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So some on this board are hesitant to trade Luke because he's our best young asset, or something like that. Very simple question - will he ever average 15 points in a season?

Why not? I’m not against trading him for the right player but guys like Bazemore, Hood or whatever player I’ve seen proposed isn’t it.

I think he definitely can but I don't know about next season. I think Casey will most definitely give him lots of minutes and play time with plenty of shots. So he's got the opportunity, we need a guard to step up and here's his chance.

Obviously he could if he had the minutes/shots. And I agree with MotownMadness, I wouldn't have a problem trading him, but not for some marginal player who isn't going to move the needle.

Let's be honest, this team isn't winning anything significant right now. Any youth/assets/picks should only be used with the future in mind.

For those voting yes, do you realize that only 11 SG's averaged 15 ppg last year? Do you honestly think he's going to rank that high? ie pushing for a top 10 spot at his position?

I voted yes but I'm iffy on it. I love Kennard and I think he will average AROUND 15ppg, but not sure if he will quite get there this year. I think he is our starting SG going forward for now. I think some people actually underrate him. He will be a JJ Redick with better ball handling, midrange game, and playmaking imo. However, since we have Griffin and Drummond long term and considering that Kennard is our biggest asset, I wouldn't mind packaging him with Bullock/Johnson/1 or 2 first rounders for an allstar wing to go with Jackson/Griffin/Drummond to vault us into the top of the East.

Billl wrote:For those voting yes, do you realize that only 11 SG's averaged 15 ppg last year? Do you honestly think he's going to rank that high? ie pushing for a top 10 spot at his position?

I thought this was fishy so I checked. There were 19 according to basketballreference.com .

So your point becomes: Do you think he will push for a top 20 spot at sg at any point in his career?

He's likely a 12-14ppg player based on number of touches. In the right system, such as a high-tempo run and guy style offense where he's got the green light I could see 15 ppg. Or if he's playing off an elite offensive player who creates a lot of open looks. I doubt it would happen on this team. He's the type of guy who could randomly put up 16-18 points one night, then maybe only 8-10 the next.

Billl wrote:For those voting yes, do you realize that only 11 SG's averaged 15 ppg last year? Do you honestly think he's going to rank that high? ie pushing for a top 10 spot at his position?

That just proves that there aren't exactly a ton of great SG's out there right now (which bodes well for Luke, given that defense would be the thing keeping him off the floor). FWIW, KCP averaged 14.5ppg for us one year and Luke is already a more dangerous offensive player than he ever was.

It's about opportunity. Do I think he'll get it this year? No.

Luke averaging 15ppg? It's not even a given that he'll leap frog Stanley Johnson or Reggie Bullock on the depth chart in September.

We're trotting out one of the weakest SG/SF rotations in the entire NBA, I need for Luke to establish that he's at least a top 2 player in this group before I entertain what he's capable of statistically.

King Bugs wrote:Luke averaging 15ppg? It's not even a given that he'll leap frog Stanley Johnson or Reggie Bullock on the depth chart in September.

We're trotting out one of the weakest SG/SF rotations in the entire NBA, I need for Luke to establish that he's at least a top 2 player in this group before I entertain what he's capable of statistically.

We're talking about his career, not this coming season. Two very different things.

I find it ironic that this question comes up now because he's my response to the people that want Melo. If you bring in Carmelo, you have a guy that only tries on one end of the floor and will demand 15+ shots a game. We could literally tell Luke to not bother playing D and give him the greenlight to shoot every time down the floor and it would be equivalent to bringing Melo in at this point in his career.

To that end, I voted yes. No doubt he needs to mature physically and get a little experience under his belt. But this question really comes down to gameplan and personnel around him. If we draft the next Westbrook and still have Luke, 5 years from now he might lead the league in made 3s. If we have this current team and then let him walk and he doesn't land in a good spot, he might be out of the league in that same amount of time.

It took Reddick 5 years to crack the starting lineup and he has average at least 15 ever since. So, yes.

