European Roundup: Jennings Managing Expectations November 14, 2008 Brandon Jennings seems to be settling into his role in European basketball thus far, to the point that it seems safe to begin preliminarily analyzing how he’s playing. With nine games underneath his belt (five in the Italian league, where Rome is 4-1, and four in the Euroleague, where they stand 3-1), Jennings is averaging 18.5 minutes per game, scoring 8 points on 35% shooting from the field and 31% from beyond the arc, pulling down under 2 rebounds and dishing out 2.35 assists compared with 1.35 turnovers. Not really the stuff legends are made out of, but fairly impressive nonetheless considering what he’s going up against at his age. Numbers are typically not the best way to evaluate players in Europe, and this definitely holds true in this case.
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To fully understand Jennings’ role on his team, you must look at the players that are around him, particularly in the team’s backcourt. Former Ivy League player of the year Ibrahim Jaaber (an athletic, defensive minded player) is the starting point guard for all intents and purposes, while former Villanova and Boston Celtic Allan Ray sees over 20 minutes per game as a combo guard.
The most important backcourt player is clearly Slovenian Sani Becirovic, though, a very aggressive and extremely skilled combo guard who is having easily his best season ever as a pro. Becirovic is averaging 15.5 points per game in just 23 minutes per, shooting outrageous percentages, getting to the line at an amazing rate, playing almost no defense (as usual), and doing a fair amount of ball-handling in most minutes he’s on the floor. He has the green light to do basically whatever he pleases on this team, and he can seemingly do no wrong this season thus far.
Alongside them we find the 19-year old rookie Jennings, sometimes coming off the bench (typically for the 2nd and 3rd quarters), at times getting the starting nod, but rarely a major focal point in the offense. This is quite normal considering the quality of players around him (big men Andre Hutson and Primoz Brezec are both major back to the basket threats) and the level of competition Rome competes at. As Jennings gains more experience and earns the trust of the very patient coaching staff led by Croatian Jasmin Repesa, he may feel more comfortable showing his full array of talent.
Right now, Jennings appears to be at his best receiving outlet passes and pushing the ball up the floor in transition. His outstanding combination of speed and ball-handling skills make him absolutely impossible to contain in the open floor, and he is able to change the tempo of the game immediately by turning a defensive rebound into an easy basket.
Another positive impact Jennings is making is with his shooting stroke, which appears to have major potential down the road. He does a very good job spotting up on the wing in catch and shoot situations, looking quite reliable with his feet set, while he can also make some shots off the dribble as well, although his accuracy drops significantly in the process.
As Jennings earns more trust from Repesa, we see the coach letting him get more involved in pick and roll situations in half-court sets. Jennings has great potential here too, as he turns the corner on screens with a tremendous burst of speed, and has the court vision to find the open man rolling to the basket with terrific flair and creativity. He’s shown some terrific sparks of talent with his passing ability at times, having the added benefit of being left-handed, and already being featured on some highlight reels thanks to the flashy assists he can dish out.
Where Jennings has struggled at times is in his ability to get to the basket and finish strong against contact in half-court situations. His lack of strength hurts him here, as he is not the toughest or most physical player around and seems to have trouble operating in the very crowded paint that Europe is famous for, not getting much love from the referees in the process.
He seems to be settling way too much for perimeter jumpers in turn, which helps explain the very poor percentages he’s shooting from the field (35%) and beyond the arc (31%). He has a tendency to pull-up off the dribble early in the shot-clock while fading-away awkwardly for no particular reason, adding a significant degree of difficulty to an already difficult shot. He can certainly make shots of this nature, but not at a high enough percentage to justify taking them.
Jennings’ shot-selection and overall decision making are still a work in progress in general, which is not a surprise considering his age, even if the talent he displays is undeniable. He needs to do a better job of valuing possessions and not getting careless with the ball, as he doesn’t always read what the defense gives him and tends to struggle with things like managing the shot-clock and controlling tempo. Occasionally you’ll still catch him looking more concerned with making a flashy play over a more simple one, but for the most part he looks very focused and willing to learn, and is definitely making strides from week to week.
