"Brandon Jennings left his rookie year Sunday with a vow.

"This summer I'll work out, get stronger and come back a totally different player," he said after the Milwaukee Bucks were eliminated, 95-74, by the Atlanta Hawks in the first round of the NBA playoffs.

That has to be an encouraging thought for the Bucks and a sobering concept for the rest of the league about the electrifying point guard who finished third in rookie of the year voting.

Jennings also averaged 18.7 points in his first postseason experience after leading the Bucks with 15 points in Game 7. Throughout the series, he mostly performed with veteran poise. Though he struggled with his shot late in the series, he opened it by scoring 34 points on the Hawks.

"I think it was big to play in the playoffs my rookie year," Jennings said. "It was tough. We took them to seven games. Everybody probably had us going four or five. So I think we did the best we could without (Andrew) Bogut. We fought to the end. We were the only first series still going on. I think we gave Atlanta all we could."

As for him, "I think I did pretty good," Jennings said. "I think I probably surprised a lot of people. I think I did a lot as a point guard to carry the team to that next round. We came up short. It happens. But I feel good about it."