Brandon Jennings Height: 6-1
Weight: 170 lbs.
Age: 27
NBA Experience: 7 years
Nicknames: Young Money, The Pterodactyl, Finger Gunz
By the Numbers (with Wizards):
Games Played: 23
Games Started: 2
Total Minutes: 374 (16.3 MPG)
Points: 81 (3.5 PPG)
Assists: 108 (4.7 APG)
Rebounds: 44 (1.9 RPG)
Steals: 15 (0.7 SPG)
Blocks: 0 (0.0 BPG)
Field goals: 29-106 (.274)
Free throws: 12-17 (.706)
3-pointers: 11-52 (.212)
Turnovers: 22
Net Rating: -13 (98-111)
PER: 9.7
Brandon Jennings began the 2016-17 season on the wrong side of the league, playing in 58 games for the New York Knicks where he didn't seem quite fond of the team he finished the season with: the Wizards.
FLASHBACK to the preseason: a late-game confrontation with Casper Ware, where Jennings is seen taunting Ware by laughing and clapping in his face.
Later, during the regular season, Jennings was left shook on the wrong end of this John Wall fast break in the final seconds of the game:
But Jennings' destiny would be reshaped in late February, when he was waived by New York and acquired by the Wizards 24 hours later. Jennings played in 23 games for DC, started in one, contributed a little, and underwhelmed a lot.1
Jennings' task was to make up for the failure that became Trey Burke as John Wall's backup point guard. I'm not sure I'd go as far as to say Jennings too was a failure but let's face it, he is no where close to the player who was once gameplanned for by defenses. A guy who once scored 55 points in a game as a rookie reached a total of just 26 more points than that over a span of those 23 games he played this season.
But it's hard, and probably unfair to pin Jennings' underwhelming performance all on just him. He was part of a number of Ernie's midseason moves that were made as part of an emergency overhaul of the team's bench, which included the ousting of Marcus Thornton and Andrew Nicholson in exchange for Bojan Bogdanovic less than a week prior to the Wizards' acquisition of Jennings. Jennings replaced Burke on the depth chart, and so the second unit was completely revamped. Initially, the Wizards showed spurts of improvement from their new backups, which was part of the reason why the Wizards won 7 of their next 8 games following the Jennings and Bogie deals. However, the bench unit showed regression during the last stretch of the season, as the Wizards lost 9 of their final 17.
Season Takeaways
While statistically Jennings was below average to say the least, he did show moments of goodness throughout his short time in DC. He was even the catalyst in a few wins with stimulating performances in clutch moments. Lest we forget, this man dropped nearly 60 points in his rookie season, so you know the talent is real. But defense is where Jennings struggled the most, especially in the first round of the playoffs against Atlanta. While Jennings managed to keep the Wizards in a safe space while Wall rested, unfavorable defensive habits such as perpetually gambling for the ball, getting beat on dribble drives, and sometimes just being too undersized to cover, made him a serious liability.
What I grew to love about Jennings is that he was always ready to go to war for his guys. We saw it in Phoenix when he fired off his finger guns at nice-guy Jared Dudley. He was all in for the funeral antics against Boston. He picked on Terry Rozier in the playoffs. Shit, he even got into an off-court altercation outside a nightclub in L.A., alongside Wall. Sure, it's not the most popular or likable trait in a player, but it sure as hell keeps things tight in the locker room. The Wizards had a strong camaraderie going before Jennings' arrival, and he had no issue fitting right in.
One of Scott Brooks' biggest experiments with Jennings was his attempt to make him coexist with Wall as a backcourt duo. That unfortunately never came into fruition. The two averaged just 3 minutes per game together on the floor in 18 games during the regular season although they were seen together more often in the playoffs. Brooks tried to mix and matched his guards a bit, searching for the right combinations for Wall, particularly when Beal needed rest. With Wall a bigger-sized guard who can defend against 2's, Brooks felt this would be a pair that could work. It didn't. Jennings offensive struggles gave the Wizards had a hard time defining the roles for each guard, and that led to the Wizards offense into disarray
What's next?
Jennings becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer and there for now there doesn't seem to be a hint of interest in the team retaining him. That means the Wizards' quest for Wall's backup is likely to continue. Surely they'll have options to explore, through both the draft and possibly free agency with names like Patty Mills, Ty Lawson and Darren Collison likely to be on Washington's radar.
As for Jennings, his task is to see if he can return back to any form of a respectable NBA guard. His numbers have dramatically regressed since 2015, averaging just 7.0 points and 4.4 assists for four different teams - a substantial drop from him his 17-6 averages in his first 6 seasons playing for Detroit and Milwaukee.
The best of Jennings off the court.
Jennings sporting a Rap-A-Lot Records jacket standing in between paintings of Lauryn Hill and Sade? This might be the best of any player off the court.
The best of Jennings on the court.
