Kennedy Meeks
- Thread starter GoNtheDistance
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Game, set, and match to Montana. To say Kennedy hasn't quite lived up to the expectations placed upon him is fair. To say he hasn't improved one iota, is asinine.
Kennedy is a great guy, a good team member from all reports, all the guys get along and support one another...a very good bunch and I like this team.
I like that Hicks gives us more speed paired with JJ and Brice. Kennedy and Joel are a load and can wear on teams. I'd take a small double-double, 10 and 10, with the occasional block or steal, from him as a 6th man.
I like that Hicks gives us more speed paired with JJ and Brice. Kennedy and Joel are a load and can wear on teams. I'd take a small double-double, 10 and 10, with the occasional block or steal, from him as a 6th man.
The kid has had some bad luck almost every year he's been here.
I don't think Roy has made up his mind as of yet on that.
For myself, as long as he is getting the minutes on court that he deserves I'm happy. Come crunch time in a close game, I want Isaiah on the floor because that young man is simply playing better on both ends than KM is at this time.
I don't think Roy has made up his mind as of yet on that.
For myself, as long as he is getting the minutes on court that he deserves I'm happy. Come crunch time in a close game, I want Isaiah on the floor because that young man is simply playing better on both ends than KM is at this time.
I just don't get some of the comments in this thread?... As clearly stated above, his stats have actually improved in most categories, and let me be the first to say that I ain't defending the way that he's played at times, but personal attacks should be saved for another website right down the road...
Has Kennedy's play seemingly diminished this year?....Yeah, it definitely has along with what seems to be his motivation at times but as pointed out already in this thread: Is he really healthy?....I don't know because I don't know him, and I'm not at practice every day, but there has clearly been a difference in how much energy he has shown of late in games, so I'm just not sure that he's healthy?....Maybe, he has Mono or something?....Know we've had a player in the past that had Mono, and missed quite a bit of the season, but can't remember his name at the moment?
Bare in mind, this kid has literally worked his ass off during the offseason the last 3 years to try and elevate his game to another level, and it just hasn't happened for one reason or the other?....Injuries/illness has certainly played a factor in the the last couple of years, but this year seems to be different for some reason because he just doesn't seem of late to have the energy and motivation that he had earlier in his career when he was carrying more weight than he is now?....Most of us would logically expect him to be quicker, faster and be able to elevate more since he would appear to be in better shape now than when he arrived, but it just seems that hasn't been the case this year for some reason or the other?
Now if he is healthy enough to play, and is not giving it his all; Then, that is on him, and is certainly not an audition for the NBA if he does plan to exit early?....
I think a lot of us Tar Heel fans hoped that we would have a cloned version of Sean May when Kennedy arrived, and I'm sure that Sean May has either worked with, or advised Kennedy a lot this season since he became part of the staff in hopes of helping Meeks take his game to the next level, but unfortunately Kennedy seems lately to have regressed instead, so a lot of us are ready to get rid of him, but I'm not one of them?...
Is he healthy? I don't know?
Can he play better? Absolutely
Will he play better if healthy? That's on Kennedy!
Will we need him next year? Definitely!
Is he ready for the NBA? NO!
Should he stay, and get his degree? Most Definitely!
Come on Kennedy, turn your game around....There's a whole lot of us rooting for you, and the team needs you now more than ever before!
Go Tar Heels!
Kennedy has definitely improved from his freshman year. Granted, probably not the amount of improvement that most of us expected, or would have liked. He's definitely an important part of this team. He's our 3rd best big man - and Brice and Isaiah can't play 40 minutes each - so we'll need contributions from him. I'd rather see Kennedy out there than Joel James or Maye (although I do think Luke has the potential to be more useful than he currently is in subsequent seasons).
Isaiah deserves more minutes than Kennedy though. It's not really all that important who gets the start - if either Kennedy or Isaiah would mentally "check out" if they're not the starter, then sure start that guy just for the sake of keeping morale up on the team. However, Hicks should get the crunch time minutes. I think of the 80 minutes at the 4/5 spots it should roughly be broken down as: Brice: 33 minutes, Isaiah: 25 minutes, Kennedy: 18 minutes, James/Maye splitting the last 4 minutes however Roy wants to split those last 4 minutes up, however we shouldn't have a lineup where both Brice and Isaiah are on the bench.
Isaiah deserves more minutes than Kennedy though. It's not really all that important who gets the start - if either Kennedy or Isaiah would mentally "check out" if they're not the starter, then sure start that guy just for the sake of keeping morale up on the team. However, Hicks should get the crunch time minutes. I think of the 80 minutes at the 4/5 spots it should roughly be broken down as: Brice: 33 minutes, Isaiah: 25 minutes, Kennedy: 18 minutes, James/Maye splitting the last 4 minutes however Roy wants to split those last 4 minutes up, however we shouldn't have a lineup where both Brice and Isaiah are on the bench.
