to carry in bags and towels from shootarounds. He has to deliver Bucks veteran Michael Redd a copy of USA Today every morning and bring the team donuts every other day.
Never mind that through 11 games he's leading the Bucks and all NBA rookies in scoring and assists. His 25.3 points-per-game average ranks eighth in the league; his 5.5 assists, 15th. Only two players in NBA history – Michael Jordan and Oscar Robertson – have averaged at least 25 points and five assists during their rookie seasons.
His slingshot jumper, pudding-smooth finish and lefty passing have drawn comparisons to Nick Van Exel and Kenny Anderson, the lefty point guard after which Jennings has modeled his game since a coach showed him an Anderson highlight video in eighth grade.
He's selling No. 3 Jennings jerseys quicker than they can get on the store hangers, and he's reversing the fortunes of the Bucks, who've opened with an 8-3 record and are atop the Eastern Conference Central Division.
"We're off to a great start but, like I'm telling everyone, 'It's still so early,'" said Jennings. "I'm just happy to be here. Really."
In his fifth NBA game, Jennings had a 55-point night on Nov. 14 against Golden State. "It was just one of those nights with the hot hand and being in the zone, and it could have happened for any one of my teammates," said Jennings, with a newfound humility born from a past season spent stewing and scoreless on the bench.
A few high school players have sought advice from Jennings about their futures and wound up surprised.
"I tell them, 'Go to college for a year, get all the hype, play on ESPN where all the people can see you play and then go to the NBA,'" Jennings said. "Going overseas can break you as a person, not playing so much. You can get mentally lost and just want to come home."
Jennings had to go away to get this education. Now he's just thankful to be home.
By Marcia C. Smith
The Orange County Register
Before Thanksgiving last year, the NBA's top rookie was an aspiring American basketball player and tourist walking through Rome, Italy, in search of a turkey and a wishbone and a plane ticket home.
Brandon Jennings, who grew up in Orange County and became the 2008 consensus national high school player of the year from Dominguez High (Compton) and Oak High Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.), was hungry and, in a sense, homeless.
"A year ago, I just wanted to get back to the States," said the Milwaukee Bucks point guard who is leading all rookies in scoring (25.3 ppg) and assists (5.5). "I was lost, not playing so much, away from everything I knew. I just wanted to go home."
Coming out high school, Jennings was snared by the NBA's age restriction, which requires that players be at least 19 years old and one year removed from high school to play in the league.
He didn't have the test scores to play one season at Arizona before jumping into the draft. So he packed his shoes and a ball, turned pro and played in Europe.
This was Jennings' first signature move, a groundbreaking end run around the NBA rule, finishing with his 10th overall selection by the Bucks in 2009. It was a gamble, perhaps a cautionary tale – not much of a European vacation – for the kid who went halfway around the world not knowing whether he'd return.
At 19, he signed with Lottomatica Roma of the Italian Lega A and started building a bank account with his $1.65 million Euroleague contract and a $2 million Under Armour endorsement deal. He saved everything but what he used to buy his family a Ladera Ranch home that he, his mother, Alice Knox, and half-brother, Terrence, 12, had seen only on the Internet.
But while playing overseas, Jennings wrestled with a lot of doubts, lost in a city with his mother and brother in a team-rented apartment, and lost in a foreign game he could barely play.
In 27 Italian Lega A games, Jennings averaged just 5.5 points, 1.6 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game – statistics he would have amassed in a high school quarter. Even basketball had become strange to him, with the Euroleague's smaller courts, slower game, more team-oriented scoring, older rosters and aging arenas.
The game he had known was that of the frenetic NBA, one that allowed for the one-on-one and above-the-rim showcases that he had relished since his childhood days watching Allen Iverson play at night and studying Magic Johnson on video.
"Over there, it just wasn't my style of play and I was worried that my numbers weren't showing what I could do," said Jennings, the young gun with "Young Money" needled on his body among his family-tribute tattoos. "The main thing was that I needed to stay mentally strong. If I couldn't ride it out and decided to come home before the season ended, it would seem like I was a failure."
He rode it – the bench and the season – out. The NBA scouts did come to see him. His workouts impressed them enough to make him a lottery pick and bring him back to America.
Now he's an NBA rookie paying a different set of dues. The 6-foot-1, 169-pound lefty starting point guard has to carry in bags and towels from shootarounds. He has to deliver Bucks veteran Michael Redd a copy of USA Today every morning and bring the team donuts every other day.
Never mind that through 11 games he's leading the Bucks and all NBA rookies in scoring and assists. His 25.3 points-per-game average ranks eighth in the league; his 5.5 assists, 15th. Only two players in NBA history – Michael Jordan and Oscar Robertson – have averaged at least 25 points and five assists during their rookie seasons.
His slingshot jumper, pudding-smooth finish and lefty passing have drawn comparisons to Nick Van Exel and Kenny Anderson, the lefty point guard after which Jennings has modeled his game since a coach showed him an Anderson highlight video in eighth grade.
He's selling No. 3 Jennings jerseys quicker than they can get on the store hangers, and he's reversing the fortunes of the Bucks, who've opened with an 8-3 record and are atop the Eastern Conference Central Division.
"We're off to a great start but, like I'm telling everyone, 'It's still so early,'" said Jennings. "I'm just happy to be here. Really."
In his fifth NBA game, Jennings had a 55-point night on Nov. 14 against Golden State. "It was just one of those nights with the hot hand and being in the zone, and it could have happened for any one of my teammates," said Jennings, with a newfound humility born from a past season spent stewing and scoreless on the bench.
A few high school players have sought advice from Jennings about their futures and wound up surprised.
"I tell them, 'Go to college for a year, get all the hype, play on ESPN where all the people can see you play and then go to the NBA,'" Jennings said. "Going overseas can break you as a person, not playing so much. You can get mentally lost and just want to come home."
Jennings had to go away to get this education. Now he's just thankful to be home.