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PHOENIX– Luke Kennard has found a home in Phoenix, and it only took the first preseason game in front of the Phoenix Suns crowd. As soon as the Suns signed Kennard to a $13 million deal, it looked to be one of the biggest steals of free agency.
The near 50% shooter from deep brings shooting prowess that 29 other teams would love to have. Yet, it’s not all about the shooting; it’s about the other areas.
While his prior stops solidified him as a knockdown shooter, there are a plethora of areas he can contribute to. Kennard’s playmaking, underrated defense, and overall basketball IQ cannot be ignored.
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His current and former teammate Dillon Brooks said postgame on Saturday that Kennard will “have some tremendous games”, and he wasn’t kidding.
He led the team with 20 points, while knocking down four shots from deep and registering a +11 in the box score.
“I’m a good fit, I think,” Kennard shared after Saturday’s game. “I really believe this is a great fit for me and who I am as a player, the way that I play.”
Luke Kennard’s shooting has Suns’ teammates wowed
Following Monday’s practice, the conversation circled back to the former Duke sniper. When speaking to Collin Gillespie, he shared one particular play that stuck out.
It was towards the end of the second half, and Phoenix brought the ball up in transition. Gillespie swung the ball to Kennard at the top of the key, who then swung it to Jordan Goodwin for an open-made three.
While it was the right basketball, Gillespie recalled what he said to Kennard.
“I just told him, I was like, ‘Yo, shoot first and ask questions later,'” he said.
A few questions later, Gillespie mentioned Kennard’s shooting prowess and said that he ranks among the best shooters he’s ever been around.
Judging from the 48% clip he shot last season, the proof is certainly there. Watching that work every day, though, that’s a different story.
There will be an evolution in Luke Kennard’s game
Again, much of the discussion is about him as a shooter, but head coach Jordan Ott wants to utilize him more as a playmaker and the initiator of that second unit.
That was part of how Kennard can be the Suns’ biggest steal of free agency.
With Gillespie and Kennard running the show in the second unit’s backcourt, he knows what to expect. Like it was on Saturday, it happened to be his night.
“On nights like this, you just let him go,” Ott explained after Saturday’s game. “He has so much experience on different defenses.
“Some nights with a big back like that, he was able to kind of move around… he’s shown playmaking before in his career; definitely last year at the end of last season kind of sticks out in everyone’s mind, but he’s a really good basketball player.”
Can the statistical numbers reflect that change? Possibly, but the eye test will likely do more evaluation than simply what box score metrics say.
Related: Jordan Ott ‘not pressing’ Miles Bridges return from ankle injury during preseason