It’s been over five months since the Milwaukee Bucks selected point guard Brandon Jennings with the 10th overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft.
Since then, the young, confident Jennings has done nothing but secure the starting job ahead of veteran Luke Ridnour, drop 55 points on the Golden State Warriors, and help the Bucks to a winning record early in the season.
Now the Bucks are below .500, Jennings is slowly coming down off of his career night, and the dust is beginning to settle. But the Bucks and the rest of the world, probably most notably the NCAA world, needs to start to wonder—did Brandon Jennings just change the world?
Well, no, of course not. Not literally. Basketball isn’t “the world”, no matter the player, the scene, the moment, or the level. It’s just a game.
Regardless, in some fashion, Jenning’s bold decision to make the leap to the pro’s in Europe, instead of playing one year of college ball at the University of Arizona, could change the history of the NBA.
It’s been just three years since NBA commissioner David Stern changed the rules so that no high school players could be drafted by an NBA franchise. Rather, every single player would be forced to go through a year of college before entering the NBA.
This was in an effort to minimize young careers being ruined, franchises being sabotaged by big-money contracts for would-be busts, and to help the college game save itself.
But then there was Jennings. Jennings, and one fantastic loop-hole. A loop-hole, in fact, that is already sparking the interest of other college starts, and even more disturbingly, lesser known players who feel they don’t have great chances at being drafted out of college.
Florida’s Nick Calathes, for one, chose to head overseas after his sophomore season at Florida, rather than report to the NBA team that would draft him in the 2009 draft.
Calathes is a different issue, however, as he actually went through the college process, honed his craft, and simply weighed his options before deciding to go pro, rather than have an NBA team say no.
It all goes back to Jennings. People thought he was a fool for ditching a Lute Olsen led program (Olsen eventually retired that same season) for a team overseas that knew nothing about Jennings, other than that he was a young kid with sick senior stats, and a heck of a 1990s afro.
The kid could run and jump with the best of them, and was truly a man amongst boys in high school. So, really, why keep this talent out of the NBA?
Fortunately (and unfortunately), that question need not be answered. Jennings has answered it with a retort that ever high schooler is lending his ear to—you don’t have to go to the NBA.
There is a roster spot, money, and fame waiting for you overseas, and after your time there is done, you still have the option of returning home to try out for an NBA team.
So while many (including this writer) shook their heads at Jennings for going to Europe, hardly playing, and then immediately entering the NBA Draft, it’s time to fess up and give the kid some credit.
He beat the system. He truly was as talented as advertised, and no matter how much or how little he played overseas, any amount of professional basketball, so it seems, is enough preparation for the NBA.
Even if Jennings becomes the exception, and not the rule, and even if his fast start fizzles out (that won’t happen) and he becomes a bust, the way the events have transpired still beg us to ask—should we be upset that this scrawny kid spurned college, out-smarted the NBA, and got his way? Or should we be thanking him ?