It was an exaggeration.
He's still basically the same player. He hasn't developed anything new to his game since day 1. At the very least, he's not was he was touted to be.
Actually, he was kind of touted as a project. A skilled project but still someone who kind of peaked and then fell as other people passed him by in HS. He was the 57th rated guy and Hicks was 16th. Meeks was just ready to at least contribute from the day he got here where it took Hicks a while. Isaiah always had more potential. Then Kennedy had some injuries. This idea that people expected greatness from him coming out of HS is kind of out there. Overall, he has performed really well for UNC.
For the 57th ranked player in his class I'm not complaining about his production. His effort level is what bothers me at times but he is a good kid and has busted his ass to get in shape. That has caused him to lose some of his rebounding ability underneath the basket though.
His value versus Isaiah is not what you stated.
You said he hasn't improved.
That is not accurate.
Kennedy has worked hard here in the offseason and it has paid off. Might seem trivial but it annoys me that he doesn't get credit for it. Expectations if him being the next Sean May were way out of line and now he has to live up to that expectation? Who set these expectations? Ridiculous.
A discussion of value and time deserved versus Hicks is different. As stated, experts ranked Isaiah higher and I am sure that May was ranked much higher than Meeks. Not that those guys can't be wrong but percentage wise, I think they do pretty good. We make gods out of freshman without watching them play and break them down when they don't put it together the first year. Even though we watch it happen almost every year.
You said he hasn't improved.
That is not accurate.
Kennedy has worked hard here in the offseason and it has paid off. Might seem trivial but it annoys me that he doesn't get credit for it. Expectations if him being the next Sean May were way out of line and now he has to live up to that expectation? Who set these expectations? Ridiculous.
A discussion of value and time deserved versus Hicks is different. As stated, experts ranked Isaiah higher and I am sure that May was ranked much higher than Meeks. Not that those guys can't be wrong but percentage wise, I think they do pretty good. We make gods out of freshman without watching them play and break them down when they don't put it together the first year. Even though we watch it happen almost every year.
What disappoints me most in Meeks is his casual play that occurs far to often. I need to see more passion from him, I don't care if his stats improve at all, all I need to see is him working as hard as he can out there and I honestly do not see that.
I don't expect greatness from him, never have, I expect him to work hard and for some reason the second half of the last 2 seasons IMO he hasn't. Maybe it is an injury, maybe it is a sickness, would love to get some reports about that if it is the case. But he is not even a shadow of the player he was to begin this season and all I see is that to my eyes he is not going 100% and that just is not good enough without some kind of reasonable explaination.
I don't expect greatness from him, never have, I expect him to work hard and for some reason the second half of the last 2 seasons IMO he hasn't. Maybe it is an injury, maybe it is a sickness, would love to get some reports about that if it is the case. But he is not even a shadow of the player he was to begin this season and all I see is that to my eyes he is not going 100% and that just is not good enough without some kind of reasonable explaination.
Agreed, Dave. Effort is something that should be a given every game, by all of our players. If effort has to be coached after a player's freshman year, I have concerns about his inner drive. I was never a great athlete but was often pointed out by my Coach for my hustle. I'd just like to see more fire in his belly.
Love the young man though and want him back. And I believe it should be obvious to even Kennedy himself that he's got a lot to prove before he's going to get drafted.
Love the young man though and want him back. And I believe it should be obvious to even Kennedy himself that he's got a lot to prove before he's going to get drafted.
I don't think Meeks is ready for the NBA and he may never be an NBA player. I also like it that Hicks is playing more. But to say that we want Meeks to leave after the season is absurd. We don't have enough guys next year to want a senior, who has started most of his games since arriving at UNC, to leave. Meeks is a good college basketball player and we should support him. He not a great athlete and will probably be playing in Europe in a couple of years but we will definitely need him to play at Carolina next year.
Pretty sure Meeks best game as a Tar Heel was when he was a freshman. Against Louisville off the top of my head. Those outlet passes.
That said, Meeks is much better now than his freshman year. He is just vertically challenged and people have learned to take advantage of it.
That said, Meeks is much better now than his freshman year. He is just vertically challenged and people have learned to take advantage of it.
One thing about when he was heavier is he was better at creating space and angles to get his shot off. Now that he has slimmed down that has been lost with the same effectiveness. Plus he isn't the kinda of guy that plays thru or likes physicality or contact. What good is being in condition to play 25-30 MPG if you are less effective to the point where you aren't needed to play 25-30 MPG. Heavy set Meeks could still gives us 15-18 MPG at a higher level.