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Defensively, Jennings is making noticeable strides, but still has room to improve. On one hand, he seems to be putting a pretty good effort into his man to man defense, showing really nice lateral quickness staying in front of his man and better fundamentals than we saw in the past. On the other hand, he lacks significant strength and seems to get pushed off the ball far too easily, having a difficult time getting around screens as well. His team defense is definitely a work in progress, as he looks a bit lackadaisical staying aware of where the ball is on the floor, and is not showing the greatest hustle going after loose balls or trying to help out on the glass.
Even though Jennings has been fairly up and down early in the season thus far (particularly in the Italian league, where he has struggled badly at times), its hard not to come away impressed by how he’s fared, all things considered. He walked into a very difficult situation and seems to be making the best of it thus far, holding his own against hostile crowds and tough gyms in places like Vitoria, Berlin and Ljubljana. There is absolutely no question that he will become a significantly better player from the experience he’s gaining every day, as he’s competing at an incredibly high level under an outstanding coach and is being allowed to latitude to learn from his mistakes.
Jennings looks to have the makings of a very high draft pick at the moment, even if it is very early in the season. We will have to wait and see how he progresses over the next few months, but the early returns look pretty promising.
Brandon Jennings to Europe, Which Europe? July 13, 2008 Widely spread news by now, one of the very top high school players, Brandon Jennings, is looking to join a European team for the following season. It’s not only a pioneer move (concerning highly touted recruits), but also could unfold some serious consequences in the future.
We've heard that there are much bigger reasons for Jennings deciding to go overseas than meet the eye, but will stick to the facts for now until more light is shed on the rumors that abound at the moment.
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At this point, anything that happens to Jennings will be scrutinized and used as an example for others in the future. His failure could very well close this newly opened path; his success might dangerously open a flood of teenagers looking for a paycheck, since they can’t get into the NBA, especially if the 20-year old age limit is dictated.
However, any attempt to draw simplistic conclusions is bound to lead to wrong decisions.
First and foremost, we have to understand that Europe is a huge mass of different basketball competitions, with some of them hardly resembling each other. This is not like playing in the NBA, where there are 30 defined teams and a comparable level between them. Overseas, there are some incredibly competitive leagues and some easier ones, balanced and unbalanced, defensive oriented and scoring happy, with an intense tactical approach and more free styled, better leagues and worse leagues, with a huge gap between them.
It’s also a matter of different teams, with different coaches, mentalities, nationalities and styles.
So it’s not simply about going to Europe and collecting your pay check, but you have to make the right choice. And Jennings, as good as he might be, will have to as well.
We all know the kid, oozing with talent, blessed with excellent athleticism, ball-handling skills, very nice shooting touch and passing ability. It has been a piece of cake for him to disrupt opposing defenses at the high school level, either playing against mediocre teams or in all-star type settings.
But this is completely different, as he will face tougher, stronger, bigger, more experienced and much more organized defenses (on a different degree depending on where he’s headed to). A teenager, lacking strength and without any real knowledge of how to run a motion offense (the staple of European basketball), a dominant ball-handler who has never been asked to play any type of real defense or execute in high pressure situations—could really struggle to adapt in such a short time-frame.
It would likely be a big mistake for Jennings to put himself into an excessively demanding environment. A high profile team (like Euroleague outfit Rome- who are rumored to be strongly in the picture) usually enjoy a deep roster and a very structured game on both ends of the court. There are no one-man shows here, the ball needs to flow and the team works united for a purpose. A player like Jennings, who loves to jack up shots and to dribble looking for the final definitive pass, probably doesn’t enjoy the experience and maturity to adjust quickly enough. Playing in a top league, you need to be extremely mature and consistently effective in order to enjoy significant freedom within the system, certainly not the easiest task for such a young kid playing the point guard position.
