A story on Levon Kendall in the Toronto paper. As usual the focus is on what he does on the court, not the box score.
“They did a good job of clogging the lane,” Buffalo point guard Eric Moore said after the game. He wasn’t kidding. With Kendall and Gray parked in the paint, knees bent, arms stretched straight out, they forced the Bulls out to the perimeter, where in the end the Bulls relied too much on outside shots. Dixon said Kendall is the team’s MVP. His status has Canada’s senior men’s national team coach Leo Rautins salivating as well.
A kid who put up 40 points and 12 rebounds for Canada against a junior national U.S. team in a tournament in Argentina in 2005, dumbfounding NBA scouts, has been contributing in other ways for Pitt. In Saturday’s game, in front of 6,350 frenzied Bulls fans — the third largest crowd in Alumni Arena history — Kendall had just six points, but it was the intangibles that one took notice of, especially in the face of a charged-up Bulls team that came within three points of pulling off a massive upset.
Gray had 19 points, but it was Kendall’s six rebounds, his four assists, one turnover — and the key points during a close game where he made those contributions — that get noticed by basketball people.
“My role in this offence is a lot different here,” Kendall said. “I do the little things, play defence, set screens, be a leader, the stuff that doesn’t show up in the boxscores. I’m not satisfied with 6.0 points per game (his average), but that’s not something I’m going to force.”
Well his points per game would be higher if he was shooting better. So far he’s only 18-47 (.383) this season. The lowest shooting percentage among the starters and the four coming off the bench. His Free Throw shooting is solid, but he isn’t knocking down shots so far.
I seriously envy that wig.
7 Points / 8 rebounds / 2 Assists / 3 Steals / 1 Block / 1 Three-pointer (his only one this year).
I don’t even dispute the fact that he contributes in a bunch of areas, but his shooting has got to improve. No starting forward should be shooting under 40% from the field.
In response to MoE, Dixon has said that Young’s time has been limited mostly due to him not being 100% healthy, not because he’s not a good player. I think once he gets healthy (who knows when that will be – I think his knee has been bothering him), he’ll get a lot more PT…although Cook has eaten into his time a little bit.
1. Despite coming close, he’s only had ONE CAREER double-double.
2. Again, despite coming close, he only has TWO CAREER games with ten or more rebounds.
3. His best game would be hard to pick out (this is one of the reasons I like him) – he’s got bunches of games with about 6-8 points, 6-8 rebounds, and some steals/blocks. The best overall game may have been last year at Rutgers when he had 14 points/13 rebounds and shot over 50% from the field.
Again, the box scores confirm he is a solid player. I think he’s a solid contributor, but with the amount of minutes he’s getting this year (averaging nearly 30 per game), his shooting has got to improve. With a team this deep, he’s going to have to share at least some of those minutes with Young when he’s fully healthy.
For starters, he’s a forward that is shooting 38% from the field (as mentioned by the poster). That’s a full 10% lower than what he shot last year. Forwards generally should be at least somewhere near 45%.
Second, he shoots an abysmal 15% from three-point range. I understand he’s a forward, but he’s also taking those shots. He’s 1-7 this year and last year, he also only shot about 15% from that range. He’s got to be able to hit at least a few of those.
Lastly, in that Buffalo game, his defense wasn’t anything to write home about. I think Aaron Gray saw this as well as evidenced on a play near the end of the game. I missed the game and had to tape it, so I had the luxury of rewinding. But with a few minutes left, Kendall’s man got completely by him and Gray anticipating this had to jump out to cover his man. Gray’s move caused the shooter to miss the shot, but because he stepped out from under the basket, we missed the rebound opportunity and they got another shot (which I think they converted or got free throws or something). It may seem like a little play, but it’s something that as a senior who is known for playing great defense, you can’t let happen.
Hopefully he can fix his shooting woes and step up because I really think we need him to get to where we want to go this year.