2. Tailor Made
Brandon Jennings is a high-volume shooter who can demolish an opposition’s defense when aggressive. True as that may be, his shoot-first mentality has resulted in his field goal percentage plummeting below 40 percent for his career.
That all-out scoring attack may or may not fit him in the role of a starting at point guard, but it’s exactly what teams look for in a sixth man.
Jennings isn’t like other sixth men in the sense that he can take over a game as a facilitator. He’s similar to players in said role, however, in the sense that he’s the type of player who shoots his way out of slumps.
That can be detrimental to the team when the starters are on the floor, but it’s exactly what many teams look for when one player is leading the reserves.
Volume shooters like Jamal Crawford, J.R. Smith, and Lou Williams have made a healthy living in the Sixth Man role, and none of them facilitate as well as Jennings.
Jennings may have lost a step when he ruptured his achilles tendon in January of 2015. Before the injury, however, he was a lethal scorer who’d scored 55 points in a single game and recorded a flurry of 30-point games with the Milwaukee Bucks and Detroit Pistons.
There’s no question that Jennings can score; it’s always been about finding a role that allows him to do so on a more consistent basis.
Jennings may not be the most efficient scorer in the NBA, but his style of play and skill set is tailor made for the role of a sixth man.