Wow he killed the first half with all his missed shots. I LOVE Kendal Stephens. I think a redshirt would have made him a much better player. He hit his first shot and I guess that gives him free reign to miss his next five(at least) in the first half. His next ten total. This kid has the potential to be a GREAT three point shooter every single game. What do we have to do to make that happen?
Stephens and the 1st half
- Thread starter takedownboiler
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He needs to not be thinking about shooting as soon as he gets the ball in his hands. As others pointed out, Painter may be telling him to shoot, shoot, shoot, but I'm not sure. It'd be good to work the ball around the perimeter and try to get the ball inside before thinking about that long three.
His quick release may be too quick, and he needs to get in the flow. Frankly, he is jacking up shots too quickly. Cline is going to get his minutes at this rate.
Stephens' cold shooting hasn't lost a game yet, and his D and passing contributed to the win tonight. That said, I hope he gets out of his slump... It seems to me he just rushing a bit & out of rhythm as a result. And a couple times he really wasn't squared up. Shot selection still needs work, and that's fine - watch the film & adjust. Imagine him getting back to 38-40% the rest of the season. I am hopeful for him.
And they were doubling him. In fact, he hit a wide open Cline with a pass, who sunk one of his 3-pointers. Why was Cline wide open? Because his man left him to cover Stephens.
Seriously I love Kendall. I want to get this fix. But he shot us out of the first half. He had as much game as anyone on the team. We need it to come out
Kendall has a problem this year. He had always been a volume shooter. Whether he makes the first 3 or misses the first 5, he's a guy who gets in a rhythm only when he takes a volume of shots.
On this year's team, his challenge is to be a consistent shooter on a low volume. It's difficult for a guy like him to adapt to that model.
He is also not helping himself much by taking a few "Curry" 3s a game. I have a feeling Painter will shorten his leash very soon. Especially if Cline can shoot like he has been.
On this year's team, his challenge is to be a consistent shooter on a low volume. It's difficult for a guy like him to adapt to that model.
He is also not helping himself much by taking a few "Curry" 3s a game. I have a feeling Painter will shorten his leash very soon. Especially if Cline can shoot like he has been.
That is correct and KS made MUCH better decisions in the second half where he made the extra pass and got easy shots for Cline and AJ. He has to do that on a more consistent basis, if he can draw that kind of attention and give it up unless he has a truly open look like he did in the second half tonight he can be a real difference maker for this team.
The game of basketball is more than just shooting. Stephens played almost 30 minutes tonight. I don't know if you'll be seeing Cline get those minutes just because he has a ways to go in the rest of his game. Stephens plays good defense, has good length/size and is one of the better passers (particularly feeding the post) on this team (he had 5 assists tonight).
Considering this is not Stephens' first "off" night, if Painter wanted to have a short leash on him, he would. He clearly doesn't. Would I like to see Stephens cut down on his shots a bit? Yes. Did he take some ill-advised shots tonight? Absolutely. But the reason Stephens plays so much has to do with more than just 3 point shooting. Keep in mind last year midway through the season, he was shooting nearly 50% from 3. He needs to get it back and I think that's why Painter is letting him do it. He has a quick release - scary quick - but I'm sure they're working with him and hopefully he gets it fixed - if he does, watch out.
How much longer do you suggest we let him work it out? I see nothing he does that RD, DM, and RC don't do better. His shooting slump is two plus years.
What?
First off, before he got injured last year, he was shooting nearly 50%. That's not "two plus years".
Secondly, you see nothing he does that Mathias/Cline don't do better? (Not sure why you even included Davis in that group). There's plenty of people other than me that see what he brings to the table outside of 3 point shooting.
And no, I'm not his biggest fan - but your over the top complaining about him is getting old. It's like you're excited if he doesn't have a good shooting game. I made a very straight forward post tonight that we needed to be making sure we got the ball into the interior when were up by double digits (when we shot very quick shots - yes, from Kendall, and also other players too). And I think it's no coincidence that our second half accomplished just that. And Kendall did a great job feeding the interior and other perimeter players (one of Cline's 3s was directly from Stephens finding him wide open because Cline's guy went to go guard Stephens). He also played very good defense tonight.
He needs to get out of his slump. Painter wouldn't be letting him shoot like this if he didn't think he was fully capable. Would you not agree?
He just needs to take good rhythm shots and he should take at least 5 a game to try and get hot. It seems to me he is at his best when stepping into the shot. But he needs to keep shooting, it really did open up some things later and he is a good enough shooter to win big games.
