Luke Kennard 4 Years $64 Ms

[Roscoe Sheed]

why did Lue hardly play Kennard tonight? Did he get injured?

He didn't think Luke was ready to play. He missed two threes out the gate and I guess Lue saw something in his eyes that this particular game might be to big for him right now. I actually wanted to see him play in this one.

I think that is a mistake on Lue's part then. He needs to acclimated to big game pressure at some point. If he can't contribute now, what makes him think he will be able to contribute in the playoffs?

[TheNewEra]

why did Lue hardly play Kennard tonight? Did he get injured?

He didn't think Luke was ready to play. He missed two threes out the gate and I guess Lue saw something in his eyes that this particular game might be to big for him right now. I actually wanted to see him play in this one.

His confidence is shot and his body language is worse than Zu when dealing with foul trouble. I’m also noticing he seems to be sitting at the end of the bench a lot when not in the game. Atkinson is going to earn his keep with player development getting Luke back in the right mindset because there seems to be a disconnect and Lue is getting fed up.

[playaloc916]

why did Lue hardly play Kennard tonight? Did he get injured?

He didn't think Luke was ready to play. He missed two threes out the gate and I guess Lue saw something in his eyes that this particular game might be to big for him right now. I actually wanted to see him play in this one.

His confidence is shot and his body language is worse than Zu when dealing with foul trouble. I’m also noticing he seems to be sitting at the end of the bench a lot when not in the game. Atkinson is going to earn his keep with player development getting Luke back in the right mindset because there seems to be a disconnect and Lue is getting fed up.

I hope so... This seems to be deja vu... First Jerome Robinson broke and never recovered, then Shamet, and now it seems Kennard may be heading in the same direction. They need him stop acting like a ***** and grow a pair.

[LamarWho]

Kennard needs to take a page out of Joe Harris' book. Joe Harris never hesitates to shoot even when he's sharing the court with the big 3.

[TheNewEra]

We need this Luke thing to work because we don’t have the best wing depth situation

[donemilio21]

Luke should share the court with either Reggie or Beverly when PG, Kawhi and Lou are all on the bench and get 10-15min like that consistently.

One bad sign is that he doesn't go to the line either. Just looked at his game log, he take a FT almost once every 4 games, while with Detroit he was at the line once roughly every 1.5 games.

[esqtvd]

Luke should share the court with either Reggie or Beverly when PG, Kawhi and Lou are all on the bench and get 10-15min like that consistently.

One bad sign is that he doesn't go to the line either. Just looked at his game log, he take a FT almost once every 4 games, while with Detroit he was at the line once roughly every 1.5 games.

Anything that works. Got to wring some useful minutes out of Luke somehow. Lou and Zu were plus+6 and plus+5 respectively but Kennard was in the minus again at -5. Senior was the only other Clipper in the red at minus-12 [!]. In a 22-point win, mind you.

Got to find some combos that can at least tread water because we need minutes. The dropoff from the starters to the second unit is extreme.

+/-

Kawhi +11.9
PG 10.0
Bev 8.0
Batum 7.8
Serge 7.0

Reggie plus+2.2 [buoyed by playing with the starters with Bev out]
Lou 1.3
Senior 0.9
Kennard minus-0.1
Zu minus-0.3




these 2 lineups represent most of our minutes:

KL-PG-Batum-Ibaka-Jackson plus+7.8
KL-PG-Batum-Ibaka-Beverley plus+7.3

Like some previous years, coach doesn't want to break up an excellent starting 5--for instance, if you put Zu in for Ibaka the plus/minus slips to only +2.5. That's huge.



Ty's been forced to dilute their minutes together a bit to keep the bench afloat. Without Kawhi and PG out there helping them, imagine how terrible these numbers would be.

