Catching Up With Jennings: With the Los Angeles Clippers' Blake Griffin missing the early portion of the NBA season with injury, Milwaukee guard Brandon Jennings may have surfaced as the early leader for the Rookie of the Year award.
Jennings is off to a great start, averaging nearly 19 points a contest along with four assists, four rebounds, and just under two steals. He may have been the fourth point guard taken in the 2009 NBA draft, but he's going to be number one at the position in Milwaukee for a long time coming. Jennings has always had aspirations of being a star in this league, that's why he passed on going to college for a year. However, even he didn't envision himself getting off to such a hot start.
"Actually no," admitted Brandon when asked about whether or not he'd have this kind of start. "I was just expecting to come in, try and fit my way in and just keep learning."
Jennings' ability to learn on the fly has not only made him the starter, but a catalyst for the Bucks early on especially with Michael Redd missing some time. As stellar as he's been though, he shakes off the notion that he's revitalized Milwaukee Buck basketball just yet. That'll come when the team is back on top of their division and in the postseason.
"I've just been trying to keep working hard, trying to keep my play up and just focus on the game of basketball," explained Jennings.
Because of the unique route Jennings took to the NBA he has an advantage on most rookies. Rather than taking classes and experimenting with being a student-athlete like most Jennings went overseas and immediately became a professional. It was a risky decision by Jennings that cost him a lot of publicity throughout the season. Blake Griffin and Stephen Curry were all over ESPN nightly, while Jennings was playing 10-12 minutes a game.
Overall though the experience really benefited Jennings and he's right on track to where he wanted to be when he was a high-profile prospect coming out of Oak Hill Academy just two short years ago.
"Well, going to Europe, you've got to be mentally tough. It is an adjustment because you are a long way from home, you're living in a different country, but I think it just made me stronger as a person and I think it just showed how mentally tough I was. Even though I wasn't getting a lot of playing time, that adversity that I've taken not playing as much really just humbled me a lot. Now that I'm here in the NBA a lot of the things I see now, I'm used to."
"I think I learned (being mentally tough) in Europe just playing against those guys. Those guys are like 27 and 30. Over in Europe it's more physical. You can grab, you can push, you can nearly punch a guy out if you wanted to. You can do all those things. I think just coming back over here now a lot of guys can't touch and grab. Also the physicalness is nothing compared to overseas."
One of the things that Jennings will have to get used to eventually that he didn't have to deal with overseas is the life of stardom. Jennings is on his way to being one of the bigger names in the league and certainly in Milwaukee. So far he's really enjoying his time in Milwaukee since things haven't gotten too crazy yet.
"Actually, I love it," said Jennings of Milwaukee. "It's a laid back town. I'm able to go out without getting harassed or anything like that. The only thing people say is 'good luck this year, thanks for coming to the Milwaukee Bucks, hopefully you can lift our team up and things like that.' Milwaukee's been good to me so far."
Click here to listen to Brandon Jennings interview in its entirety with WSSP in Milwaukee!
Trading Andre Already: For the first time this season last night Andre Miller was a part of the starting lineup in Portland. Coach Nate McMillan started Andre, Steve Blake, and Brandon Roy all together. While it may be a bit of a small lineup, it was effective against the San Antonio Spurs as the Blazers defeated them 96-84.
Andre struggled from the field, going 2-9, but did grab six rebounds and dish out four assists. He's not having the type of impact that many expected him to when he originally signed with Portland, largely in part because he hasn't had the opportunities he's used to. For some reason Coach McMillan hasn't been willing or ready to hand over the point guard reigns to him just yet.
ESPN.com's Marc Stein brings up some interesting points in his Daily Dime regarding Miller. According to Stein several rival executives said the organization acquired solely so they could have a tradable asset. Originally they wanted to spend their cap space on Hedo Turkoglu and Paul Millsap.
Miller remains one of the better point guards in the league and there's no doubt he's capable of producing much more than he has so far. He can keep his bags unpacked for now though because he cannot be traded until December 13th. Come that time things could be completely different though. Portland will hold onto him if he's a starter who is helping their team take the next step forward.
If Miller is still unhappy come December 13th, expect the phone to starting ringing with questions about what it would take to get Andre off their hands.
A Costly Recruit: With the NCAA season starting this upcoming week several freshman whose eligibility is in question are having their fates decided. Kentucky's John Wall, who scored 27 in his exhibition debut, and Cincinnati's Lance Stephenson had been cleared. Mississippi State's Renardo Sidney has not received clearance yet, but he's complied with everything the NCAA has asked for him.