He definitely is a whipping boy on these boards, and I did at one point tonight say he needed to stop shooting, but this team has a higher potential with Stephens being aggressive.
He definitely is a whipping boy on these boards, and I did at one point tonight say he needed to stop shooting, but this team has a higher potential with Stephens being aggressive.
DM, RD, RC, and KS are all competing for minutes at the 2. I simply think he should be getting the least minutes of the four. There's nothing "over the top" about it. I admit his passing has improved and he made better decisions in the second half. But if I'm distributing minutes at the 2, I'm not sure he's deserving of more than the other three. For being our "best" shooter, his shooting percentage over the course of his career has not reflected that, except for a period last year against weak competition. Do you really want him shooting more than anyone else on this team? This team has the potential to be special. And CMP will undoubtedly shorten his bench as the season progresses. Stephens better find his touch soon or his minutes will start to diminish. That isn't being "anti-KS", that's just being realistic.
yes, his shooting can be improved but in the end of the game Matt wanted his height to help guard Artis when Vince was not guarding him. Purdue switched a little more than usual to keep a defender on their 3 point shooting. Vince actually was in there for defense...and the hope I'm sure that he could get a mini streak going. I never thought I would be typing that Kendall was in there for defense, but I did!
But again, you deflect what his own coach says about him. Painter has called him one of our best (or the best..I don't specifically remember) post feeder on the team last year. And now you go back on your "over 2 years" to say "period last year against weak competition" - he was injured in late January in the Illinois game. And before the injury against Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Maryland, etc. - he was shooting 43% from 3 just in those Big Ten games leading up to his injury. And it's not like we played some crap non-conference schedule. So to discredit his success simply because they were playing "weak competition" is just not true.
Do I want him to be shooting more than anyone else? I'm pretty sure my previous post said there were shots I didn't think he should take and that he would have cooled off from his shooting a bit quicker. But I guarantee you after he drilled that first 3, Painter was a-ok. Painter has stated multiple times he wants him to keep shooting. And yes, if we're halfway in the season and its still not there, he will probably see his minutes go down some. But to say Ryan Cline will be playing 30 minutes over Stephens is just not true at this point because of the overall skill set that Stephens has and Cline does not have..yet.
If you're going to be constantly critical of a player, at least get your facts straight. When you say things like he only had success against weak competition - and that's not true - it makes you look "anti".
Stephens contained Artis when asked for stretches, drew people out beyond the 3-point line to defend him, and had 5 assists. Sure, I would have loved to see more shots fall and I think they will in time. That said, I think KS played a role in winning last night, and the W was the most important thing. Let's give him a bit of a break and enjoy the fact that we are 7-0.
AS I wrote somewhere. Kendall was in there for D and a possible mini-streak. Purdue was doing a lot of switching to defend their 3 and keep a defender on them. Purdue was hurt by a few mismatches that took place, but they were not going to get beat by the three ball. Kendall provided some length to defend on all those switches. When Vince wasn't the primary defender on Artis....Kendall was
DM is a better post passer IMO than KS, but if CMP said that (I don't remember it) he obviously knows way more than I do. I'm not saying KS shouldn't be playing. I'm not saying Cline should get 30 minutes. But for this team to be special, I still maintain that we need our primary 3PT shooter to be hitting 40%. Everette Stephens, Cuonzo, Woody, Ryne, etc. all hit that. KS has not shown he can do that consistently. Much was made of his injury last year, but statistically all he did was regress back to his historical mean. He's a 37-38% shooter coming into this year and barely 30% so far this year. I completely accept that he will have off nights. But he's on track to shoot 220+ 3PTs this year and unless he can suddenly demonstrate that consistency, I suspect his minutes will start to drop.
KS is better perimeter defender than both RC and DM IMO. I have no issues with his D; he just needs to start hitting his shots. That's what you need from the 2 position.
KS was much better in the second half. His D and passing were on point all night. He took better shots. I love KS game. I hope he gets hot. I think one thing that a lot of fans are worried about. Is it hitting a boiling point of the slump and him being very careless and lazy like he was thru about 3-4 games last year. I remember one play where he turned it over and then laid on the court. It was something to that affect.
Kendall is the best defender of the 3(him, RC, and DM) by far. You play at Purdue if you play defense. I think Kendall will slow down his shooting. Nobody else wanted to shoot he was the only player last night not afraid to shoot. He slowed down in the second half as the other guards got more aggressive. I am tired of the message boards being a place for fans to get together and bash on players. Were 7-0 be happy not angry at a player who is struggling.
fully understand what I think are some shooting issues as well as many times too many 3's shot. However, it was just a year ago we were hoping he would guard someone better and he is. congrats to him for that. I hope he gets his shooting figured out, because Purdue needs that from him.
