An honest question: as a fan, do you value Luke Kennard?
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An honest question: as a fan, do you value Luke Kennard?
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An honest question: as a fan, do you value Luke Kennard?
I read about people bashing this guy because the team passed on Mitchell, I read about people bashing his defense, then I read about how fans are pissed because he never got an opportunity with SVG and he is a big part of the Pistons future. So what is it for you? Should the Pistons move him in a trade because that is what it will likely take to get a decent wing player in return or should he be kept because he has the potential to be a steady contributor with experience?
Re: An honest question: as a fan, do you value Luke Kennard?
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Re: An honest question: as a fan, do you value Luke Kennard?
Honestly think he has the most potential of any Pistons draft pick since Dre. I was pretty high on KCP, but with the league moving to allowing less defense and offense being king Kennard is going to have a place in this league for the long haul. Plus, his handles are much better than I originally anticipated. We might have a hard time keeping Bullock if he has a solid year so Kennard might be our starting SG as early as next season.
Re: An honest question: as a fan, do you value Luke Kennard?
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Re: An honest question: as a fan, do you value Luke Kennard?
1) We have a very expensive front court which will make it harder to add expensive talent elsewhere.
2) We are in desperate need of shooting and perimeter talent in general.
Given those, I have no idea why we'd want to trade a guy who can shoot who has the potential to be a really solid rotation player on the perimeter, who's under cheap team control for a few more years.
So yeah, I value him and don't think we should move him unless we get a really good deal. As for the Mitchell thing, yeah, he's not Mitchell. That's not his fault.
2) We are in desperate need of shooting and perimeter talent in general.
Given those, I have no idea why we'd want to trade a guy who can shoot who has the potential to be a really solid rotation player on the perimeter, who's under cheap team control for a few more years.
So yeah, I value him and don't think we should move him unless we get a really good deal. As for the Mitchell thing, yeah, he's not Mitchell. That's not his fault.
Re: An honest question: as a fan, do you value Luke Kennard?
- dVs33
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Re: An honest question: as a fan, do you value Luke Kennard?
I think a healthy kennard is exactly what the team needs, a cheap shooter.
Re: An honest question: as a fan, do you value Luke Kennard?
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Re: An honest question: as a fan, do you value Luke Kennard?
Keep him. Teach him. Play him. Give him the confidence to develop into an unrepentant gunner. Seems to move well off-the-ball, but could get better at finding open looks for himself from beyond the arc, as well as scoring off the dribble.
If the team lets Kennard go and he makes a developmental leap elsewhere, he could end up hurting us a lot more from the other side than Dinwiddie ever could.
If the team lets Kennard go and he makes a developmental leap elsewhere, he could end up hurting us a lot more from the other side than Dinwiddie ever could.
Re: An honest question: as a fan, do you value Luke Kennard?
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Re: An honest question: as a fan, do you value Luke Kennard?
Good post und3r. If j j reddick has a primary role in the NBA so can Kennard.
Re: An honest question: as a fan, do you value Luke Kennard?
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Re: An honest question: as a fan, do you value Luke Kennard?
This is the 2nd time I've seen you make that first point and I don't think it's valid. Look at the salaries of every team and 90% of them have their top 2 guys making in the same neighborhood as Dre and Griffin. It's pretty much your top 2, if they're really good, are good to get at least $52 million/year together. But it's the 3rd guy that determines how good your team is. Is your 3rd highest Klay Thompson or is he Evan Turner? And THAT'S where the issue lies for most teams.Snakebites wrote:1) We have a very expensive front court which will make it harder to add expensive talent elsewhere.
2) We are in desperate need of shooting and perimeter talent in general.
Given those, I have no idea why we'd want to trade a guy who can shoot who has the potential to be a really solid rotation player on the perimeter, who's under cheap team control for a few more years.
So yeah, I value him and don't think we should move him unless we get a really good deal. As for the Mitchell thing, yeah, he's not Mitchell. That's not his fault.
Detroit only has 4 guys making 8 figures, not many teams can say that. But we have $5 million going to the memory of Josh Smith. And then $27 million combined to Reggie and Leuer. But we're getting negative production most nights out of those two and absolutely nothing out of Josh's $5.3 million. So it's hurting us paying out that almost $33 million way more than paying our "very expensive frontcourt".
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Re: An honest question: as a fan, do you value Luke Kennard?
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Re: An honest question: as a fan, do you value Luke Kennard?
