Meet Kevin Knox
Wait, why is Duren not up after Ivey?
I want more time to watch Duren.
Who is Kevin Knox?
Kevin Knox is a 6’7 215 lbs forward out of Kentucky University. He played his high-school ball in Florida and was one of the top recruits in his class. He spent one year with the Wildcats after which he was drafted 9th overall by the New York Knicks. He spent 3 seasons in New York before being traded to the Hawks at the deadline, he played sparingly with Atlanta before entering free agency where he joined these Detroit Pistons on a two-year $6 million deal.
Offense:
This is where the one bit of good is. Kevin Knox can shoot the three with some ability. He isn’t a good shooter by any metric, but a career mark of 34% on high volume is at least passable. He doesn’t have the quickest release but he’s big enough to shoot over defenders and he isn’t shy about letting fly from deep. This is especially advantageous given that the Pistons have a lack of large people who can shoot on the current roster.
If that’s all the good you’ve got this may be a long post
Yeah.
Knox is basically terrible at everything else on offense. He can run in transition a bit with how big and athletic he is, but outside of spot-up shooting, he has shown effectively no ability at all. His handle is loose, he’s effectively a non-passer, and he cannot get to the rim to save his life. With the exception of the occasional offensive rebound or blown defensive assignment, he is never laying the ball in or dunking it, which is bizarre for such an athletically gifted player but it’s the truth.
This may seem like its too harsh but after being forced to play a bunch his rookie year he was effectively out of the rotation by year 3, he is not only lacking in strengths, his best asset of shooting is still mediocre and pretty much everything else is actively bad. Even his shooting is tainted by his tendency to stand and watch all of his shots to the point that it keeps him from getting back on defense.
To put into further perspective, Knox is an athletic 6’7 forward who shoots below 40%(!!) from inside the arc in his career. To put that number into even further perspective, among people who actually played, Killian Hayes shot the worst of anyone on the Pistons inside the arc last season and he shot 45%. Shooting that poorly from two is astounding, especially for a player with some degree of physical gifts.
Defense:
Pretty much the same as the offense. He has the length and athleticism to occasionally make plays but he’s mostly miserable. The biggest issue here is that his effort levels are definitely worth being questioned on the defensive end, while I’m hesitant to bring up effort too much for players I don’t watch every night, most Knicks fans seemed to have issues with his defensive focus and effort. The fact that Thibs benched him immediately after taking over as head coach also backs up his lack of defensive effort, if ever there was a coach who would ignore offensive shortcomings to play a high-effort guy with solid positional length Thibs would be it.
He’s basically the trifecta of having poor awareness to end up in the wrong place constantly, poor effort to make plays even when he sees them, and lack of discipline to get out of position for no reason.
Intangibles:
Once again, not a guy with a great reputation for a high work-rate, and has shown very little improvement so far in his career. Not much here.
This is pretty harsh
I mean. Yeah?
So why even sign him at all?
For starters he does fit the mold of “super lengthy athlete” that Weaver clearly has a thing for, he also theoretically fits the mold of the type of guy for the Pistons to take a shot on. He’s young and still has some inevitable talent, his combination of size and shooting does fill a need on the roster.
My issue is that I think with Knox, that is all so emphatically in the theoretical that I’m not sure it’s worth it even as a cheap flyer.
Best Case Scenario:
Being with three different teams within one year is the jolt he needs to put effort into the defensive end and he stabilizes his shooting. His athleticism and shooting works well as a spark-plug type off of the bench who can hit some shots and make game-changing plays with his athleticism. He fills into the back end of the rotation as a worthwhile player.
Worst Case Scenario:
There is no jolt, there is no revival. He gets some playing time but is so bad that it doesn’t last. He spends his time in Detroit riding the pine until he is out of the NBA.
NBA Doppleganger:
At this point your best hope is probably something akin to Tony Snell, which is kind of depressing but a guy who can hit shots and doesn’t completely stink on defense does have some value.
Upshot for the rest of the roster?
Shouldn’t impact much for anyone already in Detroit. If Knox gets playing time early on its because of the gaping hole on the roster for tallish guys who can shoot at all and the only other guy in that vein is Saddiq Bey and I don’t see any universe where Knox plays so well that he threatens any Bey minutes.
Verdict:
I am decidedly not on board with this. In a vacuum it makes sense, the Pistons are not going to be very good this season anyways so taking a flyer on a young guy is worthwhile and Knox fills a need. The problem is that Knox is so bad that he probably isn’t even worth the flyer, as well as the hole he is supposed to fill is one that’s important for the development of the young players on the team. There is a non-zero chance that the Pistons have a fatal lack of shooting this season which would be a real bummer to watch Cunningham and Ivey get strangled by clogged driving lanes. As such I would’ve rather just signed someone like Tony Snell who we know can shoot well enough to at least let the Pistons young players run a semi-funcitonal offense.
That said, there are a few smart hoops people who think Knox is worth looking at so it’s possible I end up being wrong, I just don’t see the upside here.
.Just try and finish on a positive note.
I like almost every other move Weaver has made this Summer and I will admit that my opinion on Knox has been pretty formed for a while now so maybe he will show up with a new approach to his game and figure some things out. But outside of “He is a completely different player” I simply cannot get behind this move.