Useless information for all of you - no player drafted twelfth this decade has ever averaged fifteen in a season. The last? Gerald Henderson (drafted in 2009)

mrroboto4889 wrote:We're talking about his career, not this coming season. Two very different things.

Right... but my point was that if Luke can't show that he's without a doubt better than Stanley Johnson and Glenn Robinson III this year, then the answer to this 15ppg question will be a "no", at least as long as he's a Piston. If he or the rest of the SG/SF rotation underwhelms or are painfully inconsistent then upgrades will be on the horizon, either at trade deadline or next summer and they will bury him in the rotation and on the depth chart.

Remember, playoffs are still the #1 goal in Pistonland (unfortunately), the owner is desperate to make that happen. The East is weak and Lebron is gone, it was embarrassing when we missed last year and it'll be humiliating if we fail to make it this year. I don't believe Luke has as much time to establish himself as people think.

Invictus88 wrote:

Billl wrote:For those voting yes, do you realize that only 11 SG's averaged 15 ppg last year? Do you honestly think he's going to rank that high? ie pushing for a top 10 spot at his position?

I thought this was fishy so I checked. There were 19 according to basketballreference.com .

So your point becomes: Do you think he will push for a top 20 spot at sg at any point in his career?

Espn has 11.

http://www.espn.com/nba/statistics/player/_/stat/scoring-per-game/sort/avgPoints/position/shooting-guards

Of note - Redick is #11 In my mind, thats the absolute best case. It might happen, but I wouldn't bet on it. Luke is a pretty low ceiling player. Hopefully hell be a really good role player for us, but I'm not expecting him to be a top sg.

He’ll be our most talented perimeter player offensively while playing with two dominant big men. It will be a massive failure on Casey’s part if he can never eclipse 15 PPG.

Also, don’t discount the fact that he will be trusted with the ball in his hands much more this season, as he should be. I’m still very much excited to see Luke play some PG.

When this question generates a thread you know there's not much going on with the Pistons.

Manocad wrote:When this question generates a thread you know there's not much going on with the Pistons.

Off-season is fun isn't it?


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Billl wrote:

Invictus88 wrote:

Billl wrote:For those voting yes, do you realize that only 11 SG's averaged 15 ppg last year? Do you honestly think he's going to rank that high? ie pushing for a top 10 spot at his position?

I thought this was fishy so I checked. There were 19 according to basketballreference.com .

So your point becomes: Do you think he will push for a top 20 spot at sg at any point in his career?

Espn has 11.

http://www.espn.com/nba/statistics/player/_/stat/scoring-per-game/sort/avgPoints/position/shooting-guards

Of note - Redick is #11 In my mind, thats the absolute best case. It might happen, but I wouldn't bet on it. Luke is a pretty low ceiling player. Hopefully hell be a really good role player for us, but I'm not expecting him to be a top sg.

ESPN considers James Harden (playing next to CP3), Zach Levine, and Austin Rivers (neither > 4 apg) and Deangelo Russell (playing next to Dinwiddie) as point guards whereas BBR sees them as SGs. ESPN also excludes a bunch of people with > 50 games played who don't qualify for the scoring title. (Click on 'All Players')

Add the 4 guys I mention to the 14 with > 50 gp (MarShon Brooks the lone exclusion with 7 gp) and you get 18.

The last guy on the list (Rivers) had 15.1 ppg so Kennard can slide in behind him at 19 with 15 ppg.

So still approx. top 20 sg.

Kennard can at least defend (surprisingly) and isn't terrible with the ball in his hands (the exception being close to the rim). On a terrible team with his shooting skills 15ppg could happen even next year. It just depends on usage.

I think he can easily average 15 points a game if he is starting and getting a good amount of minutes.Especially being in the starting lineup where all the focus will be on Blake/Andre and Luke can get a bunch of wide open looks.Luke showed in his first season that hes not just an elite shooter but has a lot of offensive moves and looks like a vet player out there a lot of the time.I think being coached by Casey now Luke will take off and easily score 15 a game.