Luke Kennard is one of the best shooters in the league, but he refuses to shoot the ball as often as he should.
Kennard is shooting a scorching 42.6% from deep this season, which ironically would be his worst clip this decade. He shot over 45% from range over his past five seasons and holds the highest career three point percentage among active players. Kennard is the definition of a lethal shooter, and that’s why he gets paid millions to play basketball.
Despite being a world-class shooter, however, Kennard ranks eighth in three point attempts a night for the Hawks (3.4 per game). When you normalize for possessions played, Kennard falls to eleventh in three point frequency, below Keaton Wallace and Asa Newell.
Kennard has to shoot the deep ball more often
This is flat-out inexcusable. Kennard is a massive negative on the defensive end who wouldn’t be considered for playing time if he weren’t such a lethal shooter. While he’s been forced to shoulder a greater playmaking load than anticipated with Young out, it takes watching Kennard just once to see how many open threes he passes on.
Compare Kennard to the Hawks’ fellow playmaking-shooting specialist, Vit Krejci.
When you watch Krejci play, you can see he actively hunts opportunities to shoot the three. He runs hard in transition to find an open spot on the wing for a kick-out. He flies around the halfcourt as he tries to catch the defense sleeping on pin-downs and off handoffs. He even shoots off the dribble when he's feeling himself.
This same level of visible effort in creating three point opportunities is simply not there when Kennard plays. It’s not just that he isn’t active in creating his own opportunities either, the more concerning aspect is his reluctance to shoot when given an opportunity. This leads to the sad fact that Krejci shoots the three 42% more often per 100 possessions than Kennard.
Kennard almost exclusively takes what would universally be considered “good shots.” He pulls the three when he’s open, he drives when they close out hard. The only problem? A good shot for Kennard is not a good shot for most other players.
I want Kennard taking movement threes. I want Kennard taking contested threes. I want Kennard shooting so often that I occasionally grimace when I see a three go up. That’s the kind of shooter Kennard is, yet he’s playing like he was just given the green light from three in yesterday’s practice.
Grizzlies fans tried to warn us; Kennard just has not been that type of shooter in his career. If he can change his attitude towards threes, the Hawks could have two of the most dangerous shooters in the league on their lineup. If not, he’s destined to be surpassed in the rotation by Krejci, a shooter who actually shoots the ball.