Detroit Pistons: 2017-18 player grades for Luke Kennard

Weaknesses

Kennard’s major weakness is his lack of athleticism, as it limits him on both ends of the floor. If he was more athletic, it would allow him to make more splashy plays on offense. While on defense, it would allow him to better match up with some of the springier wings in the NBA. When cutting to the rim, he wouldn’t have the same spring as he leapt to go up against rim-protecting bigs behind the defense. He may never be athletic, which he will have to adapt his game around.

Kennard was never expected to be a lockdown defender by any stretch of the imagination. However, he was consistently a negative on that end of the floor. Without a true rim-protector behind him, as Drummond allowed opponents to shoot 58.5 percent at the rim, Kennard has to improve his on-ball defense. In today’s game, where switches happen all over the floor, they can isolate him and take advantage all game long.

He was too consistently beaten off the dribble or taken out of the play by a screen. He needs to focus this offseason on getting stronger while fighting more on defense. The team never expects him to lock up James Harden or DeRozan every night, but they need him to at least be serviceable on that end of the floor.

Moving on, we’re going to look at some of the highlights Kennard made this past year and should make more of moving forward.