Someone who is not complying and could face some eligibility issues next is UCF's Marcus Jordan. Jordan, the better of M.J.'s two sons, wore a pair of white Air Jordan's in UCF's exhibition game last week. His actions have cost the university their deal with Adidas. They were in the final year of their contract with Adidas and were bided by the contract to have all their coaches and athletes wear their apparel and equipment. Marcus knew of this, but wore shoes from his father's brand instead citing special meaning.
The burning question shouldn't be why did Adidas drop UCF, rather, where exactly did Marcus Jordan get the shoes he wore? If Marcus Jordan did not purchase those shoes from a retail store there is a pretty big issue with a company providing $130 shoes to student athletes on scholarship. Further more the shoes in question did not appear to be a "stock" style, rather custom all-white with limited logo and branding (read that to mean custom made).
The NCAA is sure to take notice of this situation to make sure that Marcus Jordan's eligibility is not endangered by his dealings with his dad's company. Even if your Dad is Michael Jordan, you can not accept free merchandise from Nike or Brand Jordan and remain eligible in the NCAA.
Being the son of His Airness is not an easy task at all, he said as much during his acceptance speech for the Hall of Fame. It's worse though when you ignore a contract the school has simply because you want to wear the gear your father endorses.
UCF deserves to lose their contract with Adidas because this situation never should have happened. Marcus is a fine basketball player, but good enough to go against what the rest of the team does while costing the entire university its $3 million contract with Adidas? No. Brand Jordan, which sponsors many universities already, should feel some obligation to add UCF in light of the situation Marcus has created.
But that too could be viewed as a violation.
Scouting Saturday: There are seven games on tap for tonight in the NBA, let's take a deeper look into the action:
Denver Nuggets @ Atlanta Hawks: Denver is coming off of their first loss of the season, falling to the Miami HEAT last night after getting off to a hot 5-0 start. The Hawks are impressive at 4-2 themselves, but they just got embarrassed by the Charlotte Bobcats. Denver will undoubtedly look to put the defensive pressure on Atlanta and try to get them to play 1-on-1 basketball. This game marks the last of J.R. Smith's suspension.
Boston Celtics @ New Jersey Nets: The Boston Celtics lost their first game of the season last night as well to the surprising Phoenix Suns. They get a chance to bounce back quickly though against a New Jersey team that is missing their best player. They hung tough last night without Devin Harris against the Philadelphia 76ers, but the Celtics have a bad taste in their mouth and do not want to experience their second loss this early in the season.
Charlotte Bobcats @ Chicago Bulls: A repeat performance will be in order for the Charlotte Bobcats if they're going to hang with the Chicago Bulls. Last night against the Hawks they scored a season high 103 points and they may need to do so against the Bulls if they allow them to control the tempo. Chicago has the firepower to take this one, but they'll have to be ready for a Charlotte team that gets after it defensively.
Toronto Raptors @ Dallas Mavericks: Like Boston Dallas is kicking themselves a bit for the manner in which they lost their last game. Dallas had a chance to beat New Orleans in regulation, but they eased up and ended up falling in overtime. In come the Toronto Raptors, who are on a two game winning streak and looking much improved. This matchup between two 3-2 teams is the game of the night, expect to see a lot of points scored.
New York Knicks @ Milwaukee Bucks: There's no Michael Redd in the lineup for the Bucks tonight, but they do have Brandon Jennings. The rookie has been sensational and with Andrew Bogut looking like his regular self the Bucks are actually very tough. Tough isn't a word that could be used to describe the Knicks. Last night they were witnesses to the LeBron James Show as they fell to 1-5 on the year.
Sacramento Kings @ Utah Jazz: What a horrible year it's turning out to be in Sacramento so far. First they lose Fransico Garcia and now they're without the one player they couldn't afford to lose in Kevin Martin. Tyreke Evans is going to have the freedom to do as he pleases, but the Kings are going to struggle mightily. It all starts in Utah tonight, where it can get pretty ugly especially when the Jazz play as well as they did against the Spurs last time out.
Memphis Grizzlies @ Los Angeles Clippers: A battle between two of the finalists for Allen Iverson's services this past summer. Right now the Memphis Grizzlies are probably saying you can take him, but if it's any consolation for Allen he wouldn't be starting for the Clippers either. Neither of these teams are where they want to be at this point of the season, but the Clippers appear to have something going as they've won their last two. Memphis on the other hand is trying to avoid their fifth straight loss.
NBA Chat: We've got two chats coming up today. Up first will be Susan Bible at 11am EST. Susan covers the Oklahoma City Thunder and the NBA as a whole, you can get your questions into here. Following Susan will be Preetom Bhattacharya. Pree also covers the NBA at large and will be taking your questions here. Make sure to get them in early as both chat's fill up fast.
