Now Two Full Seasons In, Luke Kennard is Earning His Stripes

Now two full seasons in, Luke Kennard is earning his stripes with the Detroit Pistons. The second year guard is fantastic example of how to develop youth.

With the 2018-19 Detroit Pistons season coming to an end in a quick 4 games at the hands of the Bucks, the book closes on Luke Kennard’s second season in the Association.

The 6’5″ youngster showed fantastic growth in his second season in the Motor City, as fans began to get a taste of what seemingly will be the Kennard of the future.

If you’ve been following the Detroit Pistons for some time now, you’ll understand the dark cloud over the franchise that is the NBA Draft. The Pistons have struggled to draft stars, with the last quality draft pick being Andre Drummond in 2012 (but the jury is still out on whether or not he’s a star *sigh*).

If we do not include Drummond as a top tier player, it can be argued that the last star the Pistons selected was Tayshaun Prince in 2002, yikes.

So what does this have to do with Kennard? Well, given the historical struggles of the draft and the front office being so cash-strapped, getting Kennard at 12 needed  to pay off.

Luke has always been well regarded for his ability to shoot the basketball, a skill of his that helped land him in the McDonald’s All-American game in high school and at one of the nation’s biggest schools, Duke University.

In his final year at Duke, Kennard averaged 19+ points per game while pouring in 43% of his three balls. These stats were easily transferable to the pro game, although we didn’t see Luke shoot with confidence or consistency in his rookie season.

With many fans inevitably wanting more (and some jumping to conclusions that he was just another bust), Kennard stepped up in 2018-19, showing never before seen confidence along with a mixed bag of scoring mechanisms.

Kennard showed increases in many different categories, but his impact on the team was greater than his individual statistics. The Detroit Pistons had better offensive efficiency, offensive rating and assist% with  Kennard on the floor, an impact that was even larger in this year’s postseason numerically speaking.

One thing did not change from Luke’s first and second years, his number of games started.

It seems that Luke’s role will continue to be a bench weapon, an energy scorer who can beat you from deep all while moving the ball all around the floor.

Regardless of Kennard’s role in the 2019-20 season, fans can expect to see further growth in his game, especially when it comes to consistency and confidence.

The Detroit Pistons (and their fans) can learn from Luke Kennard, using him as an example of what a player selected in the middle of the first round should be, a unique threat that continues to develop and improve.

 The Detroit Pistons will have the 15th selection in this year’s edition of the NBA Draft, and I believe many Piston fans would be very happy if that pick turned into the type of player that Luke Kennard is becoming.