KL-Lou-Zu-Kennard-Senior minus-0.6
PG-Lou-Zu-Kennard-Senior minus-2.3

the only lineups in the black that have less than 3 starters:

Morris-Lou-Zubac-PG-Bev plus+3.8.
Morris-Lou-Zubac-Reggie-KL plus+2.5
Morris-Lou-Zubac-KL-PG plus+2.0
Morris-Kennard-Zubac-KL-Bev plus+0.4


There are many other combinations that have been tried in only one or two games. Ty might have to revisit some of them. Now that it appears Reggie's played himself back into the rotation, everything needs a fresh look.



if anybody wants a look:

https://www.nba.com/stats/lineups/traditional/?Season=2020-21&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&TeamID=1610612746&sort=PLUS_MINUS&dir=1

[MartinToVaught]

If we lose in the second round again (or possibly even the first round), you can thank this ill-conceived panic trade. And if this team becomes another Lob City treadmill team in the long run, stuck in mediocrity with no way to get better, you can thank the even worse decision to double down with a $64 million extension before Luke played a single game for us.

There isn't a single need this team has that Kennard addresses, and he's going to be unplayable in the postseason because of his defense. I don't understand what our front office was thinking. Were they really fooled by his empty stats on a bad team?

I would legitimately rather have Shamet back. At least his contract was reasonable.

[esqtvd]

what a difference 5 minutes makes

Luke is actually looking like the player that the front office rushed to pay $64 million for.

[Captain Ballmer]

Luke Kennard&Lou Williams for Eric Bledsoe. Motivated Bled is still All-NBA level guard defender. Shoots better this year, 2.2 3ptm per game on .404%

Him&Beverley combines for 48 minutes of good physical defense. A Clipper Draftee as well.

[MartinToVaught]

what a difference 5 minutes makes

Luke is actually looking like the player that the front office rushed to pay $64 million for.

He was having a nice first half when I posted that. He completely disappeared in the second half.

Unlike you, I actually want the players I criticize to succeed.

[TheNewEra]

Still a very big work in progress

[NickP]

Kennard is shooting 42% from 3. It's not like he's forgotten how to shoot. I think kennard is the epitomy of an unselfish player. He came here from Detroit to a team with superstars starting and name players coming off the bench.
Kennard doesn't know his role yet. I think he needs to be selfish and shoot away.

[og15]

Kennard's shooting is very good, the last 3 games before last night he was 3/4, 3/5 and 1/4 from 3PT, 53.8%, that's lights out. He can knock down shots. The difficulty with Kennard is that he can't have just a slightly higher shot attempt rate than a guy like Batum unless he's bringing the same type of defense and intangibles.

He's trying to fit in, which is good, but because of his defensive weakness he needs to be giving the team more offense to justify his minutes. He needs to attack in the pick and roll and move the defense, he needs to fire whenever he has daylight. His shooting rate needs to be closer to Morris' than Batum.

He might be a guy that Lue needs to force plays for to "make" him aggressive. I like team play, don't get me wrong, but for the roster and team makeup, there's no logic in running weaker defensive combinations unless they are going to light it up on offense.

If the bench had a guy like Harkless or something and it was Kennard with Morris, Harkless, Zubac and one of George or Kawhi, then you have more cover for him. That's not the situation though, and until and unless he becomes more aggressive he's a play if he's shooting, sit if he isn't type of guy.

[Clemenza]

Hopefully he'll get it together soon

[LamarWho]

Just play Kennard like what we used to do with Redick, catch and shoot through penetrations and screens. Kennard also has a better floater than Redick so he can mix it up a bit.

He struggles when he tries to run the offense and make plays, especially when our bench boss Lou Will is also on the court. Like others have mentioned, he's playing on a much better and deeper team than the past 3 seasons. He is probably not seeing that green light like he did in Detroit.

Putting him in the same lineup with Lou is a recipe for failure. With PG out Ty Lue needs to put him in the starting lineup and see how it goes.

[esqtvd]

Just play Kennard like what we used to do with Redick, catch and shoot through penetrations and screens. Kennard also has a better floater than Redick so he can mix it up a bit.

He struggles when he tries to run the offense and make plays, especially when our bench boss Lou Will is also on the court. Like others have mentioned, he's playing on a much better and deeper team than the past 3 seasons. He is probably not seeing that green light like he did in Detroit.

