The Under Armour x Brandon Jennings “Are You From Here?” video (can be watched after the jump) seemed a little to scripted for me but for some reason this Kemba Walker version really impresses me. Not sure if it’s maybe because I’m a New Yorker now or what but props to Under Armour and their agency for making the Kemba video a good one. Now that #NBABACK, Kemba is one of the players I’m excited to see make the transition (and how he fares) from college superstar to _____ NBA player.

Has there been a more entertaining offseason for basketball than 2011? I mean, the Goodman League has been outstanding and it shows how much these players truly care about the game instead of the paycheck, but there’s nothing quite like neighborhood competition in basketball. Whose crew is better. Which city produces the best overall talent (in most cases like these, Los Angeles wins easily due to it’s size)? It’s no secret that ‘Melo and his former college teammate at Syracuse, Hakim Warrick, have gone through friendly competition over the years, but things just got serious for a minute. According to Warrick himself, he has something up his sleeve in hopes of not having to eat his words.

“My Philadelphia All-Stars look forward to getting on the court and proving to Melo and the people of Baltimore/DC that the best ballers come out of Philly,” said Warrick. “Melo told me he was bringing a squad that can’t be beat so I have a few ‘All-Star’ surprises for him when my team takes the court on September 25.”

Unless Hakim is hiding something, this is his list of ballers that he has acquired for Team Philly: Kyle Lowry, Lou Williams, Jason Thompson, John Salmons, Wayne Ellington, Markieff and Marcus Morris, Flip Murray and others who have not been mentioned. As far as ‘Melo goes, we all know he has a deep crew of hoopers: LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Chris Paul, Eric Bledsoe, Josh Selby, Gary Neal and Donte Greene are all named to be apart of Team Baltimore.

Although the game will be streamed online via The Basketball Channel, but for those who will be near the Palestra next Sunday, you can purchase tickets online at pennathletics.com today starting at 3 p.m. This is a charity event and ticket prices range anywhere from $35 to $50. I know if I were in the Philadelphia area I would be there in a heartbeat.

I have two questions, though: Where’s Dwight Howard during all of this and will Brandon Jennings be making a cameo?

This past Sunday, Atlanta-born rapper Ludacris held a basketball charity event dubbed “Luda Day” too help raise money while also giving us hoop fanatics something to drool at. The game featured NBA stars such as Carmelo Anthony, Brandon Jennings, Chris Paul, Kevin Durant and Josh Selby. Despite having those big names too help bring in the crowd, there’s one player who’s arguably more famous than them all at the moment: Justin Bieber. Minus the obvious, the kid can actually hoop and has some nice handles (ask Steve Nash).

Minus the NBA stars, there were some streetballers in attendance such as Philip Champion, also known as “Hot Sauce,” who is arguably the most famous AND1 player on the planet. Now I don’t want to give anything away so checkout the clip to see Bieber get a taste of his own medicine.

The Elite 24 is a showcase of the nation’s TOP 24 high school ball players (regardless of class) that goes down in Venice Beach every year. The 24 kids who are invited, are practically NBA professionals in the making. The keyword there is “making”, as every year the event coordinators schedule a midnight run where actual NBA players come through and take the high school kids back to school. Watch as Brandon “Young Money” Jennings, Tyreke “Reke Havok” Evans, and Derrick Williams go HAM on the high schoolers. After the jump check out a very impressive Tyreke highlight clip and D-Will 2.o abusing some helpless defenders who tried to jump with him from the same midnight run.

LA vs DMV. Drew League vs Goodman League featuring: Brandon Jennings, Kevin Durant, John Wall, Javale McGee, Demarcus Cousins, Gary Neal, Ty Lawson, Craig Smith, James Harden, DeMar Derozan, Josh Selby and more!!! Crazy game! I say New York City and Team NIKE representing Dyckman gets next!

Star Milwaukee Bucks point guard Brandon Jennings has been seen all around the country at major streetball and Pro-AM leagues this summer killing the competition. As he did his thing at West 4th and EBC (Rucker Park) last summer, it was only a matter of time before he came through to the New York City courts again. With the #TeamNIKE vs #TeamOohWay game building a lot of hype tonight at Dyckman, the first signed basketball player of Under Armour was caught tweeting the following last night:

This doesn’t exactly go down in New York City’s Chinatown neighborhood, but it rhymes, and it’s close enough so why not.  At the Sara D. Roosevelt parks last week, Phoenix Suns’ point guard Steve Nash brought out his celebrity NBA and professional soccer player friends for a friendly 8 on 8 soccer game. The event was free and tons of fans took in the great entertainment for the 2nd year in a row. This year’s participants included the host Nash, Grant Hill, Brandon Jennings, Tony Parker, Patrick Viera, Youri Djorkaeff, Giuseppe Rossi, Claudio Reyna, and others.

A quick warning to the Golden State Warriors or Stephen Curry fans when watching this clip – it ISN’T pretty for your boy.  Brandon Jenning’s gives Stephen Curry the classic “you reach, I teach” lesson which results with Curry on the floor and begging the trainer for some extra thick ankle tape…

Any Milwaukee We All Schemers out there?  If yes, stop by the Mayfair Mall this Saturday (10/23/10) between 6-8PM to catch rising star Brandon Jennings promote the launch of his signature sneaker, the Under Armour Micro G Black Ice.  It’ll be interesting to see what type of Sophomore NBA campaign Young Money can bring this season…

Any basketball during the off season is good basketball especially now that the FIFA World Basketball Championships are over and we’re still about 6 weeks away from NBA training camps.  With that said, HoopMixtape.com was on hand to catch Brandon Jenning’s tear it up this summer in various summer league’s in Los Angeles and his ball player swag was in full effect.  The kid is easily one of the most exciting young players in the league and I’m hyped to see what he brings to the Milwaukee Bucks in year 2.

Source – Dime