Kendall Marshall, second-best point guard in the 2012 NBA Draft. Lottery pick. North Carolina star and prolific tweeter (at least he used to be).
That's what he is. The big question is if he will ever be an NBA player and right now that answer is leaning towards, NO.
Through seven games in the D-league, here's Marshall's stats:
- 32mpg for a total of 225 minutes of burn
- Shooting .329 percent from the field. He's made just 26 of 79 shots!
- Shooting .167 from three! He's made just 3 of 18 attempts!!
- 7.1 assists per game is a solid D-league number (we knew he could pass)
- 3.29 turnovers per game isn't horrible considering how much he likely has the ball in his hands and
- His rebounding and steals numbers certainly don't jump off the page: 1.29 SPG / 3.4 RPG
Basically, Marshall right now is exactly what we feared he be coming out of a college and exactly what he was in summer league. He has great passing skill and sub-par everything else and that's never going to be good enough for the NBA.
I'm far more patient than most when it comes to young players (and most things sports-related) but this kid hasn't shown me any reason to think he'll be in the NBA three years from now.
Here's a few words from Gino from Ridiculous Upside where watching the D-league is their passion.
"I've kept tabs on (Marshall), not a ton of live viewing, but seems like he is more focused on distributing the ball, which he is improving on, his turnovers have been a little bit of an issue though. From a scoring standpoint he hasn't impressed me, but I like his ability to look for others and getting them involved. Shooting wise, his percentages havent been spectacular either. I'd say he needs to show me more on the scoring end. Body language isnt the greatest either."
And here's more from Ryan from Ridiculous Upside:
He's actually distributing the ball pretty well, but is not taking quality shots. His 33% from the floor is indicative of that.
He's forcing things a bit too much and not taking advantage of what the defense is offering. Bad decision making...and his turnovers have gone up...
He has quality players around him (Renaldo Major, Damon James and Brian Butch) yet he's not really in sync with them... They should be killing it with pick and pops and the iso option should be open since Butch is a big man who can hit the three, but these things really aren't happening.
Some players just struggle with a D-league assignment. JaJuan Johnson is a good example of this.
JaJuan Johnson isn't a lottery pick and neither is Tony Wroten (25th pick, 2012). Tony is putting up 13 ppg, 3.3 apg and shooting 37% (43.8% from three) in 23 mpg in six games in Reno.