Walsh also almost conceded that he and his staff made a mistake in passing on Brandon Jennings, the rookie PG who is off to a great start with the Milwaukee Bucks. "Going into the draft," Walsh said, "I did not have a feel for Brandon Jennings' game."

We'll get a feel for it Saturday when the Knicks face Jennings and the Bucks in Milwaukee.

Walsh explained that he went to Italy for the Eurobasket camp expecting to see Jennings, but Jennings did not participate in the camp. The Knicks had Jennings in for a predraft workout and, from what I heard at the time, he more than held his own against Tyreke Evans. But Walsh admitted that the lack of scouting information the team had on Jennings, the high schooler who skipped college for a pro year in Europe, was the issue.

"I had him in and he looked good," Walsh said. "But he looked yuong and had a lot ahead of him. But then when I went to Vegas and I saw him play, I thought, 'Wow, this guy could be very good.' I still am glad we took Jordan Hill, but I think Brandon Jennings is going to be a good player. And he's getting an opportunity to play, so it's a tough comparison now because Jordan is not."

Hill did finally get off the bench tonight against the Cavs. He played 4:46 and scored six points with two turnovers, all in the second quarter.

http://www.newsday.com/blogs/sports/the-knicks-fix-1.812055/td-gets-delonte-t-d-off-1.1571804

McK1 wrote:

kam77 wrote:Isiah would've drafted Jennings.

the same Isiah who took frye over bynum, granger and said he wouldve taken frye 1 overall above bogut paul and deron williams.

why waste a post even mentioning zeke?

I think he would've learned his lesson after drafting an AZ center once before. Isiah would've definitely taken a PG in a PG draft.

earthmansurfer wrote:His answer is what I expected and in fairness most other GM's probably felt similar.

So what made skiles and Milwaukee brass to pass all the B.S and draft him.

I don't buy it!

Nobody has ever in the history of the game went to europe right out of highschool coming from the hood of LA and oak hill academy. That was a major adjustment for him , let alone play pro ball with grown men who has nothing in common with you overseas.

McK1 wrote:from jennings developmental coach:

On the other hand, some felt he had been hampered by the system in Europe and thought he would be an outstanding NBA player. Particularly convincing was his development coach, Serbian legend Nenad Trajkovic:

"I promise you. If you brought LeBron James over from high school straight to Europe, we would have messed him up. We demand different things. It is not enough to do something. You must do it correctly. Everyone who comes, young or old, from America, has to adjust. He was able to do it better than most I have seen. One more year in Europe, and he would be a star. I don't know if the NBA feels the same way."

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/10335/botching-the-italian-job-the-case-of-brandon-jennings

chad ford did more leg work than W' Altoni

chad ford of Darko fame?

McK1 wrote:

martin wrote:

McK1 wrote:from jennings developmental coach:

On the other hand, some felt he had been hampered by the system in Europe and thought he would be an outstanding NBA player. Particularly convincing was his development coach, Serbian legend Nenad Trajkovic:

"I promise you. If you brought LeBron James over from high school straight to Europe, we would have messed him up. We demand different things. It is not enough to do something. You must do it correctly. Everyone who comes, young or old, from America, has to adjust. He was able to do it better than most I have seen. One more year in Europe, and he would be a star. I don't know if the NBA feels the same way."

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/10335/botching-the-italian-job-the-case-of-brandon-jennings

chad ford did more leg work than W' Altoni

chad ford of Darko fame?

chad ford isn't paid to run a team.

1996 walsh chose erick dampier ten over kobe bryant, peja stojacavich, steve nash, jermaine oneal, zydrunas ilgauskas.

if you want to discredit chad ford, dont use his writing as something that tries to carry weight. The knicks did go over to Europe to scout Jennings but he was a big no-show at a HUGE event. The team just went through Marbury and couldn't afford to just draft Marbury part 2.

