Brandon Jennings’ warns NBA players vying to play overseas – Lockout Update
With the lockout apparently poised to stay for a long time, many players have been contemplating on their options of playing with overseas team for the duration of the lockout. The situation seems to have affected everybody and
players ranging from the recently drafted rookies to the high end players like Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade have shown their interest for an overseas venture.
Amidst this buzz, there have been some exceptions though and one of those guys in the Milwaukee Bucks third year point guard, Brandon Jennings.
Jennings played with Italian Lega A’s Lottomatica Roma before being picked as 10th overall in 2009 NBA draft. He has since matured into a decent player. In his rookie year, he averaged 5.5 points, 1.6 rebounds and 2.2
assists per game in 27 games, but in the last two seasons with the Bucks, he scored 15.8 points, 5.3 assists and 3.6 rebounds per game.
The young guard knows all about what it is like to play in Europe and recently tried to share his experiences by specifically pointing out the differences of the lifestyles in NBA and EuroLeague. He told that the NBA players have
no idea about how things work there.
"It's not the National Basketball Association treatment that you think you're going to get,” Jennings said. “It's really a grind, and, if you're up for it, I feel anybody who can do Europe, you're pretty tough mentally.”
According to him, the leagues in Europe do not care about the statistics of an individual player. Teams are considered holistically and everything is done as a team. The game is never about an individual, his likes or dislike and
the coaches over there make sure of this fact by being assertive. The rooms are shared with the teammates. Travelling is done on commercial flights. The team even has breakfast, lunch and dinner together.
Considering all this, the spoiled millionaire players of the NBA will have a tough time in getting used to that kind of environment.
The players however are already facing difficulties, as they are neither paid during this period nor they can use the team facilities to maintain their physical condition. This has forced the players to cut down their expenses
and this is reason why so many players are willing to sign deals with the foreign teams. However Jennings urged the NBA players to rethinks and go prepared for the worst.
“You don't want to go over there and then a month later you have to come right back,” Jennings said.
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