Every loss in Europe is treated like a tragedy for the entire week until the teams suit up again—certainly a far cry from the AAU type settings Jennings is accustomed to where teams often don’t even have to wait for more than a few hours before forgetting everything and hitting the court again. 2-3 consecutive losses in Europe usually lead to a variety of reactions coming from sponsors, the front office and the often incredibly negative media—causing the coach’s seat to heat up, the paychecks to arrive a little bit later (or not at all), and even players getting cut for imaginary “breach of contracts.”
So if he doesn’t fit, he could easily end up relegated to the bench, regardless of being perhaps the most talented player on the roster, a dreadful scenario heading into the draft.
For a guy like him, who comes to the Old Continent just en-route to a quick exit to the NBA, it’s all about being on the court and able to display his abilities. Forget about learning the nuances of a highly structured basketball system in depth. If you think he’s coming back in a year looking like a cross between Stephon Marbury and Theo Papaloukas (the Greek guy who killed the US Team at the 2006 Worlds schooling them on the pick-and-roll), you’re very wrong. If he were willing to do it, which is not happening, it would take him significant time and would put his draft stock in serious danger.
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Therefore, where might Jennings fit easier?
Going just by leagues, the Spanish ACB, for example, mentioned by Jennings as a country-name he happens to be familiar with, would likely be the worst possible choice.
The strongest domestic competition in Europe, it’s very deep and extremely competitive. Without huge differences between the top teams and the bottom, there’s a bunch of legit title candidates, while you usually have close to half of the squads battling not to get demoted, so there’s high pressure and little patience. For a mid-sized team, a few bad games might mean to find yourself out of the playoffs and fighting for your life. Besides, there’s not much up-tempo basketball, just two Americans are allowed per team (often playing marginal roles), deep benches, and the game is usually highly structured. Just take into account that college graduate rookies rarely succeed in the ACB, and it even takes significant time to adapt for those coming or returning from the NBA. It’s nearly impossible to see a team in this league putting their fate in the hands of an American teenager.
The Italian league is another spot mentioned as a place Jennings would consider—Rome (the clear-cut second best team) seems to be looking strongly at him right now. This is a very physical league where strength and mental toughness is at a premium, two things a player like Jennings cannot be expected to bring to the table at this point in his career. A smaller team in first division may be able to offer him shelter here playing alongside an experienced American guard, but most of the usual suspects you would consider expressed very little interest to us when asked about this possibility. The option of playing in the Italian second division (still a fairly strong league by European standards) might be even more attractive, as there are only two Americans here (and one European) and there should be more patience to be found in a setting like this.
On the bright side for a player like Jennings, France is an interesting league. Although showing good parity considering the relatively small differences between the best and worst teams, you will find a lot more freedom, up-tempo basketball and guard-oriented style, with many fast and athletic players, not much size and not showing the most tactical emphasis around. Financially, mid-level teams can offer between 100-150 thousand dollars (but often closer to 80 or 90k)—nowhere near the 300-800 thousand his people have been mentioned as looking for.
Israel is another attractive choice. Although Hapoel Holon pulled a shocker this past season, this is a league tyrannized by Maccabi Tel Aviv, so the pressure to perform from day one is not that big. Here you can find some of the highest scores in Europe, as there’s more of a laid back attitude on the game style, and off-court demands. Besides, Americans seems to adapt pretty fast here, finding a friendly environment and many countrymen sharing their teams within a very small radius. The budgets here outside of Maccabi are even smaller than in France—think 80 to 120k.
Another good showcase (that’s the main point, after all) could be Turkey, especially out of the top 5 or 6 teams, where high scores are a regular fit, players enjoy extended minutes on the court, helping them to engross their stat-lines, and Americans dominate the statistical rankings. The money here flows much more freely than in most other leagues these days, even if teams regularly overspend their budget and are then forced to release players midway through the season (or just not pay them their final monthly salaries). The language and cultural barriers are high, though, and the turnover amongst teams is fairly significant.
Considering how much his stock and future career will depend on this upcoming season, Jennings would be smart leaving money on the table if needed in order to find the most proper league and team to showcase his abilities. Neither to play the Euroleague should be a priority for him: he doesn’t particularly need that exposure because teams will go to scout him wherever he plays.
