Same with Jrue Holliday.....I challenge anyone who actually watched him play to explain to me what they have seen on the court to merit his selection in the first round?? Tyreke Evans, yes he looks good physically and has lots of "potential" but it sure doesn't show in his game. John Wall will be that guy next year......Wall has a very mediocre shot yet I guarantee he'll be a lottery pick next year. Whether or not he averages 1.2 ppg or 18.8 ppg, doesn't matter. I enjoy the draft but it perplexes me how GM's/Owner's can justify the $$ they pay some of these "projects".......
Same with Jrue Holliday.....I challenge anyone who actually watched him play to explain to me what they have seen on the court to merit his selection in the first round?? Tyreke Evans, yes he looks good physically and has lots of "potential" but it sure doesn't show in his game. John Wall will be that guy next year......Wall has a very mediocre shot yet I guarantee he'll be a lottery pick next year. Whether or not he averages 1.2 ppg or 18.8 ppg, doesn't matter. I enjoy the draft but it perplexes me how GM's/Owner's can justify the $$ they pay some of these "projects".......
Seriously though, I do see a potential future for Evans but he needs a lot of improvement to live up to his draft slot.
"Jennings remains the biggest enigma in this year’s draft."
"Show up at one game, like the Euroleague contest against Tau Ceramica earlier this year, and you might see Jennings shine. Show up in March, and he might barely get onto the floor against weak competition.
Drop in on a practice in December, and you’d see Jennings getting picked apart by the coaching staff and veteran European and American players. See him in March, and watch him dominate those same teammates.
See Jennings make a spectacular pass worthy of the “SportsCenter” highlight reel one minute. Watch him take a bad shot and make an even uglier turnover a few minutes later."
---Here's a quote from some Italian GM bashing American BBall:
“Jennings’ game is all about his athleticism,” one prominent European GM told me. “Like many of the Americans we see come to Europe, he just doesn’t have a great feel for the game. No one ever taught him how or when to pass. Speed and athleticism are fine. But I want a point guard who puts the team above their own individual game. I don’t blame the young man for this. He is just the product of a corrupt development system that is ruining American basketball.”
One scout, who claimed to have watched Jennings in person during “at least a dozen games” and “tons of practices” (the most of any person I spoke with), was particularly adamant. He felt strongly that Jennings was one of the two or three best prospects in the draft.
“I ask two questions about every prospect. First, do they have the talent to play in the NBA? Second, have they gotten better? I think Jennings gets two huge check marks on both accounts.
“First, Jennings is a crazy athlete. He’s as quick as anyone in the draft. No one is going to be able to stay in front of him. He explodes around the basket and he’s a clever passer when he wants to be. We saw all of that in high school and if you watched him enough in Europe, you saw it there too. Yeah, he needs to get stronger and work on some stuff. But the raw talent is totally there.”
Jennings would practice up to four hours a day, sometimes longer with Trajkovic. A few hours were spent each day learning the offensive and defensive schemes. The rest was focused on fundamental development — ballhandling, shooting, basketball philosophy.
No one, I would submit, knows Jennings better.
“For sure, Brandon matured as a person and a player this year,” Trajkovic said. “From the beginning I was concerned when I saw tape of him in the U.S. and watched him in Italy. He was a special athlete. But he didn’t know how to play the game. He liked to play one-on-one or one-on-five, not five-on-five. He dribbled too much. He took bad shots. He made incorrect reads.
“The coach didn’t trust him. This team was a veteran team. Winning was important and Brandon didn’t know how to help his team win. We worked every day on his decision-making. We worked on the pick-and-roll. We taught him defense. The plan was to bring him along slowly and then, by the middle [of the season] he could be more trusted.”
Trajkovic said that Jennings was a hard worker. He said Jennings was a quick study and that the improvement he made in the first few months was dramatic, albeit mostly in practice. However, disaster struck for Jennings when his head coach was fired and replaced with a veteran coach who felt a lot of pressure to win immediately.
“The coach didn’t want to take the risk with Brandon,” Trajkovic said. “He knew Brandon was improving but he felt more comfortable with veterans. You have to understand. Brandon was leaving, so why risk something for a player who will leave your team anyway?”
Trajkovic said Jennings kept working hard. They often would simulate game conditions in practice and Jennings would dominate, especially later in the season. “He kept his focus. Playing was important. But so was development. Sometimes you can’t control how much you play. But you can keep working and stay positive. Brandon did this.”
The article goes on, the next part is how brandon got frusturated when he got injured with knee tendonitis, missed 2 games, and then was completely outta the rotation.
FYI this is a ESPN "Insider" article.
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