Thursday, October 23, 2008

Jennings Makes Euroleague Debut

It is done.
Young Brandon Jennings is now officially a Euroleaguer.
Thursday, Lottomatica Roma's Jennings played 22 minutes, scored 9 points on 3-7 from the 3-point line, garnered 3 rebounds, 1 steal and 0 assists in a 68-63 loss to Alba Roma.
Not the most auspicious of Euroleague starts for the 19-year old.
But still better than his previous two club matches in the top domestic league in Italy, in which Jennings averaged 17.5 minutes, 5 points, 1.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists while shooting 33.3% from the floor.

It's obvious Jennings is learning to adjust to the European game.

As his teammate, Ibby Jaabar, pointed out, Jennings just can't expect minutes to be handed to him on a silver platter:

Everything is going to be earned. I’m sure he’s a competitor. I’m sure he believes that he’s talented enough to take that spot. Everything will be earned. Everything in due time. This isn’t the type of program that because you’re a No. 1 pick you’re going to start. You earn everything.
And when he does earn his minutes, he won't find team dynamics to be as consistent as they are stateside:
I think Europe is a lot different than the N.B.A. and college. Guys are in and out. You’re never playing on the same team. You don’t play on one team your whole career. The team is always changing.
Go to 5:10 in the following video to see Jennings knock down some of his first points:



Here's a shout-out to ca18804, who uploaded the video.




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