Into the Bears’ Den: Our ‘Hot Take’ NBA and Grizzlies predictions

Ian Pierno (@IanPierno)

Brandon Jennings will win the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award

Once upon a time, Brandon Jennings dropped 55 points while being guarded by Stephen Curry. However, it’s been seven years since then. That doesn’t mean Jennings’ spark is gone, he’s only a year removed from averaging 19.4 points per 36 minutes in 2014-15.

Now Jennings is with the team that passed on him in the 2009, in the city that he knows he belonged in all along. The motivation is at a whole new level, which anyone who follows him on Twitter will tell you.

For a player like Jennings who relies on his ability themselves to create points, having the support of fans can be important, and J.R. Smith will be more than willing to tell you that the Garden Faithful are some of the most fickle in sports.

But hey, when they love you, they really love you. The regular season hasn’t even started yet and fans at Madison Square Garden have already chanted the 27-year-old guard’s name.

Acquiring Derrick Rose may have been the move of the summer, but it’s Jennings who has the potential to really make a difference to be the sole spark off of an otherwise weak New York Knicks’ bench. If he’s healthy, which he’s claimed numerous times that he is, Jennings has the potential to be the most electrifying scorer the Knicks have had since J.R. Smith.