|
Luke Kennard let the pressure get to him.
With a substantial lead in the around-the-world 3-point shooting contest following practice Wednesday, the sharpshooter missed on the last spot.
It opened the door for teammate Desmond Bane, who drilled eight 3-pointers in a row to complete the comeback victory. He let Kennard hear about it.
“2-1! That’s 2-1!” Bane shouted at his Memphis teammate.
So Bane now leads the preseason series 2-1. This is not a best-of-7 scenario. They’ll continue until the season is over.
“We are really going to start ramping it up when we get back from the preseason,” Kennard said. “I had that one. But the pressure got to me a little bit. It’s all good. We will get him back.”
Kennard hasn’t lost any confidence in his 3-point shot after struggling in the preseason. The looks have been open, but the shots are not falling.
“I’ve struggled a little bit, especially with my shot,” Kennard said. “I’m still getting in the rhythm and stuff, but that’s what preseason is for, working out the kinks and that rust.
“My coaches and teammates are continuing to encourage me to shoot it whenever I can. I’m being positive, and I’m staying confident as much as I can and I need to be. I’ve had a couple good last few days to really work on my shot. Hopefully it carries over a little bit.”
This, as Kennard described it, is “the life of a shooter.” Last season he made 54% of his 3-point attempts with the Grizzlies, which was the best in the NBA. The ball goes through the so often, that it almost instantly becomes a head scratcher for fans when he misses a few in a row.
“That’s just how it is,” Kennard said. “You try to limit those stretches as much as you can. ... You have to just stick to what you do. I don’t change anything, for the most part, especially during the season.
“I stay with my routine and keep the same rhythm, and I know eventually that it’s going to come back.”
Kennard evaluates his shot the same way a basketball player at any level would. If the shot is short, he emphasizes getting his legs under him and setting his balance. It helps if he can get game-speed reps in during practice. They are minor tweaks that can make a major difference.
“It starts to feel better and better,” Kennard said. “The last couple of days, I’ve felt a lot better about the shot.”
So, no, Kennard’s career 3-point percentage of 43.7% is not a science he has cooked up in a lab underneath FedExForum. It’s a product of shooting the correct way for an extended period of time.
“Luckily, with Luke, it’s not as much mechanical stuff,” Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins said. “It’s more about how the defense is guarding him and how to get the shot off quicker or creating separation.
“I think, for all of us, the numbers are trending in a good direction in terms of the amount we are taking. We want to take more 3s this year, and we obviously want to make them.
“... For him, it’s getting accustomed to our new running habits so he can get a feel and rhythm. He obviously has a long history of successful 3-point shooting ... it’s about calibrating where the offense sits. He’s playing with new teammates and different roles. ... I have no worries there. It’s going to click.”
They are all on the same page. Kennard is going to be fine. No one is overreacting to the preseason.
“He is super dialed in on the mechanics of his shot, the repetition, the mastery of it,” Jenkins said. “When he was a kid, how he was shooting in high school and college, there are subtle changes.”
“But it all starts up here,” Jenkins added as he pointed to his head. “The muscle memory has been there.”
Kennard and the rest of the team finished practice Thursday by shooting free throws. Repeatedly, he dropped them through the hoop without a single attempt hitting the rim.
This begs the question: What would basketball lefty Kennard shoot if he attempted free throws right-handed?
“I could probably shoot 85%,” he said.
In other words, better than everyone else on the team not named Desmond Bane.
Yeah, his confidence seems to be just fine.
More from your Insider:
Here is the box score for the 2023 NBA preseason basketball game between the Memphis Grizzlies and Miami Heat at Kaseya Center in Florida.
Grizzlies wing Ziaire Williams has made eight of his last 13 shots from the 3-point line. Has he done enough to become a starter in the season opener?
Morant has claimed immunity from the civil lawsuit under the state’s “stand your ground” law, saying he acted in self-defense during a July 2022 fight. But does the law apply in this case?
..... |
