Welcome to Duke, Luke Kennard!

[CBecker]

Wayne Selden can't play PG, not as good a shooter, not as good a passer as Kennard.



(I'm just giddy we got Luke. I'll stop with the comparison debates at some point.)

Yes he can. Lots of these elite prospects look like Point Guards in these highlight vids. I remember watching Selden's clips and being amazed at his passing ability and creativeness.

[Henderson]

As for Luke comparisons, his lateral movement reminds me of Rod Laver.

He does look like Laver, only taller. And he does look like Dennard, only shorter.

Maybe he was cloned from a cross between Rod Laver and Kenny Dennard. Can we call him Lennard?

I watched The Boys From Brazil last night.

[JPtheGame]

Brian Zoubek without the creampuffs and shoe inserts.

check this:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6U_251Mxs4
That is a league game!

[Kedsy]

Well, I'll throw this at you anyhow -- how about Kennard as a comp to Nik Stauskas? Similar size, great shooting range, can drive and score in a variety of ways, high basketball IQ.

After looking up some stats on Stauskas, that's not an easy standard to reach -- he's averaging over 17 points, hitting 45% from 3-pt range, and has a good number of assists. Still, I bet Beilein really wanted Kennard for his shooting and versatility.

Yeah, I thought about Stauskas too. I have no idea what level of ball they play in Ohio, but if I'm reading the stats right, Mr. Kennard is averaging 40 ppg in high school?

[Troublemaker]

There's one scouting report I read today that mentions how well he played when he matched up against Justin Jackson - so at least there's evidence of him holding his own against high DI level competition.

Yeah, highlights of him playing UNC's Jackson (#44 in lavender): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2u0x4lfrS4

That was actually a rematch. First matchup from a year before: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-hXjBHTIOg

[Henderson]

Oh, and I forgot: Welcome, Mr. Kennard. Looking forward to seeing you in a Duke uniform.

[Cameron]

I know you don't want to push this, but Kyle Korver can't play point guard. I think if people watched more than just that one video of Kennard, they might start to see the Scheyer thing. Or I could be nuts.

Like I said, I really really didn't want to make the Scheyer comparison. Certain things forced me to. (Not race, as mentioned.)

I like the Scheyer comparison. At 6-4, Luke is a tallish combo guard who has made his reputation as both a big-time scorer off the bounce and elite-level shooter with unlimited range. Like Jon, he's position-less on the perimeter, as comfortable catching and shooting on the wing as setting up the offense and directing traffic out top. The comparison has nothing to do with Luke being caucasian. I also see a lot of Daniel Ewing in the kid's game.

Note: Some people just enjoy being argumentative and hammering a point -- whether they have one or not -- home. But, just to boil their blood a little more, I also envision Luke as George Mikan with a jump shot.

[Troublemaker]

I like the Scheyer comparison. At 6-4, Luke is a tallish combo guard who has made his reputation as both a big-time scorer off the bounce and elite-level shooter with unlimited range. Like Jon, he's position-less on the perimeter, as comfortable catching and shooting on the wing as setting up the offense and directing traffic out top. The comparison has nothing to do with Luke being caucasian. I also see a lot of Daniel Ewing in the kid's game.

Note: Some people just enjoy being argumentative and hammering a point -- whether they have one or not -- home. But, just to boil their blood a little more, I also envision Luke as George Mikan with a jump shot.

That's what I'm talking about, brother!

Yeah, highlights of him playing UNC's Jackson (#44 in lavender): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2u0x4lfrS4

That was actually a rematch. First matchup from a year before: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-hXjBHTIOg

Additionally, if you like seeing Duke commits play well against UNC commits... Justise partakes in sonning UNC's Jackson in some parts of this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKu6EoR1pFY

[Steven43]

Ok, can that be the last "white guy on a basketball team" comparative? Slightly undersized wing with good handles, not afraid of contact and can finish with both hands? Quick, slightly unorthodox release, fearless in the lane, suspect defender but can score in bunches, streaky from deep, decent handles?

Okay, you asked for it. Drumroll, please…….…………………Marcus Paige. Whaddya think?

[hurleyfor3]

Not to be confused with Greg Zoubek or was it Brian Koubek?

The guy who played in five Final Fours? Greg Zoubek.

[hurleyfor3]

If they beat 34-0, you could say they are 35-0.

Stop that, you're giving them ideas.

[CALVET]

I like the Scheyer comparison. At 6-4, Luke is a tallish combo guard who has made his reputation as both a big-time scorer off the bounce and elite-level shooter with unlimited range. Like Jon, he's position-less on the perimeter, as comfortable catching and shooting on the wing as setting up the offense and directing traffic out top. The comparison has nothing to do with Luke being caucasian. I also see a lot of Daniel Ewing in the kid's game.

