Pete Thamel of The New York Times caught up with Brandon Jennings recently. Thamel and Jennings had lunch “near the Pantheon” and discussed Jennings’ transition from preps to Euroleague pros:
“Jennings, 19, is enjoying providing a better life for them than the one that they had in California. He was born and raised in Compton and had to cope with his father’s suicide. He was 7 or 8 at the time, he said, and had to grow up fast and become the man of the house.
Now Jennings makes $1.2 million a year in salary and endorsements, and the team provides a luxury three-bedroom apartment, a Volvo station wagon and eight round-trip tickets between Rome and the United States.
‘To be able to provide for them and buy them nice things, and being able to take care of everything, I feel good about it,’ he said of his family.”
UPDATE: Jennings appears to be adapting on the court as well.
“Jennings is comfortable because he has three American teammates, and the team’s primary language is English. He lives with his mother and half-brother in a posh apartment provided by the team.
Yet during training camp in September, Repesa, whose booming voice could quiet an Oktoberfest beer tent at last call, threw Jennings out of practice one day for not cutting hard in a drill.
‘I was like, Man, I got kicked out of practice for that,’ Jennings said. ‘But it was lesson learned, and we moved on.’
That moment was an anomaly. Repesa said Jennings had improved significantly, especially on defense, during his first month. He led the team in scoring, averaging about 20 points through five exhibition games.”
Via Dime:
