Lesson One for Young Washington Wizards—Don't Be Like Brandon Jennings

The Washington Wizards are a young team; they are infatuated with social networking, self-promotion, and living a life clean enough for families to stomach as they stand in the ticket line, yet daring enough to attract attention.

In other words, they are everything Brandon Jennings is not.

Brandon Jennings is talented and intelligent; both are characteristics that he is alarmingly comfortable with, even in the hot spotlight of NBA and overseas fame.

Unfortunately, he hasn’t yet developed the smarts to shut his mouth now that he knows millions of people are listening, as was the case when he decided to allow personal remarks to be broadcast to the world via a Joe Budden webcast. From The Baseline:

On what happened on draft night …

"

Budden: Who was hatin’ on you?
Jennings: Jay Bilas.
Budden: What happened? You ran in the draft late or some dumb s*** like a loser?
Jennings: No, I was at the hotel. This is what happened right. My agent is like “Well, we ain’t hear nothing .We ain’t have no guarantee.” So we makin’ phone calls and s*** and n***** is saying like “The workouts is great and everything and he’s the best point guard but we don’t know yet, we just don’t know.”
Budden: They didn’t say that about Rick Rubio, number one, and number two they didn’t say you the best point guard. They said your jump shot is shaky, you got some potential, but your work ethic is bull****. You averaged 3 points.
Jennings: You’re a liar. I know you’re lying now.
Budden: I’m just telling you what they said.
Jennings: That ain’t nothing but a college person.
Budden: Just tell me what happened. You end up running in the draft? I tunred it off after that.
Jennings: No, n****, I came out there and made my appearance n**** and I had the best appearance out of all them n******. And I was the best dressed, they said, by the way. I was the best dressed.

"

For the love of the First Amendment, son; young millionaires can afford more sense and vocab than this, right?

I like Joe Budden and Brandon Jennings. I think that both are supremely talented, and with the appropriate exposure and commitment to being who they really are, they can be superstars in their respective fields.

Unfortunately, they both have a desire to play into established ideas of what they should be. For Budden, an idea that hip-hop is flagrant language, painful and misogynistic diaries of urban life, and a culture of money-chasing and good times.

For Jennings, it’s a perception that wealth, talent, and fame can never turn you away from your roots, or those who supported you on the way up.

In both cases, perception makes for an unfortunate reality that resonates with too many young black men; success is something to be watered down for the sake of your identity.

It’s a reality that a few Wizards, with the exception of Andray Blatche, have negotiated beautifully.

There is a lesson to be learned here, and it’s not pretty—the money that you make, ultimately makes you. No way around it, no shame in it. When you’re broke, you can be as funny, as profane, and anonymous as you choose to be.

When you’re rich and your salary depends on people buying tickets to come see you, your life becomes what your salary demands.

Bill Russell got it right for many years. Here’s hoping that our young gunners here in the District carefully check the wrong path Jennings is blazing for himself.

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