Note: Some people just enjoy being argumentative and hammering a point -- whether they have one or not -- home. But, just to boil their blood a little more, I also envision Luke as George Mikan with a jump shot.

Much better athlete than Scheyer but same feel for the game and maybe comparable build.

[J4Kop99]

His release is a mixture of manu, melchionni, and marcus paige. As for his ability to play PG, don't base that off of a 2 min highlight video or some clip of one of his high school games. Most of the time, these high level prospects are head and shoulders above their competition.

Only time will tell what role he will play.

Someone earlier compared his lateral quickness to that of Rod Laver. I'm not sure if that was a joke or not but as long as Kennard has the passion of Jimmy Connors, we should be good to go.

[CBecker]

His release is a mixture of manu, melchionni, and marcus paige. As for his ability to play PG, don't base that off of a 2 min highlight video or some clip of one of his high school games. Most of the time, these high level prospects are head and shoulders above their competition.

Only time will tell what role he will play.

Yeah his release reminded me of Manu to be honest. Maybe a little quicker and lower. Hey, if you're left handed, can shoot, white, athletic and creative. Why not be compared to Manu overall? *not being totally serious*

[Troublemaker]

As for his ability to play PG, don't base that off of a 2 min highlight video or some clip of one of his high school games. Most of the time, these high level prospects are head and shoulders above their competition.

Well, he IS the PG on his high school team. I get that he's not playing great competition but I don't know where one draws the line with that reasoning... I mean, Tyus Jones isn't playing great competition in high school, either, but no one doubts that he's a PG. Obviously, since Kennard has shooting guard size and can really shoot the ball well, many are projecting him as a SG. But I don't think the suggestion that he "can play PG" should be all that controversial.

[Kedsy]

Well, he IS the PG on his high school team.

He averaged 41 ppg and 4apg this season. If he was the PG, he called his own number a lot.

[CDu]

He averaged 41 ppg and 4apg this season. If he was the PG, he called his own number a lot.

High school games are 8 minutes shorter than a college game. So that equates to a rate of 5 apg at the college level. That assist rate would put him second in the conference in assists. So while it's true that he is a score-first PG, it doesn't seem to have prevented him from getting a decent number of assists.

And remember: he's one of the top-20 players in his class. It's very likely that "calling his own number a lot" is the thing that gives his team the best chance to win.

[roywhite]

High school games are 8 minutes shorter than a college game. So that equates to a rate of 5 apg at the college level. That assist rate would put him second in the conference in assists. So while it's true that he is a score-first PG, it doesn't seem to have prevented him from getting a decent number of assists.

And remember: he's one of the top-20 players in his class. It's very likely that "calling his own number a lot" is the thing that gives his team the best chance to win.

Yeah, from reading some info, it seems Luke is a better ballhandler/passer than many outside shooters (JJ and Andre Dawkins, for example, were not known for their ball handling and passing as prospects)
Player of the year in Ohio is a pretty good honor; seems like a good get for the program, and we'll have another year to learn more about his game and see some video.

[flyingdutchdevil]

High school games are 8 minutes shorter than a college game. So that equates to a rate of 5 apg at the college level. That assist rate would put him second in the conference in assists. So while it's true that he is a score-first PG, it doesn't seem to have prevented him from getting a decent number of assists.

And remember: he's one of the top-20 players in his class. It's very likely that "calling his own number a lot" is the thing that gives his team the best chance to win.

High school stats and college stats aren't apples-to-apples. Quinn Cook averaged 10.9 apg in his senior year at Oak Hill. According to your stats, that would equate to 13.6 apg, which we know that Quinn isn't even close to.

On the other hand, if everyone is comparing Kennard to Scheyer, Scheyer averaged 5 apg in his senior year, which should equate to 6 apg in college. During Scheyer's senior year in college, he averaged 5 apg, which is close enough.

My take: Kennard, like Scheyer, is leaps and bounds better than 99.9% of high schoolers he faces. His expected value in shooting is probably higher than passing to a teammate under the rim. I don't like highlight films, but I see Kennard as a shoot-first, pass-second player (like Scheyer in his first 3 years). As long as Kennard is semi-effective on D, I say put him on the court!

[Kfanarmy]

It's tough to compare recruits to former Duke players. Remember when everyone compared Alex Murphy to Kyle Singler? Admittedly, I was one of them, and based on his game tape, you could swear he was a carbon copy of Singler. But alas, we know how that turned out.

Great observation. I've wondered whether, if they had arrived in reverse order, would we be talking about how great Murphy was and how Kyle's talent just wasn't what he thought it was...