beb0p
Starter
Not even close. Conley is still only 21 and he's right on schedule. 2-3 years from now he'll be right there with Harris, Augustin, Session, etc as the new generation of PG.
Not even close. Conley is still only 21 and he's right on schedule. 2-3 years from now he'll be right there with Harris, Augustin, Session, etc as the new generation of PG.
Vlade4GM
All-Star
I'm trying to figure out if dumb college kids is an oxymoron, or not...
It's probably just the "dumb" and "kid" that's the oxymoron.
Sac.1989
Starter
Great read this:
http://slamonline.com/online/nba/2009/05/slamonline-mock-draft-brandon-jennings-no-4/
SLAMonline Mock Draft: Brandon Jennings, No. 4 - He is now officially ready to rock the NBA
by Tzvi Twersky
With the fourth pick in the SLAMonline Mock Draft, the Sacramento Kings select…
Eddie Jordan. As the coach. But, for real, Brandon Jennings is gonna look good in purple-and-black—well, as good as any man can look in those colors.
Last time you saw the Kings play, Kenny Natt was coach, Geoff Petrie was in charge of player personnel and Beno Udrih was playing the point. Well, the Maloof brothers have come to their senses. First, they screwed over Bill Simmons and made me the first Internet writer-turned-GM. Then, no questions asked, they allowed me to hire my man, Eddie Jordan. Once he was entrenched as the coach—and the offense that the Nets used when they were good, and that the Wizards have been using was emplaced—I didn’t have to think too hard before settling on cover boy, Brandon Jennings.
Usually I don’t feel the need to justify my picks to the public, but this one time I’ll do it. So let’s analyze my reasoning.
First on my checklist was “team need”. Yes, I usually draft the best talent on the board, but in this case—with Blake and Rubio taken—I didn’t see one player who was far-and-away better than the rest. So I focused on the players that we already had inked.
Looking up and down the current roster, I felt that our bigs were set, with a few young prospects at those spots (Spencer Hawes and Jason Thompson). When it comes to the wings, we are also happy with what we have there—Kevin Martin, Donte Green and ’Ciso Garcia—and can’t afford to spend another pick, and more money, on that spot. Yes, I like Demar DeRozan, but not enough to draft him. He is not ready to contribute and I don’t feel like teaching him to play, only to lose him in a couple years to free agency. As for James Harden, I liked him as a college frosh, but didn’t see his game progress as a sophomore. When you toss in his March Madness production, he fell down our board. Now, at the 1 spot, for some reason the previous group of decision makers decided to lock up Udrih long-term. But his game is so average it would fit in well with the D-League. No. He wasn’t gonna be my starter this year.
I thought about some of the PGs in the Draft. Stephen Curry didn’t even enter my mind; he’s a SG. Ty Lawson is real nice. And he’s also 5-10 and injury prone. When it came time to evaluate Jennings, I was skeptical. The kid’s a little short and didn’t put up good numbers this year in Europe. But after working him out, I decided I had to have him—you would have to, the kid didn’t miss a J, showed great speed, court vision and displayed the work ethic Eddie Jordan needs. I think he’ll be able to step in this year, play 30+ minutes a game and bring us back to respectability. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that he’s a little flashy—remember the cow-bells that Jason Williams had ringing here 10 years ago?
You want to know a little bit more of our scouting report on BJ, well here it is: A lefty, Jennings is quick and fast—and there is a difference there. Because of this, he has no trouble getting where he wants to on the court, be it the lane or the spot on defense. When it comes to handling the rock, ain’t no one better. His handles are as good as anyone out there. When you combine that with serious case of mad court-vision and a knack for the spectacular, SportsCenter should be his middle name. He does like to shoot, too, and even though he only shot 38 percent this year in Italy, he possesses a nice mid-range and long-range stroke. Oh, yeah, I almost forgot; Brandon has springs, and doesn’t mind bangin’ on bigs when they give him the lane. When you let him run with the ball, as Eddie will, watch out because the results are gonna be spectacular. I know I’m not mentioning his flaws, but when you put it all together, BJ is the best PG to call Cali home since Jason Kidd and Gary Payton. Hopefully, for him (and me), he has the kind of careers that those two had.
