Brandon Jennings is in his third NBA season after being drafted by the Bucks in 2009. He can become a free agent in 2014 and says he’s already planning on exploring his options.

“I am going to keep my options open, knowing that the time is coming up,” Jennings told Chris Broussard over email. “I’m doing my homework on big-market teams.”

Jennings says the city of Milwaukee and the front office has been nothing but good to him, but after seeing guys like Melo, Chris Paul, and Dwight Howard pretty much force their way out of small market teams, he says it opened his eyes to the business side of the game.

The real big story to worry about if you’re a Bucks fan is this line from Broussard:

“Sources close to the situation said he is frustrated with the direction of the franchise.”

If Broussard just interviewed Jennings and he’s including that line, you can take it to the bank that it’s accurate. Bucks GM John Hammond said the interview caught him off guard. It really shouldn’t. Small market teams can’t realistically expect star players to remain in their city instead of going to a more glamorous town. It’s a harsh reality, but it’s the truth.

LB joined the popular Red and Blue show with Jan and Gunther on 1280 The Zone in Salt Lake City for a fun interview Friday. Jan and Gunther are both former college football players. Jan is Jan Jorgensen, a former All Mountain West Conference defensive end from BYU, who also has a blossoming MMA career. Gunther is Kyle Gunther, a former offensive lineman for Utah, who has an emerging standup comic career. We talked about LBS, the Rob Gronkowski pictures and videos, Alex Morgan in SI, blogs and media, and where the line is for publishing stories.

Our interview is below:

If you saw the opening tipoff for the Celtics-Lakers game Thursday night, then the outcome may have felt like karma. After the Celtics won the tip, Kevin Garnett hiked the ball between his legs to Rajon Rondo, who then hiked the ball to himself. I don’t know if unconventional move was a nod to the Patriots players in attendance or what, but it was pretty funny. Probably would have been much cooler if they didn’t lose.

Chest bump to Sweater Punch

“One thing I do know is the guy is 100 percent a passionate when it comes to football,” Kraft said on ESPN Boston Radio. “He loves football. He wants to win. He doesn’t like losing. I don’t know specifically what people are questioning, but he’s an ultimate competitor. I think the team did accomplish a lot this year. Unfortunately, we fell a little bit short of the ultimate goal. I do think that he and other players probably have different ways of both celebrating what we were able to achieve and dealing with the disappointment of the night, and I think it’s hard to personalize how any individual would deal with that and project it on someone else.”

Gronk partying and dancing looks bad to a lot of people. It’s not the way heartbroken fans want to see their players respond to a loss. But we’re not in their shoes, and we don’t know how we would have reacted. And like I said, Gronk had a phenomenal year. He obviously knows what works for him and what doesn’t.

Kim Kardashian isn’t secretly dating Mark Sanchez … she’s not interested in Tim Tebow — in fact, sources tell TMZ, the reality star is completely DONE with football players in general … all thanks to Reggie Bush.

Sources close to Kim tell us, her break-up with Bush in 2010 was so rough … she has lost her taste for NFL players entirely — and has no plans to play the field in the near future.

We believe her, obviously. Kim’s record is squeaky clean as far as telling the truth goes. So what if she had a marriage that was completely fake? It sounds like the whole Reggie situation really tore her up. I guess the oddsmakers are going to have to do some number shifting in the near future.

We realize Jeremy Lin has only played at a high level for three games in his NBA career, but his story is pretty fascinating. He’s scored more than 20 points in each of the Knicks’ last three games, and will face a true test Friday night when New York hosts the Lakers. As of Thursday night, Kobe Bryant was not familiar with the Lin craze — or Linsanity as it is being called.

“I know who he is, but I don’t really know what’s going on too much with him,” Bryant said according to WEEI.com. “I don’t even know what he’s done. Like, I have no idea what you guys are talking about. I’ll take a look at it tonight though.

“I don’t even know what the (expletive) is going on. What the (expletive) is going on? Who is this kid? I’ve heard about him and stuff like that, but what’s he been doing? Is he getting like triple doubles or some (expletive)? He’s averaging 28 and eight? No (expletive). If he’s playing well, I’ll just have to deal with him.”

Easy, Kobe. Nobody is saying he’s a better player than you are. Is it possible that Kobe really hasn’t heard of Lin yet, or is he trying to get into his head before Friday night’s game? Lin hasn’t been putting up triple doubles, but he is also an undrafted who has gone from a bench player to carrying the Knicks. Bryant may not have heard of him prior to last night, but if he isn’t familiar with Lin by now he hasn’t been doing his homework.

When you’re playing a team with as many receiving weapons as New York, you try to take away the best options. The best options for the Giants are obviously Victor Cruz and Hakeem Nicks. With Manningham’s history of drops and erratic play, Belichick’s was wise to preach what he did.

“This is still a Cruz-and-Nicks game,” Belichick was heard saying. “I know we’re right on them. It’s tight, but those are still the guys. Make them go to Manningham, make them go to (Bear) Pascoe. Let’s make sure we get Cruz and Nicks.”

Our reaction: duh. Eli Manning made a perfect throw and Manningham made an even better catch. It happens. The bottom line is the call was the right one. New England had to make Eli beat them with his less-reliable options. For most of the game, it worked. On the final drive, they paid for it. The fact that Manning and Manningham turned the game around with one play has everything to do with execution and nothing to do with the coverage.

*Editor’s note: A previous version of this posted stated that Belichick made a snarky remark about Gisele after his round at Pebble Beach on Thursday. As it turns out, I didn’t read the story carefully enough. The quote we included earlier in this post was fabricated by ESPN’s Gene Wojciechowski for humor.

Several months ago Morgan said all the attention she had been receiving was a “little weird.” One Twitter avatar featuring her six pack abs and a Swimsuit Issue later, and I’d say she’s doing just fine in the spotlight.

“Initially I was a little nervous, but this opportunity doesn’t come everyday,” Morgan explained. “I wanted to involve my family with my decision and it helped that they were very supportive. After the initial reaction of nerves, I was so excited to start shooting, and honored to be included with such an amazing group of athletes and models.”

She also added that if males were to appear in the Swimsuit Issue she would want to see Blake Griffin, Rafael Nadal, or C.J. Wilson. If they won’t do it, I will.

If Jeremy Lin continues to play the way he has over the past three games, a lot of good things are in his near future. The surprise factor has certainly helped Lin dominate his last three games, but if he can play consistently well at the point guard position he will be in for a big pay day at some point. You know what that means? Moving out of his brother’s place!

As you can see from the video above, it took the folks over at TMZ.com very little time to catch up with the NBA’s newest superstar. It also took Lin no time at all to start thinking about life after his brother’s couch. His contract became guaranteed on Tuesday, which must be a tremendous feeling. After being cut by the Warriors and the Rockets, Lin’s work ethic has paid off. Three straight games of 20-plus points should at least earn you your own sofa.

I’d say calling a group of high school girls “heifers” is probably enough grounds for termination. And what does having a mortgage have to do with anything? Is this the first time you’ve ever heard a cheerleading coach pull a Mike Gundy? This is all a new concept to me. This woman needs to relax. Fortunately, she’ll have plenty of time to do that now that it’s going to be almost impossible for her to find a job in any type of leadership position.