Kennard Checks Two Of Three Boxes For Pistons, But Omission Is Glaring
By: Will Burchfield
@burchie_kid
Just moments before the NBA Draft began on Thursday night, Duke-product Jayson Tatum was asked to name the best offensive player on the board.
He chose himself. This was natural.
As a consensus top-five pick who would later be selected third overall by the Celtics, Tatum was displaying the kind of self-confidence that befits his talent.
But when asked if he also considers himself the best shooter in the 2017 draft class, Tatum paused. Then he pointed to someone else.
"I'd have to say my teammate," Tatum told ESPN. "Luke Kennard."
The Pistons, one of the worst shooting teams in the NBA last season, selected Kennard with the 12th overall pick on Thursday night.
"In our minds, Luke was the best offensive wing player on the board right there," said Pistons president and head coach Stan Van Gundy. "He can really play offensively. I mean, really play offensively."
Kennard, 20, led Duke in scoring (19.5 ppg) and finished second in the ACC in three-point field goal percentage (43.8%) in the 2016-17 season. The Pistons shot 33 percent from beyond the arc, the third worst mark in the league, and finished dead last in true shooting percentage.
Kennard might not play right away, but he certainly has the ability to fill a glaring hole on his new team.
"Last night I watched their Louisville game in the ACC Tournament, and at one point he scored 10 straight in a tight game, 14 points in the last eight minutes. He's coming down, hitting pull-up threes in transition, he's got – I don't how I put it during our meetings," Van Gundy laughed, censoring himself for the sake of politeness, "but he really wants the ball in those situations. He's got great confidence in himself, a little swagger to him. He's something special."
To pigeonhole Kennard as a shooter would be a crime of simplicity. Oh, he can stroke it and stroke it from deep, but he also has a strong mid-range game, he's adept at creating space with feints and hesitations, and he excels at drawing contact and getting to the free-throw line, where he shot 86.7 percent in college.
"He's not just a spot-up shooter, that's not really his game," said Van Gundy. "His game is to play with the ball, come off screens, make plays. I look at him as a playmaker, a scorer, not a three-and-D guy. He's an offensive guy."
Entering the offseason, Van Gundy said the Pistons wanted to enhance their roster in three ways. The first two called for better three-point shooting and more offensive playmakers. Kennard checks both those boxes.
"Now the third," said Van Gundy, his enthusiasm suddenly much more tempered, "is we wanted to get guys who were better defensively -- he's got a lot of work to do in that area, a lot of work. Offensively he's really good, but he's gotta do a lot more on the defensive end if he wants to get on the floor."
In Van Gundy's eyes, Kennard's defensive shortcomings in college weren't physical. They weren't exactly mental either. More than anything else, they were due to a lack of effort.
"Quite honestly, he's gotta take a lot more pride in it than he did this past year. He's gotta change his entire defensive approach," said Van Gundy, "and that's the answer to him being able to get on the floor and get involved."
As polished as Kennard at one end, so is he lacking at the other.
"You can put him in an NBA game right now and he can go play good NBA basketball, I would have no question putting him in a game offensively. But defensively I wouldn't put him in a game right now," Van Gundy said.
In the many games Van Gundy watched on film, Van Gundy said Kennard looked like an intelligent defensive player. It wasn't as if the schemes were beyond him or the pace of play was too fast.
"I don't doubt his capabilities, he just didn't do it," said Van Gundy.
Then again, this is a common theme among most highly-rated prospects.
"The number of guys that are great offensive players in college that really apply themselves defensively is a very, very, very small number," said Van Gundy. "I watched them all. It's not like, 'Wow, all these other guys really get after it defensively, so why did you take this guy who doesn't guard? Out of the top 20 guys, I thought there were two that defended."
Van Gundy referenced another former Duke sharpshooter -- J.J. Reddick -- as a player who entered the NBA with a poor defensive reputation only to make great strides in this part of his game through commitment and force of will. Who says Kennard can't follow in his footsteps?
"He's a talented offensive guy, we just gotta get him to apply himself defensively. You can see it on the floor that he's got a great desire to win," said Van Gundy. "Well, what it's gonna take for you to get on the floor and win? You're gonna have to get better defensively. My expectation from everything I know about him is he's gonna embrace that challenge."
