Brandon Jennings,
Lottomatica Roma,
NBA Position: PG,
H: 6'1, W: 170, Age: 19
Brandon Jennings struggled mightily playing in Europe for the year, and it will be interesting to see what effect that has on his draft stock. Much like Holiday, his high ranking on mock draft charts has more to do with the type of prospect he was coming out of high school than anything he did this past season.
Jennings' strengths were transition play and ball handling. He seemed
capable of pushing the ball well and using nice hesitations and
advanced ball handling techniques to create space while in
transition. He seems capable with either hand as well, and he looks
fluid in transition getting up and down the court.
He makes his share of highlight reel style passes, but he also makes
plenty of turnovers trying to force the issue. He's billed as a true
point guard, but he displayed only adequate vision on his Italian team.
He's been billed as a tremendously athletic prospect, but he didn't
seem able to use that athleticism except in transition, as he
struggles to get his shot off in isolation or break guys down in half
court settings. This raises questions about whether his athleticism is more limited than expected or whether he just struggles to apply that athleticism in a highly talented pro league at this stage of his development.
In addition, he plays at the rim for the most part, rarely dunking even
in transition, not that this is rare for a 6'1 PG prospect, so it's not
necessarily a negative indicator of his athleticism. We don't have
combine numbers on him, so whether he is less athletic than previously
perceived or whether he just had problems translating that athleticism
is anyone's guess.
He doesn't presently have much of a jumper even when he's wide open.
His form has a large degree of variance in it. Sometimes he's jumping
forward, most of the time he's leaning back, but he almost never sets
his feet and goes straight up. The variance in his form is greater
than any of the other guard prospects I've reviewed this year (without
having looked at DeRozan yet).
Physically, he still needs to add a lot of strength which is status quo
for a prospect his age. Defensively, he seems to lack focus and
fundamentals, gets blown by a lot and will be a work in progress at the
next level. It looks like Europe, overall, wasn't very good for his
draft status or development. Whatever he may have gained playing
against real men and having more practice time seems lost by not
playing nearly as many minutes of basketball and not being the focal
point of the team when he did play.
Some GMs view high school ability to be nearly as important as
collegiate/international ability, because the players are often
showcased there rather than tried to fit into a coach's system or
molded to that team's needs. People subscribing to that philosophy
will probably love Jennings, but he didn't do anything in Europe to
make someone think he's a draft prospect unless they already had that
preconceived notion in their head.
Filed under: Draft Coverage
Tags: brandon jennings, chicago bulls, draft, nba draft, prospect
RoadWarrior
10 minutes ago