Did Milwaukee Bucks point guard Brandon Jennings just say he wants to start his own Big Three with 2010 rookie phenoms Golden State’s Stephen Curry and Sacramento’s Tyreke Evans? Not quite.
By Jake McCormick
I noticed this Insider headline on the NBA front page of ESPN.com yesterday:
“Rumors: Jennings keeps up talks of Big Three.”
Obviously intrigued, I did what every other person who’s ever pledged never to pay ESPN for something they could get for free on another respected sports web site: I Googled the headline, and much to my lack of surprise, my prediction was correct in that ESPN was hyping something they shouldn’t, and charging you to read it.
In this case, it was actually the outlet that interviewed Jennings, the always reliable TMZ. After being asked about superstar talents joing forces in Miami, Boston, and potentially New York, Jennings said, “So I guess me, Tyreke Evans and Stephen Curry should all call each other in the next two years and try to hook up and play on the same team.”
Milwaukee Bucks fans would be right to perk their ears at that statement and start fearing that their second year point guard on the cusp of superstar-dom is willing to buy into consolidating talent in a large market versus making a commitment to build his own legacy. But thankfully, that little thing called context pokes its head up in the next part of Jennings’ response:
“You lose a lot of competition down there. Everybody’s teaming up, so there’s not going to be no more competing. Everybody’s playing for each other. I guess in three years, like I said, me and Steph and Tyreke should do the same thing.”
Whether you think calling out the faces of the NBA for choosing friendship over quality competition is a good idea or not, Milwaukee Bucks fans have to feel pretty good about their budding franchise point guard and his fearless attitude in the face of intimidation. Brandon Jennings made that apparent with his 2009-10 run-ins with the Boston Celtics, and most recently when jamming to Lady Gaga to honor a bet.
The success of Milwaukee Bucks GM John Hammond’s roster makeover remains to be seen, but Hammond and Bucks coach Scott Skiles have already done a good job of feeding Brandon Jenning’s confidence in the scheme and players, as well as the front office.
As long as his confidence doesn’t convert to arrogance, and delusions of self-worth shortly after, Brandon Jennings will join the Milwaukee Brewers’ Ryan Braun and Green Bay Packers’ Aaron Rodgers as athletes committed to being the faces of Wisconsin sports, for now and the future. Jennings, Rodgers, and Braun are more than willing to write checks their butts can cash, so enjoy the always quotable musings of Wisconsin’s franchise leaders.
Just make sure that the next time you may happen to come across a gossip-y headline on ESPN, verify it’s accuracy on a well-respected web site like TMZ.