Jennings: TrailBlazer; More Smoke than Fire? Part 1

Nobody has ever done what Brandon Jennings is about to do.

The Oak Hill Academy superstar, a flat-top sporting wizard with the ball, will play in Rome this fall as the first recent high school graduate to attempt using European basketball as a springboard to NBA riches.

Other Americans have played in Europe before, but generally after college or a fruitful NBA career (think: Dominique Wilkins). One, Kobe Bryant, played in Italy from age 7-14, but only because his father was already playing there.

But by signing with Pallacanestro Virtus, aka Lottomatica Roma, this summer, Jennings has bucked the standard thinking about what a 18-year old star should do when NBA don't permit draft entry until age 19.

Instead of waiting around this summer to see if he could play in the desert sands of Arizona, he decided to bolt for the cultural riches of Italy. Watching his progress abroad will prove fascinating, and there are a number of threads to follow. DX Draft Express International Scouting Director Luis Fernandez examined one:

1. Is the Italian domestic league the best fit for Jennings?

Jenning's new team is in the Italian domestic league A1, which is - no surprise - better than the other domestic league - A2. It rates only behind the Spanish ACB league as Europe's top domestic league, so it's no place for daisy-pushers, nor a place where teenagers can easily make a mark.

Why?

Fernandez breaks it down:

This is a very physical league where strength and mental toughness is at a premium, two things a player like Jennings cannot be expected to bring to the table at this point in his career.
Roma enjoys a deep roster and a very structured game on both ends of the court. There are no one-man shows here, the ball needs to flow and the team works united for a purpose. A player like Jennings, who loves to jack up shots and to dribble looking for the final definitive pass, probably doesn’t enjoy the experience and maturity to adjust quickly enough. Playing in a top league, you need to be extremely mature and consistently effective in order to enjoy significant freedom within the system, certainly not the easiest task for such a young kid playing the point guard position.

I watched Lottomatica Roma play in person, and in my next post I will discuss why meshing with its stentorian coach Jasmin Repesa may prove a difficult task for our young wunderkind...