Brandon Jennings
Bucks point guard Brandon Jennings has been named to the 2009-10 T-Mobile NBA All-Rookie First Team, the league announced today. Jennings, along with Sacramento’s Tyreke Evans and Golden State’s Stephen Curry, received 29 First Team votes as a unanimous selection to the squad. New Orleans’ Darren Collison and Chicago’s Taj Gibson round out the First Team.
Jennings started all 82 games for the Bucks, helping them to a 46-36 record (their most wins since a 50-32 mark in 2000-01) and their first playoff appearance since 2006. The 10th overall selection in the 2009 NBA Draft finished third among rookies with 15.5 points, 5.7 assists and 1.3 steals to go with 3.4 rebounds. He hit 37.4 percent (145-388) of his three-pointers and sank 81.7 percent (223-273) of his free throws in a rookie season that saw him set franchise rookie records in assists (470) and three-pointers (145).
Through five playoff games, Jennings leads all rookies with 20.8 points and 3.8 assists while also averaging 3.0 rebounds and 1.2 steals. The rookie is shooting 44.8 percent (39-87) in the postseason and 35.7 percent (10-28) from three-point range and ranks 14th in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.71:1).
Earlier this season, Jennings became the first Eastern Conference rookie to win the Rookie of the Month award four times in a season, earning the honor for the months of October/November, December, January and March. Jennings was also named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week for games played from November 9 through November 15, a week that included a Bucks rookie record 55 points by Jennings in a win over Golden State.
Jennings’ 55-point performance on November 14 was the highest point total of the 2009-10 season and the most scored by a rookie since Earl Monroe had 56 in 1968. Jennings became the youngest player in NBA history to score 50-plus points in a game and the fastest to do it, accomplishing the feat in his seventh game as a pro.
In his regular season debut on October 30, Jennings tallied 17 points, nine assists and nine rebounds, narrowly becoming the second player in NBA history to record a triple-double in his debut (Oscar Robertson, 1960). Though he missed out on the triple-double, he became the first rookie since 1974 (John Drew, Atlanta) to lead his club in points, rebounds and assists in his debut. In his first career postseason game on April 17, Jennings scored 34 points in Atlanta, the fourth-highest total by a rookie in his playoff debut. Jennings also appeared in the NBA Rookie Challenge as well as the Skills Challenge at the 2010 All-Star Weekend.
The All-Rookie Second Team consists of Marcus Thornton (New Orleans), DeJuan Blair (San Antonio), James Harden (Oklahoma City), Jonny Flynn (Minnesota) and Jonas Jerbko (Detroit). The voting panel included the NBA’s 30 head coaches, who were asked to select five players for the First Team and five players for the Second Team, regardless of position. Coaches were not allowed to vote for players on their own team. First Team votes were worth two points and Second Team votes were worth one.