Other kids thinking about following Jennings’ steps will have to carefully examine the circumstances of Brandon’s success or failure. Will he prove that Europe is a viable option for high-school graduate players? Will he succeed because of the setting where he’s playing in? Will he fail because he didn’t choose the right situation? Does he enjoy or lack some certain ability or mental characteristic that allows or hinders him to adjust to a given European environment?
Just think about the learning curve of NBA teams when drafting international players. They would take almost any seven-footer with potential following Nowitzki’s success, and of course it doesn’t work that way. For the same reason, the fact that Jennings succeeds or fails is not enough reason for any other top high school kid doing the same in any European team. Different players and different environments require different analysis.
It’s a complex world out there. [Read Full Article] Jordan Brand Classic Games (Day Three) April 20, 2008 For the Blue Team, the co-MVP of this game was named Brandon Jennings (10 points, 14 assists, 3 turnovers, 6 rebounds, 5-13 FG, 22 minutes), a much more worthy selection considering the way he played and more importantly, the value he brought to his team. He seemed more concerned at times with checking out the scoreboard to see how many assists he was racking up, but still did a great job feeding everyone around him. He showed his shiftiness in the open floor with his flashy ball-handling skills and excellent hesitation moves, and utilized both hands showcasing his court vision and making outstanding post-entry passes, lobs, and drive and dish plays. At times it seemed like he was dominating the ball a little too much, but considering the way he got everyone around him involved and cheered his teammates on both on the court and from the bench, there is not a whole lot to criticize here. [Read Full Article]
Jordan Brand Classic Scrimmage (Day Two) April 19, 2008 For the Blue team, the center of attention as always revolved around the flamboyant presence of their point guard Brandon Jennings. He dominated the ball for every minute that he was on the floor, pounding it excessively during certain stretches and making phenomenal plays in others, showcasing his outstanding athleticism and talent level, but also making some of the people in attendance grumble about his somewhat selfish style of play.
Quick shots early in possessions, a little mano a mano with the pesky Kemba Walker (who went right at him), and some incredible flurries of imagination all typified the high-usage, high-octane play of Jennings. He was awesome splitting the defense and finding cutters with his lightning quick bounce passes, incredibly flashy with his ball-handling skills, and also played absolutely zero defense on the other end of the floor.
The problem with Jennings is that he seems more concerned with looking good than playing winning basketball. This is not something that we came up with from watching him in the all-star game setting, but also very much evident when we went out to watch him play with Oak Hill back in December. He only seems interested in passing the ball if he will definitely get an assist, which causes a lot of standing around from his teammates and probably doesn’t make him the most fun guy to play with. It’s way too early to make any definitive conclusions about how he will turn out, but Lute Olsen and Arizona will most certainly have work to do regarding the way he runs a team, because it’s just not a style that is conducive to winning games, despite the incredible amount of talent that Jennings possesses. [Read Full Article] 2008 Spalding Hoophall Classic -- Elite Prospects January 21, 2008 Ranked by most analysts as the top point guard in the 2008 class, the burden of expectations was always going to be quite high for Brandon Jennings (#7 Scout, #8 Rivals) going into this game. And although he was named the MVP of his team for his performance, in a winning effort, there were definitely some negatives to take away from today.
Jennings is a slightly undersized point guard with an average frame, solid length and excellent athletic ability. He has a terrific first step, and is an extremely fluid all-around player, the type who everything comes easy for on the court.
Known as more of a pass-first playmaker, Jennings looked more focused on showing off his scoring ability in this game. He shot the ball 24 times in 32 minutes, seven times from behind the arc, and only hit 11 of his field goal attempts. His shot selection looked extremely questionable at times, to say the least. He’s relying more heavily on his perimeter jumper than we remember, looking to create space from the perimeter and then pulling up constantly off the dribble, with mostly mixed results. He seemed to settle too often, before anyone else on his team got the touch the ball. On one particular play, the 30-second shot-clock expired with the ball in his hands without him having passed it by that point even once.