Also, you can list any player any GM drafts and several who they should have drafted. DUH.

martin wrote:

McK1 wrote:

martin wrote:

McK1 wrote:from jennings developmental coach:

On the other hand, some felt he had been hampered by the system in Europe and thought he would be an outstanding NBA player. Particularly convincing was his development coach, Serbian legend Nenad Trajkovic:

"I promise you. If you brought LeBron James over from high school straight to Europe, we would have messed him up. We demand different things. It is not enough to do something. You must do it correctly. Everyone who comes, young or old, from America, has to adjust. He was able to do it better than most I have seen. One more year in Europe, and he would be a star. I don't know if the NBA feels the same way."

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/10335/botching-the-italian-job-the-case-of-brandon-jennings

chad ford did more leg work than W' Altoni

chad ford of Darko fame?

chad ford isn't paid to run a team.

1996 walsh chose erick dampier ten over kobe bryant, peja stojacavich, steve nash, jermaine oneal, zydrunas ilgauskas.

if you want to discredit chad ford, dont use his writing as something that tries to carry weight. The knicks did go over to Europe to scout Jennings but he was a big no-show at a HUGE event. The team just went through Marbury and couldn't afford to just draft Marbury part 2.

* you're the one trying to discredit chad ford by mentioning his hyping of darko. walsh has made just as big a gaff IN THE PAST and this is what he gets paid to do. Either way, neither the 03 nor 96 drafts have anything to do with today. Furthermore unlike Darko, Jennings had a track record here in the US. His highschool career was legendary.

* saying rubio is overhyped means he is on the same mental path of degredation as Steph? oh please!

he was in europe the whole year. maybe the 19 yr old from compton missed home and wanted to prep for the draft and compete here under more familiar settings. once here he didn't miss one workout as he toured 13 cities in 30 days on that pg caravan of he flynn lawson holiday and evans (and no rubio)

1996 walsh chose erick dampier ten over kobe bryant, peja stojacavich, steve nash, jermaine oneal, zydrunas ilgauskas.

i did not know this. walsh is highly suspect to me right now.

earthmansurfer wrote:His answer is what I expected and in fairness most other GM's probably felt similar. A lot of scouts went to watch him at the end of the year in Europe at that camp and he no showed. If he showed, it's VERY likely he would have been gone before our pick.

But, considering we needed a pg and that he was a top 5 prospect coming out of HS, there IS NO EXCUSE for missing the boat with not scouting him. If they scouted a top talent like that and then decided not to pick him, well that is one thing, but to not scout a top talent who plays a position of need is INEXCUSABLE. Yeah, other GM's did that too, but only a few teams were looking pg.

I really hope Jordan comes along because this one may come back to bite us (and other teams) but we are not an organization short on money, so there is not excuse here.

Agreed. Not scouting a top 10 pick? You've got to be kidding me, Walsh. And it's not like Jennings was avoiding the Knicks. He would have loved to play here. Was there film of the tourney? Did we watch it? How hard would it be to just, oh, scout him elsewhere?

This is some bull. This shows a gross lack of effort by Walsh and his organization.

As to the Marbury reference, I'm not sure how that applies since Jennings hasn't yet shown he's clinically insane by crying and eating vaseline on internet tv. He misses a tourney and now he's Marbury?

Uptown wrote:

orangeblobman wrote:

1996 walsh chose erick dampier ten over kobe bryant, peja stojacavich, steve nash, jermaine oneal, zydrunas ilgauskas.

i did not know this. walsh is highly suspect to me right now.

What?! First when Curry was snatched by GS, I was screaming for Jennings. It didnt happen so we have to move on. But to kill Walsh for not drafting Kobe who was drafted 13 at the time is not fair. What about the Clips who took Lorenzen Wright instead of Kobe? How about Dallas taking Samaki Walker before Kobe? Golden State took Todd Fuller, Dallas took Potapenko? Please this happens all the time.

Dampier was actually a good pick. Dampier is a underachiever. Dude has the body and athletisism to be a force on both ends of the floor. For some reason that never clicked for him.