Mark Your Calendars: Jennings vs. Rubio December 11th
5 Prospects to Watch
….4) Brandon Jennings, 6-1, 19-year-old point guard, Lottomatica Roma. The former Arizona recruit has averaged 9.7 points in 19 minutes in his first three Euroleague games with his Italian club.
“I’ll be curious to see what kind of year Jennings has in the Euroleague and Italian league,” the scout said. “He’s a highly talented guy, and I think his life has gone well over there so far. His brother is there with him, he’s in a great school in Rome, his mom is over there. But the basketball — I think he’s finding out that it’s really hard. The Euroleague is more than people think.
I swear, I’ve heard that before. Oh wait.
“He’s left-handed and he can fly. He’s a little wild, though, and he’s not a great shooter. He can definitely score, and there will be nights when he’ll bang out a bunch of jumpers, but that’s not his forte. He’s not as powerful as Derrick Rose. Jennings has the same kind of spe
ed and elevation, but Rose is taller and wider. This kid is thinner but he’s just going to attack, attack, attack.
On Dec. 11, Jennings matches up against Ricky Rubio, the 18-year-old point guard for the Spanish Olympic team who now plays for DKV Joventut of Spain.
“There will be more NBA scouts that day than there will be at the Carolina-Duke game, I promise you,” the scout said….
We’ll be watching.
Thomsen also has some views on the Knicks:
“…Apart from adapting to D’Antoni’s new offense, the players must accept the convoluted issues of New York’s bloated roster. The Knicks like David Lee, for example, but they can’t afford to re-sign him while they are trying to reduce their payroll by 2010, when LeBron James and several other stars can enter free agency. As much as Lee tries to not dwell on his future, he has no experience in dealing with contract issues and so it becomes another lesson that must be learned the hard way.
“David Lee is playing a lot, which means we have faith in him,” Knicks president Donnie Walsh said. “We’re not just showcasing him. We’re trying to build with guys like him…”
