Young Money a.k.a. Brandon Jennings

Five Good Minutes with Brandon Jennings

Brandon Jennings graduated from high school in 2008 which makes him 20 years old. He was offered a scholarship to the University of Arizona but passed in favor of a plane ticket to Italy where he’d ultimately spend just one year preparing for a career in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

By rule, high school basketball players must be one year removed from high school before they can be eligible to enter the NBA draft. So Jennings circumvented college and found a lucrative pastime during his “one-and-done” year.

When a player like Jennings makes a leap like this the debated issue of skipping college saunters back onto the ethical stage. What about an education? What about a once-in-a-lifetime earning potential? What if he gets hurt? What if he’s the next Allen Iverson? Doesn’t his back say it all? Jennings feels that he’s “young money” and although not yet 21-years old, he’s already scored 55 points in an NBA game.

But why do discussions about young athletes skipping college for the pros always miss the point? We want to talk about how this guy is either phenomenal and/or grossly impatient. How about talking about this: “Brandon Jennings is a representative of a demographic that includes millions of young African Americans” who share the sentiments of his tattoo.

And what happens when one sliver of an ethnic group (Male African Americans) flood an applicant pool for a job in the NBA? What happens is that approximately 76% of the industry becomes made up of black men. And it takes an inordinate amount of resolve, commitment and focus to even make oneself a viable candidate for this job. This means that the members of this group have to spend countless hours over 10 plus years of repetition to create the illusion that only black men need apply for this job.

Jennings, an early NBA success story, shows us an emblem of a dichotomy that has existed for at least the 24 years I’ve been playing basketball. The dichotomy is this: that in an impoverished neighborhood like the one I grew up in you either excel at sports or make money the illegal way. This is a dominant paradigm for young black men no matter their G.P.A. I was a 3.8 student in high school and coasted through college as the touted scholar athlete who was thought of as more scholar than athlete. But I valued the social capital gained through basketball fame much more than the notoriety associated with being an academic. For every Brandon Jennings, there are droves of young black men who want to be him. Heck, Brandon Jennings wanted to be Brandon Jennings and I’m sure what he’s experiencing now is nothing short of surreal. But isn’t this alarming to someone?

It is to me and not because Jennings is thriving in the NBA only 18 months after high school. It’s alarming because athletics should be a tool, not an addiction. The athlete who squanders education, family relationships, moral responsibility, etc. to pursue a sport is a junkie. And we live in a culture that produces basketball addicts. Young black youth are victims of a perpetuated mentality that believes in the fallacy that you either “sling crack rock or you got a wicked jumpshot.”

I’ve never been overly concerned with the prodigious Kobe Bryants, Kevin Durants and Chris Pauls of the world. The NBA as an entity has much to offer these men and much more to gain from their participation. It’s what’s left in the wake of a wholesale one dimensional obsession with basketball that concerns me. Even with supportive family members I still deified athleticism and would have been willing to forsake education if a coach or scout had courted me. Somehow or another an infusion must occur in the basketball world of young African American males that shows them the complete marvel of the human creation. There’s an exciting reality in the realization that you might be Brandon Jennings but you probably aren’t. You can play basketball but you shouldn’t do it at your own expense. Where are the voices willing to interrupt the current trends in the basketball subculture of African American males with one that offers the hope of more than just Young Money?

Share this:

Posted: by

Category: For Further Study

5 Comments on “Young Money a.k.a. Brandon Jennings”

  1. For those of us young black males in the inner city without a wicked jumpshot or height, slinging crack didn’t appeal much either. Our only choices were either a college education and its ticket to a middle class job, the military, or a civil service job. I just attended my 30 year high school reunion. It was very gratifying to know I was more successful than the jocks, none of which made it to the pros. But at the same time it was sad that they did not make it to the big time after spending so much time perfecting their craft. Keep the discussion going!!

  2. Mark, I remember that feeling of being unwilling to go the crime route but fearing that I would never have the admiration of peers or my greater community. I skipped my 10-year reunion but I know that growing comfortable with both sports enthusiasm and academics has served me in ways I could never have imagined. Most importantly, the Lord took the pressure off needing the affirmation of peers so much by forcing me to reflect on where my one dimensionality came from. And that’s going to be key to reversing the trend among the brothas…

  3. I think there is a glaring reality missing from this conversation. That is that crime and environment are somehow linked. I know that’s what we sell people but it just isn’t true. Think about it. Who raided the Saving and Loans banks in the 80’s? Well educated white males that came from stellar environments.

    Secondly, this notion of the choices of either crime, education or sports being unique to blacks is not true. It’s that way for all American males. Most white males are not rich, they are middle class just like their fathers and their father’s father. My point is that these are the choices that are out there for everyone. You go to college and better your opportunity to be gainfully employed or you work for the state or county. Or you go into the armed forces. Or you become a rock star.

    Norman, had you been scouted by the NBA of course you would have taken it. That’s not a sign of weakness or anything of the kind. It’s a smart business decision. When Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard he was taking his shot. How many other’s have dropped out of college because they thought they could make it in the business world? Only to find that their million dollar idea wasn’t a million dollar idea at all.

    This discussion must broaden it’s doors to include all American males. Because I know young white men who thought going to law school and becoming a lawyer was their ticket to happiness. Only to find that after taking the bar 10 times and failing 10 times that their dreams were not going to happen. You would be amazed at how many of those men are out there.

    Great discussion!

  4. Poverty is not unique to young black males. That’s true. And the “plight” in many ways is socio-economic but there is a more exclusive issue that is in fact related to African American males. Growing up it wasn’t that we weren’t conscious of choices like college and the military. But abject poverty, violence, and fatherlessness are hallmarks of communities where I grew up. These problems could exist in other places but I’ve witnessed them most from the vantage point of a So Cal native. And at the end of the day, African Americans are flooding the applicant pools of basketball and football or they are predisposed the athleticism in those two sports. I find the latter harder to believe. If I’m on the right track then something exclusive may be swelling the flood waters.