OPINION

By Sean Deveney

updated 9:28 p.m. ET Nov. 15, 2009

Sean Deveney

MILWAUKEE - So it's not a fluke. This Brandon Jennings fella can play. Let's get ready to go overboard here. You couldn't possibly have been in the Bradley Center here on Saturday and not felt that you were seeing something utterly different.

Jennings is not just working on becoming a very good player, a solid rookie in a very solid rookie class. He is rising above all that. He's becoming a star. Rookie of the Year? Pshaw. We may soon be thinking of him as a possible All-Star.

If his numbers through the first six games of the season weren't evidence enough — he averaged 20.7 points, 5.2 assists and 4.3 rebounds — what he did to the Warriors on Saturday night should pretty much solidify the kid's status. He shook off a 4-for-13 first half (10 points) to light up Golden State for 29 points in the third quarter, the most points a player has ever scored against the Warriors in a quarter.

He finished with 55 points, using that 12-for-13 third quarter to vault the Bucks to a come-from-behind win. The 55 are a rookie franchise record, beating the old mark of 51 held by Lew Alcindor. They also are the most points scored by an NBA rookie since Earl Monroe in 1968.

"I was standing there in perfect offensive rebounding position every time," center Andrew Bogut said. "But they kept going through the net."

Jennings, of course, sent a minor shockwave through basketball by skipping out on a commitment to Arizona and instead playing pro ball in Italy last year, then joining the draft in 2009. He put up pedestrian numbers in Italy, struggling to earn playing time among the Euro pros, and in doing so managed to slip to No. 10 in the draft. He wasn't even sure he was going to go that high — remember, he declined to go to the green room at Madison Square Garden on draft night because he wasn't sure where he'd land and he did not want to wind up on camera as teams passed over him.

There will be much made of Jennings' path to the NBA, and whether other players can thrive the way he has by going overseas. But that's not really the point. Fact is, Jennings is unique, his game is uniquely styled to thrive in the NBA. "I learned a lot by playing overseas," Jennings said. "But here, there is a little more one-on-one, I can do the things I do better."

And it's clear that the Bucks will reap the rewards of the things Jennings can do, for a long time. He has proven to be a much better shooter than scouts thought, and his ability to run a team is comparable to that of a 10-year veteran. The Bucks are 5-2 now, currently holding the No. 4 slot in the East. Jennings still considers himself a point guard before a scorer, and coach Scott Skiles was quick to point out that, even in Jennings' unconscious third quarter, Jennings was still just doing his job. "He wasn't forcing anything, even considering he is a rookie," Skiles said. "It's hard to say this when he has 29 points in a quarter, but it's not him being greedy. He was just playing basketball out there."

Jennings is still a rookie, and it's pretty clear that he has seized the lead — with emphasis — in the Rookie of the Year race. Sure, it is early, and Jennings seems more aware of that than the giddy media and teammates who have been covering him. When I brought up to him after the game that he had passed Lew Alcindor, that his 55 points put him in the rookie company of the likes of Wilt Chamberlain and Michael Jordan, he quickly shook his head and said, "I am not trying to get any individual accomplishments here. I am just trying to help the Bucks win games."

Still, Jennings said something else after the game that has to make you think this guy is going to be different. When he was talking about the roll he has been on, not just in Saturday's game but in the first three weeks of the season in general, Jennings brought up high school. "Sometimes it feels like Oak Hill (Academy) out there," he said.

For Jennings, the NBA is already akin to high school. Rookie dominance seems assured. Stardom is the next stop.

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