He's our only hope on the wing. He looked like crud before he got hurt, but I'm not sure his leg was 100% so this extra month off might have given it more time to heal. Also he didn't look all that confident in the offense and his place in it - hopefully Casey has been in his ear fluffing him up, and Luke better understands the offense and where he fits in it watching it from the sidelines the last month. We need him to come back confident and ready to shoot.
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Re: An honest question: as a fan, do you value Luke Kennard?
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Re: An honest question: as a fan, do you value Luke Kennard?
dVs33 wrote:I think a healthy kennard is exactly what the team needs, a cheap shooter.
/thread
It really doesn't need to go any deeper than that IMO. Unless of course you feel that Pistons have a legitimate shot at a championship by making easy changes that include moving Kennard.

Re: An honest question: as a fan, do you value Luke Kennard?
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Re: An honest question: as a fan, do you value Luke Kennard?
DetroitSho wrote:This is the 2nd time I've seen you make that first point and I don't think it's valid. Look at the salaries of every team and 90% of them have their top 2 guys making in the same neighborhood as Dre and Griffin. It's pretty much your top 2, if they're really good, are good to get at least $52 million/year together. But it's the 3rd guy that determines how good your team is. Is your 3rd highest Klay Thompson or is he Evan Turner? And THAT'S where the issue lies for most teams.Snakebites wrote:1) We have a very expensive front court which will make it harder to add expensive talent elsewhere.
2) We are in desperate need of shooting and perimeter talent in general.
Given those, I have no idea why we'd want to trade a guy who can shoot who has the potential to be a really solid rotation player on the perimeter, who's under cheap team control for a few more years.
So yeah, I value him and don't think we should move him unless we get a really good deal. As for the Mitchell thing, yeah, he's not Mitchell. That's not his fault.
Detroit only has 4 guys making 8 figures, not many teams can say that. But we have $5 million going to the memory of Josh Smith. And then $27 million combined to Reggie and Leuer. But we're getting negative production most nights out of those two and absolutely nothing out of Josh's $5.3 million. So it's hurting us paying out that almost $33 million way more than paying our "very expensive frontcourt".
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I think the point I was making wasn't that our top 2 guys are fundamentally too expensive (I don't think either are worth what we're paying them,but teams with a pair of honest to goodness superstars easily spend that much), it's that our top 2 guys are both bigs, making it harder to build a balanced roster with sufficient perimeter talent. That makes it very difficult to have a balanced roster and that makes an inexpensive perimeter player a lot more valuable. As for a team's third best player being Klay Thompson, well, we can't all be the Warriors, can we?
Every other good team that has guys making that much will have at least one of them be a perimeter player.
Re: An honest question: as a fan, do you value Luke Kennard?
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Re: An honest question: as a fan, do you value Luke Kennard?
Yeah I value him I think he can be a useful player if given the minutes. Especially considering we got guys like SJ and Galloway eating up valuable minutes.
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Re: An honest question: as a fan, do you value Luke Kennard?
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Re: An honest question: as a fan, do you value Luke Kennard?
He is the 3rd best player on the team and a good fit with the best two players. Unless a clear upgrade is availabe there is no way he should be traded.
Re: An honest question: as a fan, do you value Luke Kennard?
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Re: An honest question: as a fan, do you value Luke Kennard?
We're a team relying on marginal NBA guys to fill out our wing rotation, so of course everyone is hoping Luke pans out. I personally don't see it though. He doesn't move very well without the ball and he's not naturally aggressive. His shot is sweet, but that's only an impact skill if you are willing/able to put up a decent volume of shots. We'll see. It's a tough transition from being "the man" your whole life to being an efficient complimentary player. It might click for him eventually, but he's not off to a good start.
Re: An honest question: as a fan, do you value Luke Kennard?
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Re: An honest question: as a fan, do you value Luke Kennard?
Snakebites wrote:Every other good team that has guys making that much will have at least one of them be a perimeter player.
If Blake keeps shooting 38% 3P on 6 attempts/game, how is he not a perimeter player?
Re: An honest question: as a fan, do you value Luke Kennard?
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Re: An honest question: as a fan, do you value Luke Kennard?
I value Luke the puke from Duke with perhaps the most punchable face in the NBA as long as he can play and produce.
I'm looking forward to him getting back.
I'm looking forward to him getting back.
Re: An honest question: as a fan, do you value Luke Kennard?
