FanHouse BrandonJennings

And now for the flip side of the smiley Brandon Jennings narrative. Jeremy Tyler, a stand-out big man from San Diego, followed Jennings's European plan with a twist: Tyler decided to not just spend one post-high school season overseas before entering the NBA draft, but to spend his senior season of high school there as well. Tyler signed on with Israeli club Haifa.

Experts agreed that Tyler lacked the maturity or social structure to make it work in a foreign land. And lo! Pete Thamel of the New York Times, after a visit to Tyler's team, writes that the worst fears are being realized.

FanHouse previews all 30 NBA teams in advance of the 2009-10 season.

The Bucks were awful last year, but at least they had an excuse: Michael Redd, the team's leading scorer six years and counting, and Andrew Bogut, the franchise center who signed a $72 million extension before last season, each missed more than half of the season with injury.

The good news? Both players are healthy entering camp and should be primed to make up for lost time. The bad news? GM John Hammond has rebooted the supporting cast in their absence, trading Richard Jefferson to the Spurs in a cost-cutting maneuver while losing Charlie Villanueva and Ramon Sessions to free agency.

When a fifth-place team loses three of its top four scorers and doesn't even receive a legitimate starter to show for it, you know it's going to be a long year.

Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.

For the past nine years the Harold Pump Foundation, created by David and Dana Pump (known as the gurus of high school and college basketball) has raised over $3.5 million dollars to fight cancer. The foundation's efforts have not gone unnoticed. Major stars such as Magic Johnson, Paul Pierce, Sugar Ray Leonard, Pete Sampras and Denzel Washington have all joined the Pump brothers. In this report we also hear from young NBA stars like Kevin Love, Brandon Jennings, and Blake Griffin.

Check out the video after the jump.

Anyone following the Henry-Kansas basketball drama this week has been thoroughly entertained.

Kansas coach Bill Self has to be scratching his head now wondering, "What just happened here?" Self and his staff had successfully lured Xavier and C.J. Henry, the offspring of former 1980s KU basketball standouts Carl and Barbara Henry, into the Jayhawks' fold after breaking their previous commitment to Memphis in April.

All was right in the slimy world of big-time college recruiting.

The weekend Brandon Jennings saga will only gain steam this week as talking heads give us the holy word on how a 19-year-old professional athlete should act. (Because 40-year-old white men know best, right?) In case you missed it, in a phone conversation with rapper Joe Budden, Jennings disparaged the Knicks, Chris Duhon, Ricky Rubio and (depending how you look at it) Luke Ridnour. Budden streamed the conversation on his Web site (apparently unbeknownst to Jennings). In the aftermath, Jennings erased his entire Twitter account and Budden sought to remove an unauthorized recording of his stream that had popped up on YouTube. (The video has popped back up, by the way.)

Responses from the blogosphere have been nuanced -- the FreeDarko sermon is particularly on target (and interesting, considering FD's Shoals helped break the story for The Baseline). But we have been through enough of these episodes before to know that the prevailing sanity will not last. Before the storm, allow me a question. (I think I've killed whatever suspense that line could illicit by posing the question in this post's headline.)

Brandon Jennings was a mystery to those that are in the business of putting together mock drafts. Some had him going somewhere in the top five, while others had him dropping out of the lottery altogether. Because of the apparent uncertainty surrounding his draft position, Jennings turned down his green room invitation and decided to wait things out at a local Manhattan hotel.

As it turned out, Jennings didn't have to wait long to hear his name called -- he was selected 10th overall by the Milwaukee Bucks. He wasn't there to greet David Stern initially. But he did make it down to Madison Square Garden just four picks later, in plenty of time to make a surprise entrance and get that ceremonial handshake from the commissioner.

Brandon Jennings got cold feet last minute and decided to hang out in a location more private than Madison Square Garden for the draft proceedings. He would have been fine in the Green Room, though, as Milwaukee made Jennings the No. 10 pick in the draft. (Update: A-ha! After hearing the news, Jennings made his way to MSG after all -- he was introduced by David Stern out of order moments after the Suns drafted Earl Clark with the 14th pick.)

What's the verdict? Did Jennings' Italian sojourn work? I would say so, given that similarly touted high school class of 2008 point guard Jrue Holiday remains on the board. Despite the iffy status leading into draft night, Jennings did exactly what he set out to do in Rome. I won't say "open the floodgates" quite yet, but ... aw, ta' heck with it. Open the floodgates.

Everyone's prediction that Brandon Jennings would be the Rashard Lewis/Brady Quinn/Darrell Arthur of the 2009 NBA Draft -- in other words, that Jennings would be the last man standing in the quasi-Green Room at Madison Square Garden -- won't come true. Why? Does Jennings have a lottery promise?

Actually, it's the opposite. Jennings' agent Bill Duffy put out a statement saying that he has advised Jennings and fam not attend the draft because he does "not have a strong grasp of Brandon's draft position." On the one hand, we won't be treated to BJ's angry Tweets in response to Jay Bilas' maniacal cackling as Jennings slips through the first round. On the other, we don't have to listen to Jay Bilas' maniacal cackling, because the ESPN panel will be too busy cackling at (or gasping in horror for) whoever is now the poor Shard/Quinn/D.A. of the year.

Wait ... will Madison Square Garden actually be filled with cheers on Draft Night? Newsday (via Canis Hoopus) reports Stephen Curry has canceled all but one workout after a splendid visit with the Knicks. New York picks No. 8 in the June 25 draft. The cancellations include ... Minnesota, who picks No. 6. Gulp!

Curry obviously has confidence he will not fall below the Knicks, and he obviously would rather Minnesota keep its grubby paws off him. The kid did keep his date with the Wizards (who pick No. 5), presumably because he thinks it'd be swell to be in playoff contention next year. Minnesota had planned to work out Curry with three point guard prospects who came together in Sacramento Friday afternoon: Jrue Holiday, Jonny Flynn and Brandon Jennings. Jennings used the workout as an opportunity to tell the world that Ricky Rubio is "all hype." (You must watch that video.)

Now that the 2009 NBA Draft order is set, it's time for the second FanHouse Mock Draft of the season.

The Clippers have won the first pick, with Memphis and Oklahoma City rounding out the top three spots. Several teams, including Minnesota, Sacramento and Chicago, have multiple picks in the first round.

After the jump, find the full first round mocked out. Then, feel free to mock it. That's how this works.

---

---