Totally disagree the rest of the team was "afraid to shoot". He did play much better in the 2nd half. His D is better than DM and RC for sure. But when RD is back, that's not why KS will be primarily on the floor. We all agree he needs to start making shots and we all hope he does. I'm just suggesting his statistical history doesn't suggest he's going to be consistently over 40%. He clearly may find his rhythm and improve on his past 2 1/4 years of performance. Other players certainly have (Etwaun being a recent example). But it is not "bashing" a player to suggest his minutes may drop and get redistributed to DM and RC if he keeps shooting the way he is. There are only so many minutes at the 2 to go around and he needs to earn his share. That's all.
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I thought the key to the game last night was that Kendall must have been specifically instructed to quit jacking long 3's in the second half. He did turn down some, and made a good feed to someone else and then looked at the bench for confirmation that he understood wtf they wanted. Kendall is a better shooter when he is spotted up and square to the basket. When he twirls around a screen and jacks one up, I could probably outshoot him, He also needs to fake the jumper and drive to the hoop and throw a couple down like his dad used to do.
I think Kendall is being instructed to take a lot of those shots.
If he doesn't completely brick it or have it bounce off the back rim, there is usually a player or two there to grab the board and lay it in. Against a stingy zone, it is a basically a pass. Once again as long as it doesn't bounce back into the backcourt.
I agree he needs to put the ball on the floor and drive some more. But I am not convinced that his shots aren't an actual strategy Painter has come up with where it's either going to be a 3 or a putback 2 when it's tougher to get the post entry pass into our bigs.
If you haven't yet, listen to Painter in the postgame from last night. KS was brought up about going 1/7 last night and 3/30 or whatever for the past 3 games. Painter said he took 1 or 2 shots a bit too fast last night. Other than that he praised him for his assists and I don't think he is at all in Painter's doghouse. So I would agree that he is doing what Painter is asking of him. When his shots start really falling he is going to be lethal.
Cline was absolutely terrible in the first half. Couldn't stay in front of his man, didn't make a shot. Mathias took less shots but also had only 1 assist and only hit one shot too. Give it up people, Stephens will play.
You said he's going to lose his minutes because he isn't shooting particularly well. I'm saying that given the three, Stephens will still play a lot and won't lose minutes to Dakota and Cline since he's the best defender of the three and the only one capable to playing the 4 in an emergency.
And although I love that Ryan can drain 3's, when he isn't he's a huge liability.
And I would counter KS is a liability when he's only hitting 30% of his threes too. His defense is better than RC, and with RD out, we need it even more and that will and should keep him on the court. But with RD back, he's back to no higher than 8th in the rotation and if he doesn't at least get back to his career average of 37%, I'm not convinced he doesn't drop even more. And I doubt we're going 10 deep come February. Hopefully he finds his stroke and this is all just idle talk.
Painter would never criticize a player publicly - and rightfully so. I wouldn't read too much into what any coach says. And for the record I don't think he's in the doghouse either.
I think we have several streak shooters. Frankly, I think this year PJ and RD have been more consistent on fewer shots. In the second half I think Painter was looking for one of the shooters to come alive. First one that did was Cline. When he hit the firs one it was so pure that Yoo-hoo knew he was the guy at that time. In other games it will be someone else. As people have already said, what a luxury.
I thought Kendall was great the last ten minutes of the game. The first 3 from the corner was there because KS faked a shot and brought two guys to him. It was an easy assist. Those feeds to AJ were perfect. He also passed up several shot opportunities during that stretch and hit a crucial one and one. This TEAM is made up of several pieces. Isaac was not having a good night so look at AJ's response. Their should bode well in March as on any given night look out. Oh, and as Biggie learns the game......by March. ........
I thought Kendall was great the last ten minutes of the game. The first 3 from the corner was there because KS faked a shot and brought two guys to him. It was an easy assist. Those feeds to AJ were perfect. He also passed up several shot opportunities during that stretch and hit a crucial one and one. This TEAM is made up of several pieces. Isaac was not having a good night so look at AJ's response. Their should bode well in March as on any given night look out. Oh, and as Biggie learns the game......by March. ........
Stephens was driving me crazy with all those missed shots. Dude needs to learn how to pass up a shot once in a while. And, I remember last year feeling the same way occasionally.