You know, we were looking forward to that first pick. Blake Griffin would have made Eddie Jordan look good. He would have made all of us look smart. But C-Dub (Chris Webber, the man who repped us at the lottery) couldn’t come through—nothing’s changed, I guess—and we ended up with the fourth pick. This is only the second time the franchise has picked in the top-five. The other time, in the one slot, we selected “Never Nervous” Pervis Ellison. That makes me feel good because even if Jennings busts, he’ll never duplicate Ellison’s wasted career. And, just maybe, he’ll help keep the franchise in Sacramento.
http://slamonline.com/online/nba/2009/05/slamonline-mock-draft-brandon-jennings-no-4/
SLAMonline Mock Draft: Brandon Jennings, No. 4 - He is now officially ready to rock the NBA
by Tzvi Twersky
With the fourth pick in the SLAMonline Mock Draft, the Sacramento Kings select…
Eddie Jordan. As the coach. But, for real, Brandon Jennings is gonna look good in purple-and-black—well, as good as any man can look in those colors.
Last time you saw the Kings play, Kenny Natt was coach, Geoff Petrie was in charge of player personnel and Beno Udrih was playing the point. Well, the Maloof brothers have come to their senses. First, they screwed over Bill Simmons and made me the first Internet writer-turned-GM. Then, no questions asked, they allowed me to hire my man, Eddie Jordan. Once he was entrenched as the coach—and the offense that the Nets used when they were good, and that the Wizards have been using was emplaced—I didn’t have to think too hard before settling on cover boy, Brandon Jennings.
Usually I don’t feel the need to justify my picks to the public, but this one time I’ll do it. So let’s analyze my reasoning.
First on my checklist was “team need”. Yes, I usually draft the best talent on the board, but in this case—with Blake and Rubio taken—I didn’t see one player who was far-and-away better than the rest. So I focused on the players that we already had inked.
Looking up and down the current roster, I felt that our bigs were set, with a few young prospects at those spots (Spencer Hawes and Jason Thompson). When it comes to the wings, we are also happy with what we have there—Kevin Martin, Donte Green and ’Ciso Garcia—and can’t afford to spend another pick, and more money, on that spot. Yes, I like Demar DeRozan, but not enough to draft him. He is not ready to contribute and I don’t feel like teaching him to play, only to lose him in a couple years to free agency. As for James Harden, I liked him as a college frosh, but didn’t see his game progress as a sophomore. When you toss in his March Madness production, he fell down our board. Now, at the 1 spot, for some reason the previous group of decision makers decided to lock up Udrih long-term. But his game is so average it would fit in well with the D-League. No. He wasn’t gonna be my starter this year.
I thought about some of the PGs in the Draft. Stephen Curry didn’t even enter my mind; he’s a SG. Ty Lawson is real nice. And he’s also 5-10 and injury prone. When it came time to evaluate Jennings, I was skeptical. The kid’s a little short and didn’t put up good numbers this year in Europe. But after working him out, I decided I had to have him—you would have to, the kid didn’t miss a J, showed great speed, court vision and displayed the work ethic Eddie Jordan needs. I think he’ll be able to step in this year, play 30+ minutes a game and bring us back to respectability. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that he’s a little flashy—remember the cow-bells that Jason Williams had ringing here 10 years ago?
You want to know a little bit more of our scouting report on BJ, well here it is: A lefty, Jennings is quick and fast—and there is a difference there. Because of this, he has no trouble getting where he wants to on the court, be it the lane or the spot on defense. When it comes to handling the rock, ain’t no one better. His handles are as good as anyone out there. When you combine that with serious case of mad court-vision and a knack for the spectacular, SportsCenter should be his middle name. He does like to shoot, too, and even though he only shot 38 percent this year in Italy, he possesses a nice mid-range and long-range stroke. Oh, yeah, I almost forgot; Brandon has springs, and doesn’t mind bangin’ on bigs when they give him the lane. When you let him run with the ball, as Eddie will, watch out because the results are gonna be spectacular. I know I’m not mentioning his flaws, but when you put it all together, BJ is the best PG to call Cali home since Jason Kidd and Gary Payton. Hopefully, for him (and me), he has the kind of careers that those two had.
You know, we were looking forward to that first pick. Blake Griffin would have made Eddie Jordan look good. He would have made all of us look smart. But C-Dub (Chris Webber, the man who repped us at the lottery) couldn’t come through—nothing’s changed, I guess—and we ended up with the fourth pick. This is only the second time the franchise has picked in the top-five. The other time, in the one slot, we selected “Never Nervous” Pervis Ellison. That makes me feel good because even if Jennings busts, he’ll never duplicate Ellison’s wasted career. And, just maybe, he’ll help keep the franchise in Sacramento.
