Post by Rog on Feb 7, 2018 5:45:16 GMT
The 109th Nominee for the NBN Hall of Fame is Brandon Jennings. Picked in the top 5, Jennings was a point guard who was expected to take the reigns early, and he did, looking flawed but extremely talented before being shipped off to the Kings. In Sacramento he turned himself into a two war superstar. He has some holes, do those holes uncover what should be a lock for a nomination, or he is just that... a lock? Lets take a look.
Career Stats
32.8 MPG, 22.7 PPG, 7.0 APG, 3.7 RPG, 1.9 SPG, 0.2 BPG, 1.6 TOPG on 47.4% from the field, 91.7% from the line, and 43.3% from three
Best Season
Sacramento Kings(2017) - 27.5 PPG, 10.6 APG, 4.3 RPG, 2.4 SPG, 0.2 BPG, 2.0 TOPG on 48.8% from the field, 93.5% from the line, and 45.6% from three
Career Highs
Points: 59
Rebounds: 13
Assists: 21
Steals: 9
Blocks: 3
Achievements
Championships: 1
Player of the Game: 376
Player of the Week: 13
Player of the Month: 4
Double Doubles: 405
Triple Doubles: 9
Career Leaderboard Rankings
Points - 11th
Assists - 10th
Awards
2019 - Playoff MVP
2020 - All-Star Game Participant
2022 - All-League Second Team
2023 - All-Star Game Participant
2024 - All-Star Game Participant
Arguments For Induction
- Brandon Jennings won a title with the Kings in the first half of his career, adding a Playoff MVP along the way in a fantastic run(is this the beginning of the Kings run there?). He also appeared in two All-Star Games and was named to one All-League second team.
- The first two thirds of Jennings case is entirely offensively, so we have to start somewhere despite the fact that he was just overall a dynamic offensive player. First and foremost he was a crazy good scorer, averaging 22.7 points per game for his career. Take out the last three years and the first season and you have someone closer to 26 points per game for his career, which is more in line with what you feel is a Hall of Fame offensive player. Also closer to what you'd picture as a Hall of Fame offensive player is his ranking all time in points, which he sits at 11th. Top 15 is pretty damn fucking good. And he was a consistently great scorer too, averaging 25 points or more in 13 seasons, including 10 in a row from his 2nd season through his 11th, picking it up again the season after for three more before he started to fall off. Fantastic scorer, nothing can be taken away from that.
- Tying into his scoring, he also was absolutely automatic when he was on and more times than not he was on. His 47.4/91.7/43.3 percentage line is elite, among best in history even. And he was extremely consistent in those lines, for example for his 10 in a row stretch of 25+ per game, he never dropped below 45.8% from the field and one season below 46.2%. He was absolutely and incredibly amazing. Too many adjectives I know, but nothing can state enough how good of a scorer he was.
- But not only was he a great scorer, he added to his offensive ability by being a great point guard, both as a ball handler and as a passer. He was used at shooting guard quite a bit, explaining his low 7 APG number as well as the last three seasons as we've discussed in his scoring, but he averaged over 9 assists per game in seven season, and 10 total seasons of over 8.3 a game as well. He was more geared towards scoring, sure and it explains a bit of his lack of awards that he had those seasons in the 5s, 6s, and 7s assists. But he didn't turn the ball over a lot after his first few years and proved in many seasons he was a damn good passer.
- Too many of us remember 32+ years old Brandon Jennings, but Jennings in his peak carried an "A" defensive rating and had FIFTEEN seasons in his career, all in a damn row, where he averaged 2.0+ steals per game.
- Overall, you can go in any number of ways for his career and look into the branches and see a Hall of Fame player, unlike a lot of guys who come through here and are not quite great in any way except one. He was a great scorer, he was an elite efficient scorer, he didn't turn it over, he was a good, sometimes great thief, he could pass the ball, and he carried good defensive ratings. You just don't get any better of a case, well rounded or otherwise, than Jennings has with several areas of his game. He is a near lock.
Arguments Against Induction
- His awards are simply one of those areas he falls short, even if they are few and far between they do add up. He needed to be more elite in some way to garner those awards. He didn't.
- It is hard to tell where exactly he played shooting guard and where he played point guard, but that 7.0 assists per game is not Hall of Fame worthy for a guy who played a substantial amount of time more at shooting guard than point guard.
- He was a pretty weak rebounder, averaging 3.7 per game for his career and always being in the low 4s even in his prime. Not terrible, like Harlan Page for example, but certainly didn't add anything extra.
- I'm kind of grasping at straws, but Jennings is an amazing player and is probably a Hall of Famer. There is a few things here, mostly his awards and low end passing numbers that poke some holes in an otherwise airtight case. If you think awards are a big deal, and think a point guard should average way more than 7 assists per game, he might be a bit of a harder sell to you.
Vote carefully, and remember to throw out arguments regardless of which side you're on. This should be a discussion that eventually gets the league to the proper decision on him. Your vote can also be retracted after it's been cast if you feel like switching to the other side based on the arguments that have been made. To be inducted, a player needs 70% and to be considered in a later class they need 50%. Vote carefully.
***BONUS - Don't forget that everyone who votes gets $25 and the person that makes the best argument or contributes to the discussion the best will be awarded an extra $25***
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