You don’t need to be 7ft tall: Brandon Jennings

There may be a popular belief that one needs to be very tall to play basketball, but Milwaukee Bucks’ 22-year-old point guard Brandon Jennings is here in Mumbai to dispel that notion along with teaching some basic basketball to children.

Jennings grew up in Los Angeles, where most of the children who he grew up playing with were LA Lakers fans. However, Jennings supported the Philadelphia 76ers for whom his idol, the diminutive Allan Iverson, played for.

Jennings said, “Iverson was my hero when I was a kid and watched the matches on TV. The way he took it to the big players despite being short was inspiring. He gave others hope. He showed us that we do not need to be seven feet tall to play basketball. I am only six feet one inch, which is not very tall for the NBA, so he was defiantly a hero for me.”

Supporting the 76ers despite growing up in LA was not the only thing that sets Jennings apart from the rest. Since 2006, the NBA prohibited the act of drafting high school players directly into the league by setting a minimum age of 19 years to be eligible for the draft so that the player could have at least one year experience of college basketball.

Jennings, however, opted to go abroad for a year and play for Italian side Lottomatica Roma in 2008, thus becoming the first player to choose a foreign league over college basketball. “Back in the days, the NBA draft was very exciting because we were curious about which team would pick the upcoming stars from High School Basketball, like it happened with Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard. I think they have taken the excitement out of the draft.

“Now the NBA gives you three options: college basketball, working for a year and going abroad and playing in other leagues. I chose to go to Italy for the experience of playing in a different league. Many believed that will not be a good decision and in my time over there, I work hard and improved my game even if I did not get too much of game time,” Jennings said.

Playing the Italian and European leagues gave Jennings a different perspective of the game. He said, “They play the game similar to us but their strategies are different. In the US, it’s all about the players and the stars, while in Europe, it is a complete team game. They are very passionate about sports and want victory at all cost.”

Following his stint with Roma, Jennings entered the draft last season and was picked by Miami. He believes that reaching the playoffs in his first season was a big achievement for him. “It was huge. Playing so regularly in the rookie season and the team going as far as it did was fantastic,” he said.

Grizzlies level series
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