Come this season in Detroit, we will find out if Brandon Jennings is a man of his word or a Chris Paul doppelganger.
Since joining the Pistons in a point-guard sign-and-trade swap that sent Brandon Knight to the Milwaukee Bucks last week, Jennings has gone on record to say that running with a front-line of Andre Drummond, Greg Monroe and freshly signed free agent Josh Smith reminds him of the Los Angeles Clippers’ “Lob City”, a title Jennings is more than ready to throw up.
“We could bring the Lob City to Detroit this year,” Jennings said, as reported by Pro Basketball Talk.
But it is going to take a lot more than that to elevate the Pistons in the Eastern Conference.
Maybe with Chauncey Billups re-joining the Pistons, the classy vet can bend the ear of Jennings and explain exactly the effort that went into Chris Paul dropping lofty dimes to guys like Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan last season. Throwing it up and throwing it down may get the Pistons a re-occurring highlight reel role onSportsCenter, but will that translate to the win column like in Los Angeles last season for the Clips?
The alternative: Jennings could just change his game altogether and the man even said so himself.
“The things that I was doing in Milwaukee, I won’t have to do here, take all the bad shots,” Jennings continued. “Now, I can just actually be myself and be who I was five years ago when I was in high school, playing AAU basketball.”
Jennings averaged 17.5 points and 6.5 assists in 80 games for the Bucks last season, so it will be interesting to see how much his numbers change in Detroit, if he is truly committed to altering his game. Perhaps Jennings’ style does not need a complete makeover.
How about a happy medium — maturing defensively, limiting forced shots and turnovers, and being open to the mentoring that Billups can easily provide.
Man, forget Lob City. Brandon Jennings and the Pistons are better off emulating the San Antonio Spurs and establishing a tradition of building a consistent winner.