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Vlade4GM
All-Star
Not a balanced analysis of Jennings' game and sounds a bit bias. I agree that once you're past Griffin and Rubio there is no clear bpa's and that might make team need a little more relevant, but there is still a big risk in taking Jennings. I'm more than open to taking Jennings, but I'm not deluded into not thinking that he still has a great deal of developing left to do. Sacramento may be the right situation for him to do that, but we need to study the crap out of his character in order to get an idea how committed he is to developing his game and becoming a true PG, and not some AI wannabe.
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kingsnation
All-Star
kingsnation
All-Star
I checked the link and it looks as though he's doing a mock draft one player at a time, and writing each pick as though he actually knows something about the team he's representing...
Yawn.
Quite frankly, I can name at least five KF members off the top of my head who could do a much better job - and actually do it without resorting to cheap shots and insults in the process.
Yawn.
Quite frankly, I can name at least five KF members off the top of my head who could do a much better job - and actually do it without resorting to cheap shots and insults in the process.
GeraldWallace#3
Bench
From what I've seen is that he is nowhere near a character problem. From his DX interview he seems like a well mannered kid, who loves the game of basketball. He also said in that interview that he is worked hard with is trainer to improve his shooting mechanics. So really I dont see any commitment issues with him.
I say we just go for it all and draft Jennings. Whats the worst that could happen. A kid as raw as that has to end up being something in this league. He is everything this team needs. A true PG, a athletic freak on a team that drastically lacks athleticism, a crowd pleaser (which could sometimes be his downfall). I could see Petrie drafting him on draft day and a couple of you guys will be bummed out. But when the season starts we will all see why Geoff is one of the league's best.
Vlade4GM
All-Star
I'm not suggesting he's a character problem per se, he has shown a good attitude dealing with his situation in Europe but that's also similar to players in their contract years, and once they're done auditioning for teams they sometimes regress. I mean, there's space between a character problem and a player ready to work his *** off to achieve his potential. He has a lot of work left to do and a long way to go before you can justify giving him the level of control with the ball that he craves. They need to decide whether he's got the work ethic and also whether he can maintain it to achieve his potential. That's not really my big question though. My big question is whether he's committed to playing the PG position the right way and not the Marbury way. The streetball aspects of his game has to go.
I've been fine with the idea of drafting Jennings, I think when you consider what's on the board, it's reasonable to go for the home run pick with Jennings, but don't be confused, he is a big gamble. Probably has the highest bust potential of any of the guys we're considering. On raw ability though, he's possibly top 3 in the draft, it's just he doesn't have even one real NBA ready skill. I mean, he's incredibly fast and a great ball handler, but he's not much of a finisher yet, his defense is still weak, his shot still needs a lot of work, and he needs to learn how to really run an offense. The most mature part of his game IMO is his ability to lead the break, that's probably the most mature part of his game right now.
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bajaden
Hall of Famer
I agree with a lot of what you said. And every flaw you listed can be corrected with hard work. So, when you look at his overall abilities, he appears to have the talent to be a very good pt guard in the league. If, he has the dedication to put in the work. It then comes back to whats between the ears. So again I agree with you that his mental make up may be the single most important thing to look at.
dj3ptspecialist44
G-League
Here's a good write up on Jennings. I like Jennings still think we should look at Evans though we'd have a freakishly big line up.
http://slamonline.com/online/nba/2009/05/slamonline-mock-draft-brandon-jennings-no-4/
http://slamonline.com/online/nba/2009/05/slamonline-mock-draft-brandon-jennings-no-4/
M
MagicOPromotion
Guest
19 on 3s and 63 at the line is not good, he could drop if wild cards like. Evans, Holiday,Teague and Mills have good workouts and he remains overseas or he shoots poorly if he does work out. Therefore, I think he may have hurt himself if he drops below 15 and gets drafted behind someone like Flynn If Jennings had a shoe deal in place maybe he should have played in the D-League for a year instead.
I thought that was a terrible write up on Jennings. Interesting, yes, but short on real information. He even talks about him being a deadly shooter, which he's not. And he mentions that this is only the second time the Sacramento Kings have picked in the top five. Did I just imagine them drafting Billy Owens and trading his rights for Mitch Richmond?
dj3ptspecialist44
G-League
Just posting information I didn't write the article I thought it was interesting and people would find it interesting at least.
