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What an interesting road this young man has traveled to get to the point of having the possibility of being selected in the first round of the upcoming 2009 NBA Draft. A highly touted high school senior, Jennings was listed as the #1 recruit in 2007-2008 by both Scouts.com and ESPN.com. What happened? Well, that my friends is the unique story of Brandon Jennings.

Brandon Jennings’ Collegiate Career

To sum it up in one sentence, Brandon Jennings didn’t have a collegiate career. And this is where the story gets a bit more interesting. As a high school senior playing for Oak Hill Academy in Virginia, Jennings finished the season with nothing short of outstanding statistics and ended up as the 2008 Naismith High School Basketball Player Of The Year. A quick run down of what he accomplished. He scored over 32 points per game, dished out over 7 assists per game, averaged more than 5 rebounds a game and to top it off almost 4 steals per game. This had many colleges beating a path to the young mans door and rightly so. He initially committed to USC during his junior season but changed his mind in 2007 and expressed that he would instead join the Arizona Wildcats. Moving forward to June 2008, Jennings had difficulty passing the entrance exam. To be kind, he tanked it, even after trying it multiple times. Since he was not yet 19 years old, Jennings couldn’t make himself eligible for the 2008 NBA Draft. At this point, he declared that he would be the first American player to forgo college and play in Europe. In July of 2008, Jennings signed a $1.65 million dollar contract to play for Lottomatica Roma of The Italian A League. Needless to say, certainly not chump change. Added to that was a contract from Under Armour for $2 million to showcase the company’s products in the Euroleague. Not a bad deal right? But Jennings still wants to play in the NBA and this is the year where most feel he will get his wish.

Brandon Jennings 2009 NBA Draft Prospects

With almost a season of polish and yes, some frustration under his belt, Brandon Jennings will most like be a first round selection in the upcoming 2009 NBA Draft. His upside potential to many is off the scale. Showing that he could play point guard in a fairly tough Euroleague has Jennings slated to be a low first round pick. To many, Jennings might be that so called sleeper pick that will have everybody saying “Who?” when the day is over. At 6ft 1in. tall, Jennings has what many feel is world class speed. And in this day and age when the speed is at a premium in the NBA, Jennings has it bucketloads. His athleticism, quickness, and knowledge of the game will pose many problems for his future opponents. Jennings is a true point guard that has outstanding ball handling skills and passing abilities. Is he a finished product? No, not yet, but look for this young man to make a mark in the NBA and do it rather quickly. 

Refs:

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Brandon-Jennings-1114/

http://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=2&pr_key=39071

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/24/sports/basketball/24recruit.html

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009 at 8:45 am and is filed under 2009 NBA Draft. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.