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Re: An honest question: as a fan, do you value Luke Kennard?
Luke is probably a week to 10 days away from being cleared, and I suspect he might get some time in the G-League to get into game shape again after missing out on the summer, being restricted in camp and now missing over a month. I wouldn't be surprised if he got a 5+ game stint in Grand Rapids where he can play 35 minutes a game and be instructed to shoot 20 times a game.
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Re: An honest question: as a fan, do you value Luke Kennard?
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Re: An honest question: as a fan, do you value Luke Kennard?
This take is kinda arbitrary. Had we traded the Blake package for Bradley Beal instead how much different would we really be? He'd be putting up the same 25 ppg as Blake, and at best the same playmaking ability but more likely worse. So we'd be looking at having 2 above average starters on the team and below average guys everywhere else. We'd just have a Reggie Bullock/GR3 level PF instead of one of them at SG. Beal would shoot 38-40% from 3, which we're already getting from Blake.Snakebites wrote:DetroitSho wrote:This is the 2nd time I've seen you make that first point and I don't think it's valid. Look at the salaries of every team and 90% of them have their top 2 guys making in the same neighborhood as Dre and Griffin. It's pretty much your top 2, if they're really good, are good to get at least $52 million/year together. But it's the 3rd guy that determines how good your team is. Is your 3rd highest Klay Thompson or is he Evan Turner? And THAT'S where the issue lies for most teams.Snakebites wrote:1) We have a very expensive front court which will make it harder to add expensive talent elsewhere.
2) We are in desperate need of shooting and perimeter talent in general.
Given those, I have no idea why we'd want to trade a guy who can shoot who has the potential to be a really solid rotation player on the perimeter, who's under cheap team control for a few more years.
So yeah, I value him and don't think we should move him unless we get a really good deal. As for the Mitchell thing, yeah, he's not Mitchell. That's not his fault.
Detroit only has 4 guys making 8 figures, not many teams can say that. But we have $5 million going to the memory of Josh Smith. And then $27 million combined to Reggie and Leuer. But we're getting negative production most nights out of those two and absolutely nothing out of Josh's $5.3 million. So it's hurting us paying out that almost $33 million way more than paying our "very expensive frontcourt".
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I think the point I was making wasn't that our top 2 guys are fundamentally too expensive (I don't think either are worth what we're paying them,but teams with a pair of honest to goodness superstars easily spend that much), it's that our top 2 guys are both bigs, making it harder to build a balanced roster with sufficient perimeter talent. That makes it very difficult to have a balanced roster and that makes an inexpensive perimeter player a lot more valuable. As for a team's third best player being Klay Thompson, well, we can't all be the Warriors, can we?
Every other good team that has guys making that much will have at least one of them be a perimeter player.
Most importantly we'd still have that same task of finding above average starters to go with our top 2 guys with a very similar financial obligation. Again we're paying Reggie Jackson, Jon Leuer and Josh Smith over $32 million and getting slightly below Ish Smith level impact from that combined salary. There's your expensive wing right there. Hell, that's an overpaid Otto Porter. As overpaid as he is he'd be great here and completely change our outlook.
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Re: An honest question: as a fan, do you value Luke Kennard?
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Re: An honest question: as a fan, do you value Luke Kennard?
Uncle Mxy wrote:Snakebites wrote:Every other good team that has guys making that much will have at least one of them be a perimeter player.
If Blake keeps shooting 38% 3P on 6 attempts/game, how is he not a perimeter player?
The shooting absolutely helps. There's no denying that.
But Blake still operates in the post a ton. You can see the impact it has on guys like Reggie when they're on the floor together.
Re: An honest question: as a fan, do you value Luke Kennard?
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Re: An honest question: as a fan, do you value Luke Kennard?
Yea, I don't think we've given up on Kennard yet, he's shown some ability. I think he could be a good fit with the Pistons, Griffin and him can both be additional playmakers to supplement the Pistons PG's scoring mentality. I think we are seeing some good things and he can only help, Griffin has become a premier stretch-4 as well as a premier point-forward in the current scheme, we are seeing guys like Langston Galloway look like decent players this year.
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Re: An honest question: as a fan, do you value Luke Kennard?
Sure, although I'm not sure just how much yet. Kennard can shoot, and that's always a useful skill. He was starting to find a groove just before Channing Fry's signature defensive move. Got Stanley previously. Looking forward to seeing if he can find the rhythm of the evolving Pistons offense.