Seriously! He needs to watch the matchups that DeJuan Blair had against Hasheem Thabeet a few years back. Blair went into his chest on every move and initiated the contact en route to a 20-20 game.
Drops the mike, walks off stage, nuff said. Great post Montana!
**** not sure why this isn't the last post in the thread
Unless he just dislikes college, I simply can't see him leaving if he has pro aspirations. He's set to start añd log major minutes, even if Isaiah returns, and we really need both next year.
.455 ppm .489 ppm .470 ppm
.049 bpm .051 bpm .064 bpm
.017 spm .025 spm .041 spm
.047 apm .047 apm .055 apm
.365 rpm .313 rpm .285rpm
Not a great example of improvement, but trust me, he is much improved despite anything this shows.
.049 bpm .051 bpm .064 bpm
.017 spm .025 spm .041 spm
.047 apm .047 apm .055 apm
.365 rpm .313 rpm .285rpm
Not a great example of improvement, but trust me, he is much improved despite anything this shows.
Compare his numbers to when he plays crappy OOC teams to in conference and major conference OOC and get back to me. He smokes weak teams. 8.4 PPG and 5 RPG in 19.4 MPG in conference play isn't getting it done. Plus he can't guard anybody in pick and roll.
Not true. Rebounding is all about want to and putting a body on a body. Pure effot
I remember when KM was signed by Carolina. Roy stated and there were films of him and his outlet passes. Roy stated at that time he was one of if not THE best outlet passers he ever recruited.. rated him right there with Kevin Love.
MY vision at that time of KM was of a sort of Wes Unseld rugged rebounder who would fling half a dozen outlets to flying wings for easy dunks.
It really has not worked out like that, I really cannot remember him making all that many outlet passes..
I truly believe he has been hampered with injuries, especially this year.
As I have stated many times, Kennedy should forget the NBA .He simply is not ready and needs another year here. Will he stay?? Apparently the word is no.
MY vision at that time of KM was of a sort of Wes Unseld rugged rebounder who would fling half a dozen outlets to flying wings for easy dunks.
It really has not worked out like that, I really cannot remember him making all that many outlet passes..
I truly believe he has been hampered with injuries, especially this year.
As I have stated many times, Kennedy should forget the NBA .He simply is not ready and needs another year here. Will he stay?? Apparently the word is no.
Kennedy Meeks showed all those great outlet passes against Louisville in the game I keep referring to.
http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=400519154
I remember this game well because we upset Louisville who was considered way better than us and Meeks was seriously flirting with a freaking triple double due to all his outlet passes.
I remember this game well because we upset Louisville who was considered way better than us and Meeks was seriously flirting with a freaking triple double due to all his outlet passes.
Hicks and Meeks have to show up to help Brice rebound tonight because the Wolfpack have some real horses in the paint.
The one positive is the only really good game Meeks has played in conference slate was the 1st meeting against Moo U
Hi Kennedy, this little old red neck down here in Dunn NC is still pulling for you my friend, I have not given up on yet.
!!!!!!!!!!!! GO KENNEDY MEEKS !!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!! GO TAR HEELS !!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!! GO KENNEDY MEEKS !!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!! GO TAR HEELS !!!!!!!!!!!!
Old stubborn Roy with win #23 for the year, sweeping MooU.
So Meeks started, he didn't perform and was pulled early. Isaiah still collected his 4 fouls for the game off the bench.
Instead of focussing on the starting line-ups, check out the minutes distribution and how much James and Maye played.... even up 20 he didn't go far down the bench.
That is EXACTLY what I have been begging for him to do, draw the contact, attack the defender. If you can't go over him you darn well better be willing to go thru him!
He might have improved individually but there's no way you can watch and not see that he's just an odd man out
Yeah, I thought that was funny. You can tell how much Roy dislikes them. He plays all sorts of guys against Duke but against State won't hardly let anyone see the floor, haha. I think people underestimate how much ole Roy hates State.
He knew Isaiah would have a have a hard time defending NVSU's two big bruisers inside and he was exactly right. He had four fuls in a mere 18 minutes. Isaiah is a walking foul machine. The only fault I had with Roy tonight was letting them deficit grow to 13 points very early without calling a TO.
One thing Meeks has is awareness. Hicks doesn't yet. He plays up on guys he doesn't need to and lays off guys he shouldn't at times. His ability is very high though. If he can rebound the ball better and increase his understanding he will be fantastic. Meeks just seems to not be the same to me. I know his lift has always been poor but it seems even worse now. His movement isn't the same either. I don't know if he is still hurt or just tentative because of the injury but it is one of the two IMO.
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