Kilpatrick and the NBA

[bearcat jeff]

Will Sean stay in the draft?

"I went back and forth on Kilpatrick, but I really think it would be best for him to stay at Cincinnati for another year?
If he continues his development at his current pace, I see no reason why he won't be a lottery pick next year.

After he averaged 14.3 points this year, I could see him averaging 18 to 20 next year for the Bearcats.

Most of his game is strong, but he still has a little work needed on defense, as NBA players are faster in the frontcourt than he's accustomed to in the college game."
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...s-who-must-not-leave-early-for-the-nba/page/4

 

[Eternal E]

He won't be a lottery pick, but if he remains in school there is a solid chance Kilpatrick will get drafted in the late first/early second after his senior year. However, given his age, I think he will leave after next season.

 

[TheLongHaul]

Stay in the draft? Did he enter? SK would not get drafted and right now isn't even close to having the ball handling skills, passing ability, and defensive ability to make it in the NBA. And while he is a good outside threat, 37% or so isn't a deadly shooter. Not to pile on but he also doesn't have elite athleticism.

I love SK and think he'll get better each year, but he fits the mold of a solid four year player, and there isn't anything wrong with that.

 

[Scheids21]

I guess I hadn't really considered him leaving next year. That would really hurt us losing Cash, Parker, and SK. I can see him going second round next year if he has a solid year, but I think his offensive game is a little too streaky and he is too slow on defense currently. That all could change though. This is one of those difficult situations as a fan where you have to balance wanting a player to have an outstanding year and realizing that that could lead to losing him early.

 

[Thegreatone]

We all love SK. He is great. He will go down as an all time bearcat.

He is never going to be an NBA player. His ball handling and rebounding are no where close.

If he is told he could be drafted this year he should do it. Besides a jump shot what attributes say NBA?

 

[User Name:]

Kilpatrick is not getting drafted this year and there's no way he'll be a lottery pick...ever...

That's not a knock on SK at all. He's a very good college player right now and could be great. But the NBA is a completely different universe compared to college. He's got some major issues he needs to work on just like the greatone said.

He can't create his own shot consistently, his lateral quickness wouldn't be able to guard NBA guards, he hasn't consistently shown a mid range game, and his ball handling skills are not where they would need to be.

 

[BearcatAlum1]

I don't know about "ever be an NBA player."

There are far worse players that have made it, and much better that couldn't stick.

 

[JasonS]

I don't know why people are ripping on SK and his game right now. He has two more years if he wants to refine his game before going to the league. He made tremendous strides from his red shirt year to his freshman year and subsequently to his sophomore year. With his work ethic, there is no reason to think that he can't make another big jump.

 

[User Name:]

I don't know about "ever be an NBA player."

There are far worse players that have made it, and much better that couldn't stick.

I don't know why people are ripping on SK and his game right now. He has two more years if he wants to refine his game before going to the league. He made tremendous strides from his red shirt year to his freshman year and subsequently to his sophomore year. With his work ethic, there is no reason to think that he can't make another big jump.

Its my fault for the way I wrote it. I meant "He'll never be a lottery pick". To be a lottery pick you pretty much have to be an athletic freak of nature...He could definitely be drafted, just not in this years draft imo..It'd be in the future.

Sorry for the confusion. I like his game a lot and he could be a 1st round pick if he develops

 

[Eternal E]

Oh it all makes sense, it is a Bleacher Report Article. No sense in even clicking on the article, let alone taking what it has to say seriously.

 

[ucdave]

Oh it all makes sense, it is a Bleacher Report Article. No sense in even clicking on the article, let alone taking what it has to say seriously.

I did not read it either, Bleacher Report is not a good source for anything, imo. However, they probably got the information from nbadraft.net who put Sean in the "Likely Entering" category. Not sure how credible this site is, but I'd bet that's where Bleacher Report got it.

http://nbadraft.net/2012-early-entry-list

 

[TheLongHaul]

I don't know why people are ripping on SK and his game right now. He has two more years if he wants to refine his game before going to the league. He made tremendous strides from his red shirt year to his freshman year and subsequently to his sophomore year. With his work ethic, there is no reason to think that he can't make another big jump.

Nobody is ripping on SK, but I figured you'd come to the defense. People are comparing his abilities to the NBA. Logan was one of my all time favorites but I would (and did) say he wasn't an NBA talent. IF SK is going to make it in the NBA he'll have to make great improvement in a lot of areas over the next couple years.

 

[JasonS]

Nobody is ripping on SK, but I figured you'd come to the defense. People are comparing his abilities to the NBA. Logan was one of my all time favorites but I would (and did) say he wasn't an NBA talent. IF SK is going to make it in the NBA he'll have to make great improvement in a lot of areas over the next couple years.

SK may not be a lottery pick but he will be an NBA player when his time at UC is finished. Logan was a 5'10" player without the athleticism or quickness to play at the NBA. He was great in college. Sean has the size and more skill than people are giving him credit for. He needs to improve his handle. If he does that, look out. He is an NBA SG in terms of size and we have all seen his improvement in his shot from year 1 to year 2. He could be looking at late 1st to early 2nd IMO.