Looking beyond just today’s performance, though, you can definitely say that he’s got nice potential as a perimeter shooter down the road, both from mid-range (especially on his pull-up) and behind the arc. It would just be a shame for him to fall in love with it and forget the rest of his game.
A superb ball-handler with either hand, Jennings has terrific quickness, an assortment of crossovers and hesitation moves, and the added benefit of being left-handed, which most defenders just aren’t used to. He likes to push the ball up the floor, and is especially effective in transition, which should suit him quite well next year at Arizona. He didn’t finish particularly well around the rim, though, as his lack of size and strength appears to be a bit of a hindrance at this level already. He also doesn’t seem to be the most contact-loving player either, which resulted in some blown layups.
As a playmaker, Jennings has outstanding court vision, and the ability to make extremely flashy passes at high speeds while on the move. His decision making isn’t bad, but at times you feel like he’s more concerned with getting on to a highlight reel than making the right play. It seems like he may have played in just one too many AAU tournaments. Oak Hill looked fairly disorganized in their half-court sets, and we missed a little bit of leadership coming from Jennings’ direction. The team seems to be struggling all season long, and after what we saw today, it’s not too hard to tell why. Jennings just doesn’t look like he cares that much while on the court, or at least that’s what his laid back body language would lead you to believe. He’s a very dominant point guard who dribbles the ball excessively and is obviously much better setting up players off the bounce than he is directing traffic from the perimeter, showing lots of style but not enough substance.
Defensively, Jennings was extremely average, not putting too much effort in, and gambling excessively for steals and blocks, jumping wildly trying to contest shots from behind the arc. Oak Hill often had him defending the other team’s worst player, possibly to conserve his energy. He does have very nice ability to come up with steals, though, both coming up in the passing lanes and picking his man’s pocket clean playing on the ball. He was able to do exactly that on the last possession of the game with his team up by one point, stealing the ball, but then foolishly decided to lay it in and give the opposing team a chance to tie the game with a three rather than run out the entire clock on his own. Not a smart play at all.
All in all, there is very little question that Jennings has a great deal of potential. After watching him play here, though, we have some question marks about how quickly he will reach that potential. He should have a chance to step in and contribute right away at Arizona, which should help him. [Read Full Article]
RBK U - Day Two- Top Prospects and Performers July 11, 2007 Jennings continued his torrid camp by throwing up a camp high 28 points in the morning session before settling for 15 in Team A.I.'s afternoon game. While he did put up impressive numbers, he was forcing up a lot of bad shots and struggled to hit from outside, going just 3-of-12 from deep in his first two games. To be great on the next level, Jennings really has to concentrate on balancing himself on his jump shot, because he has all the ability in the world. Many of his shots are of the step back or off-balance variety, and they really affect his shooting percentage. [Read Full Article] RBK U - Sunday Night Session July 9, 2007 First, we'll start with the best performance of the game, and maybe the day, by Brandon Jennings (Team Iverson/Oak Hill/Los Angeles/2008). After a mediocre first game, Jennings exploded in his second game, finishing with a game high 21. You name it, Jennings did it. He hit 3 threes, scored at will in the lane, got to the line with ease, pick-pocketed UCLA commit Malcom Lee's pocket twice, and served up a beautiful through the legs bounce pass to Rednardo Sidney for a jam. But the moment that everyone in attendance was talking about was the dunk Jennings had in the fourth quarter. Cutting from the wing with a little over 3 minutes left to play, Jennings left his feet outside of the lane and finished off an incredible left handed jam in traffic. He clearly used all of his 40' vertical. I must say visions of Baron Davis went running through my head. Jennings played with a confidence in his second game that just wasn't there in the first. [Read Full Article]
Chicago Simeon vs. Oak Hill Academy Breakdown January 25, 2007 After a good summer of AAU basketball, and a solid performance on national tv earlier this year, Brandon Jennings struggled against Simeon on Thursday night. Jennings ranks 6th in the country among juniors, and rates as the top point guard in his class. Over the summer, he ran the point on the So Cal All-Stars, which also featured Kevin Love, Renardo Sidney, and Taylor King. As good as his Oak Hill team is this season, the team he ran over the summer in AAU was that much better. With this team, Jennings did an outstanding job creating for teammates both in the half court and full court.
