And the story of the month in the NBA is...

Brandon Jennings

            So how good is Brandon Jennings? This seems to be the question of the month right now with national media fawning over the young point guard who everyone questioned going into the draft. Both nba.com and espn.com have him listed as the top candidate at this early stage for rookie of the year and both also have him listed in their top 10 candidates for the MVP of the entire league. Early favourite for ROY I will agree with, but MVP candidate, I’m not sold on that. Don’t get me wrong, Brandon Jennings has proven, even in so few games, that he has the potential to be an elite player in the NBA. But let’s play devils advocate for a second and list three reasons why his stats might be a bit inflated and a little of patience may be in order.

1. Strength of Schedule

            I understand the concept that every team in the NBA is made up of high caliber athletes and its tough to win any game. However, much like people, not all teams are created equal. In other words Brandon Jennings is putting up impressive numbers – against some bad teams. The strength of schedule (SOS) of the Milwaukee Bucks through 12 games was an abominable .372. In other words the collective record of the teams they have played is atrociously bad. Lets give this some context – the next lowest SOS in the league going into Tuesday night’s action was .430. They have one quality win on their schedule which was Denver and it was at home with Nuggets on the second night of a back to back. Jennings is putting up big numbers but its been against bad competition. Now his team is winning which is the most important thing. But let’s see how high everyone is on Jennings when the Bucks start playing some tougher competition. (For a closer look at the SOS of all teams check out John Hollinger's power rankings. http://espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/powerrankings)

2. Michael Redd

            The second reason Brandon Jennings has exploded so far this season is the health of all-star caliber teammate Michael Redd. With Redd being injured the majority of the year there is no one in Milwaukee’s line-up who can score. Other than Andrew Bogut putting up reasonable numbers averaging 16 a game nobody else is a serious threat. With Redd out somebody had to pick up the scoring load for this team to be successful and Jennings has done. It is a testament to his skill that he has been able to step up but at the same time I would be surprised if he keeps putting up these numbers once Redd returns.

3. Being a Rookie

            The final reason I think Jennings is being a blown out of proportion is the simple fact that he’s a rookie. There are a couple of factors reasons that we should not let this seemingly obvious fact escape our attention. One a rookie putting up these gaudy numbers so early makes him intriguing to the media and thus a huge story. But also teams don’t know this kid yet. I understand that the NBA is a league of athletes but there is a certain level of scheming involved. In his last couple of games Jennings has been shut down. As the league starts to learn his tendencies I would look for Jennings to slow down a little bit.

            Let’s be clear, by no means do I think that Brandon Jennings is a one game wonder or flash in the pan. He is a very good basketball player with huge upside. I just felt compelled to point out that maybe we shouldn’t be crowning him the next Allen Iverson (J.A. Adande) and putting him in the MVP conversation when he hasn't even played a quarter of the season yet. Let’s wait a little while and in the meantime enjoy his development. Who knows maybe he’ll even surprise me.