 

[User Name:]

SK may not be a lottery pick but he will be an NBA player when his time at UC is finished. Logan was a 5'10" player without the athleticism or quickness to play at the NBA. He was great in college. Sean has the size and more skill than people are giving him credit for. He needs to improve his handle. If he does that, look out. He is an NBA SG in terms of size and we have all seen his improvement in his shot from year 1 to year 2. He could be looking at late 1st to early 2nd IMO.

He does have the size to be in the NBA but I question his quickness and lateral speed. He would have some serious trouble guarding NBA players night in and night out. There are also some glaring holes in his offensive game which he's working hard on improving. Unfortunately he just doesn't have the athletic ability that most of these NBA players have when they overshadow the holes in their game

I think he'll get NBA looks by his senior year and possibly drafted. But he's got to improve dramatically to compensate for the athleticism gap

 

[TheLongHaul]

SK may not be a lottery pick but he will be an NBA player when his time at UC is finished. Logan was a 5'10" player without the athleticism or quickness to play at the NBA. He was great in college. Sean has the size and more skill than people are giving him credit for. He needs to improve his handle. If he does that, look out. He is an NBA SG in terms of size and we have all seen his improvement in his shot from year 1 to year 2. He could be looking at late 1st to early 2nd IMO.

Logan was 5'10" but he was also a PG. SK isn't exactly huge for a SG. A lot of NBA SG's nowadays are in the 6'4" - 6'7" range. And SK also lacks the athleticism and quickness that Logan did. Factor in SK's low release on his shot and he could have trouble (though it is a quick release).

As for SK's improvement in his shot from year 1 to year 2, he shot 37.7% from three his first year compared to 37.6% in year 2. His FG% was 43.7% in year one and 42.8% in year 2. What is this improvement you are speaking about?

Again, I love SK, and he may even get drafted, but I don't see him having a career in the NBA.

 

[JasonS]

Logan was 5'10" but he was also a PG. SK isn't exactly huge for a SG. A lot of NBA SG's nowadays are in the 6'4" - 6'7" range. And SK also lacks the athleticism and quickness that Logan did. Factor in SK's low release on his shot and he could have trouble (though it is a quick release).

As for SK's improvement in his shot from year 1 to year 2, he shot 37.7% from three his first year compared to 37.6% in year 2. His FG% was 43.7% in year one and 42.8% in year 2. What is this improvement you are speaking about?

Again, I love SK, and he may even get drafted, but I don't see him having a career in the NBA.

Look at the fundamentals of his shot. They have improved significantly.

 

[TheLongHaul]

Look at the fundamentals of his shot. They have improved significantly.

And???

 

[ervins84]

Logan was 5'10" but he was also a PG. SK isn't exactly huge for a SG. A lot of NBA SG's nowadays are in the 6'4" - 6'7" range. And SK also lacks the athleticism and quickness that Logan did. Factor in SK's low release on his shot and he could have trouble (though it is a quick release).

As for SK's improvement in his shot from year 1 to year 2, he shot 37.7% from three his first year compared to 37.6% in year 2. His FG% was 43.7% in year one and 42.8% in year 2. What is this improvement you are speaking about?

Again, I love SK, and he may even get drafted, but I don't see him having a career in the NBA.

I think youre kidding yourself if you think his shooting didnt improve from his fresh season. Yes his raw %'s are almost identical, but he also took noticeably more shots and more difficult shots than his fresh year.
It's simply more difficult to shoot 37-38% from 3 on 6.6 attempts per game than 3.5 att per game, especially when you factor in quality of looks.


That said, I agree with most of the rest you've said. At the moment he's undraftable, and if he improves a ton between now and his senior year I guess he could go in the 2nd rd. I doubt he'll be an NBA player though, but his ticket to the league is to try and be a lights out 3pt shooter from the corner while being a + defender. I think he'll get the 3pt shooting part, but he's got a ways to go defensively to get there and he doesn't really have nba natural athleticism. I doubt his dribbling skills will ever be good enough to get to the rim at the nba level either.

 

[TheLongHaul]

First, it isn't any more difficult to shoot a higher percentage when you take more shots. That'd be like saying the first shot a player takes is the easiest. Do you have stats to back that up? If anything more shots may mean worse shots, therefore resulting in a lower percentage. Or maybe you are suggesting the SK gets fatigued and therefore misses more late game shots? I doubt there is any evidence pointing to that either.

Saying he took more difficult shots is a bogus argument too. What are you basing this off of, your observations? You remember the difficulty level of his shots last year?

The fact of the matter is his percentages did not improve and he had enough shots during both years for his shooting percentage to be the best measure of how well he shot.

 

[cincycpaw]

First, it isn't any more difficult to shoot a higher percentage when you take more shots. That'd be like saying the first shot a player takes is the easiest. Do you have stats to back that up? If anything more shots may mean worse shots, therefore resulting in a lower percentage. Or maybe you are suggesting the SK gets fatigued and therefore misses more late game shots? I doubt there is any evidence pointing to that either.

Saying he took more difficult shots is a bogus argument too. What are you basing this off of, your observations? You remember the difficulty level of his shots last year?

The fact of the matter is his percentages did not improve and he had enough shots during both years for his shooting percentage to be the best measure of how well he shot.

Well, actually, I think the more shots you take usually means you are taking tougher shots. It means you are the focal point on offense, so it also means the defense is focusing on you as well.

I haven't gone back and watched film of SK shots for the last 2 years so don't know if it applies, but I certainly think it could.