Thursday night Jennings struggled for much of the game, and didn’t look nearly as polished as he did over the summer. He did make a few flashy passes early in the game, including a cross court no-look pass in transition. Jennings couldn’t find his shot, however, and airballed a three early in the game. In the half court, he struggled to create many plays for his teammates, and spent a lot of the time sitting back and watching Alex Legion create. His play improved a little bit in the fourth quarter, but he took a number of bad three point shots off the dribble trying to get his team back into the game. At the end of the game Jennings sat on the bench crying on the sideline, but this game isn’t much a reflection on the talent that he possesses.
At this point in time, Brandon Jennings’ main strength is the ability he has to create shots for his teammates. He displayed flashes of this against Simeon, but he can usually do this throughout the game, and much more effectively in the half court. Jennings gets to the basket as well, and can finish pretty well, though he is improving in this area. As a shooter, he has a lot of room for improvement, but can make some long range shots from time to time. He will have to make some improvements to his ability to hit shots off the dribble, but this should develop more as he becomes more experienced. Another main weakness for Jennings is the fact that he always goes for the flashy play, and this leads to unnecessary turnovers.
Jennings is a player who’s not use to failing on the basketball court. The loss was the first of the season for Oak Hill, and he usually had comparable success in the AAU circuit with the So Cal All-Stars. He will have plenty of chances for redemption in the future, and one bad game shouldn’t effect the perception on Brandon Jennings as a player. [Read Full Article] Las Vegas AAU Summer Tournaments: Thoughts from Day Two July 25, 2006 Jennings is a very talented point guard, who has been impressive throughout the tournament. He is very athletic, as he displayed on a fast break dunk where he exploded off the ground to catch an alley-oop pass. He is very quick with the ball, and has an explosive first step which allows great dribble penetration. He possesses a very good handle on the ball, but he is very left handed, and needs to go right more often in order to mix things up. Jennings has very good court vision, as he proved many times both in transition, and half court sets. He also showed some shooting ability, and even made a fall-away jumper from 17 feet. His shooting stroke is inconsistent at this point, but he does have good mechanics. Jennings is a good scorer inside, and uses his athleticism near the hoop, but he doesn’t always convert on his drives.
Jennings biggest weakness at this point is his tendency to try and be too flashy. He turns the ball over too much for a point guard with great court vision, and that is a direct result of him trying to be too fancy with his passes. On one occasion Jennings created dribble penatration and had an open teammate inside, but rather than throw a simple pass to his teammate’s hand, he tried a no-look pass which went right into the hands of the defender. Jennings also tends to be a little wild while running a half court offense, and needs to work on being more patient at times. Down the road he will need to work on developing a mid-range game.
In his first game of the day, Jennings scored 8 points against the Michigan Hurricanes, while dishing out 8 assists and turning the ball over 4 times. Against the D1 Greyhounds, he scored 14 points, and handed out 8 assists with 3 turnovers. He has looked like a very promising point guard, and his combination of athleticism, court vision, and scoring. He will have to become more disciplined when running an offense, but he has a very bright future ahead of him. [Read Full Article]
Las Vegas AAU Summer Tournaments: Thoughts from Day One July 23, 2006 Jennings is worthy of his lofty ranking, that much is for sure. He is a fantastic athlete and he showed that right away by attempting a spectacular put-back dunk off an offensive rebound. He’s a creative point guard who enjoys finding the open man and has a great imagination to make flashy passes, but he sometimes gets a little too caught up in making a spectacular move. So-Cal did a great job utilizing his strengths and not forcing him to create excessively off the dribble. He also didn’t settle for his perimeter shot either, which is good considering that this isn’t one of his strong points. Instead he pushed the tempo and made a series of terrific passes through traffic, both in transition and in the half-court. Jennings is only a 2008 prospect and has plenty of room to continue to develop, but appears to be on the right track so far. Jim Calhoun and the rest of the UConn staff was watching him intently from the sidelines today. [Read Full Article]
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