Vlade4GM
All-Star
My problem with Evans is similar to the concerns I have with Jennings, both Jennings and Evans are players that need to have the ball to be effective, but are they good enough to be that kind of focus in an offense? I'd feel more comfortable going with Jennings because I think he much better PG skills. Evans has the finishing ability that Jennings doesn't have yet, which makes Evans a little more reliable of a pick, but I just see him as a Maggette type, that will suck up the ball but not have the IQ/skill level to have an offense run through him. If Evans could actually shoot it there'd be a big difference, but his mechanics are awful and will need to be re-structured.
dj3ptspecialist44
G-League
I agree with you Vlade to a certain extent on your assessment, however I think when you look at Evans as being ball dominant. He kind of had to be at Memphis simply because they didn't have the same play makers they did last year which basically put more pressure on him to be a creator and facilitator as well. I know he's not a "True PG" but having his ability to drive takes more pressure off K-mart in the half court set and he definitely could help our perimeter players. Jennings frame isn't going to allow him to get to the cup like Evans would, but I'd probably give him the edge in shooting. I guess we have to see what happens with Rubio as well as the workouts of Evans and Jennings I think they both are worthy of the 4 pick based on potential and athletic ability.
Kingster
Hall of Famer
Reynolds already said that his tour in Europe was very dissapointing. He sounded very unimpressed with Jennings play, unlike he did with Rubio or Evans. I don't think that statement by Reynolds reflected any posturing either - I really don't think the Kings would be worried about some team trading ahead of them for Jennings. To my mind, Jennings is off the table. It's Rubio, Evans, Harden and ?
GeraldWallace#3
Bench
Kingster
Hall of Famer
It was a long interview on 1140 with Napear on lottery day. I thought Reynolds was very candid in his assessment of many players, and Jennings was obviously low on the totem pole.
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GeraldWallace#3
Bench
stevetaebo
Bench
You know, even as only a mix tape player. I really dont see that many videos on Jennings in Europe(which is probably the only accurate way we can assess him as fans). It's really hard to gauge how much he's improved/matured over his tour in Europe. We can really only go by his interviews with the media, his blog/twitter or some corney draft websites.
And judging by what Grant/Lamb said, Kings aren't impressed. Grant quote "Anyone can take an AAU player and make a youtube highlight real to make him look amazing."
And judging by what Grant/Lamb said, Kings aren't impressed. Grant quote "Anyone can take an AAU player and make a youtube highlight real to make him look amazing."
GeraldWallace#3
Bench
Here are a couple videos of Jennings in the Euro league.....pretty fair analysis, looks like he needs to maybe work on his shot selection and form. The shot where he didn't fade back looked very good. Very good court vision though. And looks like he has pretty good on ball defence.
[yt=Brandon Jennings vs. TAU]Twl2F5iB7sA[/yt]
[yt=Brandon Jennings vs Mantepaschi]IYrQG1w00ko[/yt]
[yt=Brandon Jennings vs. TAU]Twl2F5iB7sA[/yt]
[yt=Brandon Jennings vs Mantepaschi]IYrQG1w00ko[/yt]
GeraldWallace#3
Bench
Look at his shooting form in this video, notice how he dosn't fade back on his shot. If he can get his shot to look like this again his percentages should shoot up.
[yt=Brandon Jennings]WgaUIpNyM78[/yt]
[yt=Brandon Jennings]WgaUIpNyM78[/yt]
dj3ptspecialist44
G-League
That's definitely a couple interesting video and makes me think kind of twice about the Rubio obsession we all have. I'm not hating the fact of Jennings at all liked the possibility he's very athletically gifted. Problem I see with him is he weighs as much as I do haha. He needs to bulk up maybe get up to 185 or so and he will be a terror. The dude is end to end fast like a lawson or a CP3 yes I think he's that fast. If you had him to the team with our pretty quick bigs and K-Mart plus Dante that's kind of scary. Don't get me wrong I still like Rubio's steady hand, but he's no where close to being as athletic as Jennings and the NBA is as much about athleticism as it is smarts.
dj3ptspecialist44
G-League
Sure was but you also have to consider that he easily is one of the best players on the team not that I condone his shots so since he is one of the best players he basically can shoot what he wants to. He didn't shoot all bad shots, but some of those were definitely head scratchers. His driving ability and vision was awesome though.
GeraldWallace#3
Bench
I really don't know why Jerry was so low on Jennings he seems like a very gifted player who makes bad decisions on the court sometimes. Jerry of all people should know that that is one of the easiest things to fix in an NBA player.
GeraldWallace#3
Bench
I also feel like Brandon thought he had something to prove, these were his last couple games and I bet he felt since the beggining of his season went poorly, he should take a lot of shots and hope some go in.
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