Former NBA guard Brandon Jennings revealed that he believes negative comments from his former coach in Italy prevented the New York Knicks from selecting him in the 2009 NBA Draft.
Jennings said his workout with New York was the best of his pre-draft process, and he was particularly interested in playing under then-Knicks head coach Mike D’Antoni because of his fast-paced offensive system.
However, Jennings claimed that his coach in Italy had a close relationship with D’Antoni and warned him about the young guard’s attitude.
“This is why I didn’t go to the Knicks, because my Italian coach, and I know the story, you can ask Kelly Williams. My Italian coach over there at the time, my first coach was cool. My Italian coach was very cool with D’Antoni and he told him that I was a headcase. Like, I was hard to deal with in any of this stuff.”
Jennings disputed that assessment, explaining that he had accepted his limited playing time in Italy and continued working on his game.
“First of all, I wasn’t doing nothing. I was chilling. I’m not playing. Cool. I’mma stay, work out, put me in every three. He’ll put me in three minutes and come out and do all this stuff. So it was whatever. He was like, ‘No, don’t f*ck with the kid,’ this and that.”
The former NBA guard said he had specifically targeted the Knicks because he believed D’Antoni’s system would allow him to play to his strengths.
“So my best workout at the draft was the Knicks one, I circled it. I said, ‘Seven. I’m not going past seven.’ I said, D’Antoni got the best offense for me, he run up and down. I can go in here and do whatever I want to do. I’m not even tripping.”
Jennings recalled performing particularly well during the workout and winning the competitive drills.
“I go in there, and I’m killing the workout. I’m winning everything. I’m winning all the ones. I’m winning. I’m like, ‘Yeah.’”
Despite that performance, Jennings believes D’Antoni contacted his former coach to ask about the concerns surrounding him.
“So D’Antoni, I guess he called the guy, was like, ‘Are you sure?, are you sure he’s not?’”
New York ultimately selected Jordan Hill with the eighth overall pick, while Jennings went to the Milwaukee Bucks at No. 10.
