One of the biggest reasons why Brandon Jennings slipped in last June's NBA draft was his perceived inability to effectively shoot the ball. Many NBA scouts, including some who scouted him while he played for Lottomatica Virtus Roma last season, had serious reservations about his perimeter game. Those concerns were borne out during the preseason when Jennings shot a paltry 25 percent from 3-point range. Some Bucks officials, in fact, thought Jennings should refrain from taking a shot beyond the arc.
But Jennings, the 10th overall pick in the 2009 draft, has since spent considerable time with Bucks assistant coaches Kelvin Sampson and Adrian Griffin working on his shot.
Griffin said Jennings didn't have to make any radical changes -- during the draft, ESPN broadcaster Jay Bilas said Jennings' shot was broken -- but needed to make some minor adjustments. Griffin said Jennings' shot had been somewhat flat and often didn't get over the front of the rim.
That isn't the case anymore. Jennings has shot the ball extremely well from the outside during the Bucks' first seven regular-season games.
He entered Monday night's game against the Mavericks shooting a torrid .567 from 3-point range -- fourth best in the NBA. Jennings was 4-of-9 from 3-point range against the Mavericks.
MAVERICKS 115, BUCKS 113 (OT): The Bucks rallied from an 18-point deficit in the third quarter, only to see their efforts go for naught when Mavericks star forward Dirk Nowitzki made an 18-foot fallaway shot at the buzzer in overtime at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee. Bucks rookie Brandon Jennings, coming off a 55-point showing against the Warriors Saturday night, finished with 25 points, eight assists and seven rebounds. Jennings scored 11 points in the final 6:43 of regulation to send the game into overtime. The Bucks also got a 19-point, 12-rebound performance from backup forward Ersan Ilyasova.
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