Kendall Marshall improving his Draft prospects with a renewed shooting game – NBA Feature Part 2
Kendall Marshall averaged 5.5 attempts and 6.8 points per game while going 42.4% from the field and 31.1% from the distance in the first 30 games of the season. In the last six, he averaged 10 attempts and 14.8 points per game
while going an astounding 58.3% from the field and 50% from beyond the arc. It is an amazing turnaround to believe, but numbers don’t lie.
Marshall started his perception changing run in the game against the Duke Blue Devils, where he went 7 of 15 for 20 points. He followed that with a 5 of 9 shooting effort at Maryland and a 5 of 8 shooting performance against North
Carolina State. Against Florida State, he was 6 of 13 from the field.
He then began the NCAA tournament with a 5 of 7 shooting performance against Vermont and followed that with a near perfect 7 of 8 shooting night at Creighton. He broke his right wrist in the next game and by the time he was ready
for action again, North Carolina had lost two games and were out of the tournament.
“I got to the point where I was like, 'They're expecting me to miss anyway, so just go out there and shoot it,’” said Marshall when asked about the sudden turnaround in his shooting.
"I feel like when I took that mindset and really started to be more aggressive in looking for my own offense to help free my teammates up that shots started falling and it made us a much better team,” added Marshall.
Marshall is surely expected to be picked up in the first round on June 28th. The question now remains whether teams looking to recruit him in the draft will be content with the 6 games in which he gave that performance
or will they disregard it as too small a number to make deductions from and go with his previous numbers. The two differing opinions could have a huge impact on the position at which he is picked.
The player personally believes that his new found skill was always there in the first place. All he needed was some confidence and feels he can now rely on his shooting to open up the opponent’s defense and make the defender take
him seriously instead of leaving him open to take the shot while closing down their defense.
He along with Weber State's Damian Lillard are the two good prospects at the point guard position this year who are anticipated to be picked up in the first round. With such a small order of point guards in the Draft, there is
a chance one of the teams might want to believe in Marshall’s new found hot streak as a permanent trait and pick him up. If that plays out to be the case, he will be a valuable addition to the roster of any team.
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