Putting him in the same lineup with Lou is a recipe for failure. With PG out Ty Lue needs to put him in the starting lineup and see how it goes.

Good call. Ty is already trying playing Luke with the starters over the past 2 games to squeeze some minutes out of him. At least Luke's plus/minus is near zero that way. And hey, something good might happen. Throw him in the deep end of the pool with the big boys.


One thing we know--Kennard is death on the second unit with Senior-Lou-Zu. DEATH. Luke plays like he has mono. He's always the last one down the floor as opposed to Mann, who's the first.

Mann is getting Kennard's minutes, pure and simple. There comes a point where you have to stop giving minutes to people who aren't earning them. Bad play = bad morale. Great win tonight. Ty gave out minutes like Solomon.


Mann 33 minutes, team best plus+21
Kennard 18 [incl garbage time] plus+0


For those still skeptical of plus/minus, that's all fine but Coach was all over it in the postgame presser--the scoreboard doesn't lie. You don't coach by plus/minus, but you use it to double-check what you already know. Plus+21 vs zero. We won by 19. The math isn't hard.

[esqtvd]

Kennard's shooting is very good, the last 3 games before last night he was 3/4, 3/5 and 1/4 from 3PT, 53.8%, that's lights out. He can knock down shots. The difficulty with Kennard is that he can't have just a slightly higher shot attempt rate than a guy like Batum unless he's bringing the same type of defense and intangibles.

Exactly. Percentages are deceptive if you just wait for what the defense gives you. On offense, it's about production against what the defense DOESN'T give you.

Yes, of course Kennard can shoot the 3 as well as Batum when it's gift-wrapped! But keep your eye on Batum---Ty is subtly STRETCHING Batum's minutes into the second unit, just as he's shrinking Kennard's minutes. He's the classic definition of a 'glue guy' while Kennard is the opposite of one.

Absent a miracle, forget Luke. Keep your eye on Nic. Somebody once thought he was worth $27 million a year, and we have him for the minimum. Just turned 32 in December. Not an old man yet!!

https://dknation.draftkings.com/2020/11/15/21559894/nicolas-batum-contract-details-player-option-status-charlotte-hornets-2020-2021-season

[og15]

I have no issue with guys taking good shots. Kennard's shooting rate isn't even "bad", 10.6 FGA/36 and 4.8 3PA/36 is not bad, it's just not good enough or what he was brought in to do.

He clearly doesn't have the type of personality that as the youngest and newest guy with the bench unit, he's going to go out and look for his as he should.

You can see it, he's just trying to not step on any toes, and I get it, but Kennard was brought in for shooting, scoring and playmaking, if he's not attacking and playmaking, then there's no need for Kennard because he's not a defender or hustle guy.

His contract is too small to really trade for anything, and maybe he's one of those guys that needs a season with a team to get his bearings, but if nothing changes, he's first on the block next season when he makes more and there's no hard cap restricting the Clippers moves.

[esqtvd]

I have no issue with guys taking good shots. Kennard's shooting rate isn't even "bad", 10.6 FGA/36 and 4.8 3PA/36 is not bad, it's just not good enough or what he was brought in to do.

He clearly doesn't have the type of personality that as the youngest and newest guy with the bench unit, he's going to go out and look for his as he should.

You can see it, he's just trying to not step on any toes, and I get it, but Kennard was brought in for shooting, scoring and playmaking, if he's not attacking and playmaking, then there's no need for Kennard because he's not a defender or hustle guy.

His contract is too small to really trade for anything, and maybe he's one of those guys that needs a season with a team to get his bearings, but if nothing changes, he's first on the block next season when he makes more and there's no hard cap restricting the Clippers moves.

Very good point. Luke's extension for $14M/yr doesn't kick in until next season. At the moment he's only making $5.2M, which probably won't bring back a difference-maker. A difference-maker is a big bargain at $5 million. Why deal one?