Kunk is back

[XavierBob]

https://twitter.com/AKunK05/status/1512 ... TGJew&s=09

[X-lucidity]

Thx for sharing X-Bob. REALLY fab news to me. This young man plays with passion and, when in a groove, can score it all over the floor. I also feel his D is better than some on this board believe. Sure, he is not a lock-down defender, but hustles and moves his feet well. I give him a B- on D, and that dog will hunt when you add in what he can do to help your offense flow.
Welcome back Adam, excited to watch you another year.

[Lead Guitar]

Kunkel reminds me of TJ McConnell who played for Miller and JP. TJ was more of a true PG, possibly, but all of their IQ’s are similar and that is important. Miller liked TJ enough to get him to transfer from Duquesne to Arizona. Adam works well in the team concept defense. Glad to have him return. He will fit in well at either the 1 or 2.

[skyhops]

TJ McConnell is an NBA player so I think the comparison ends there. Kunkle takes poor shots and besides Freemantle is the worst defender on the team. Kunkle has also been a poor three point shooter in the BE. He was also rated as one of the worst defensive players in the BE. Unfortunately, we didn't have any shooters so Kunkle had to play and he plays hard and is a good kid from what I hear. Comparing O'Connell to Kunkle, you must have got into some of Anti Homers edibles.

[Lead Guitar]

I respect your opinion, but being an NBA player does not automatically eliminate one from making comparisons as collegiate players. There are many factors/variables that influence someone making a professional team—right place/right time/right need is especially true with those that are primarily the 8th-12th player on the team. Using just XU players as examples, we have had a number of players with good but not super stats and athleticism play for multiple teams and multiple years in the NBA and we compare them to existing players or recruits. Michael Hawkins, Lionel Chalmers, Derrick Strong, Aaron Williams were all great players for X, but never superstars. Can you not compare them to Byron Larkin, Romain Sato, Justin Doellman, Trevon Bluiett, Walt McBride, BJ Raymond or JP Macura who have had great success overseas, but limited or no NBA? There is a fine line between an NBA bench warmer and a top tier overseas starter.

Kunkel may never play in the NBA, but he is still similar in many ways to TJ McConnell and JP—drive, hustle, IQ and overall knowledge of the game. The difference between shooting 33% from 3 and 40% during the year might be as few as 5 makes during the entire year. Both Hayes and Steele designed last second plays for Kunkel, which showed their confidence in him. It appears Miller would like to have him on his team.

My hope is he adds 5- 10 lbs of muscle this off season and he makes those five additional shots. We are all optimistic and look forward to next year. We may all see things differently, and our opinions are ours. This blog allows us to state them.

[kyzrex]

I doubt that ANYONE thought that Williams was going to make it in the NBA, let alone have a multi-year career. Not saying that Kunk will, just that ya never know.

[pdxmuskie]

Glad he is coming back. I don't love his shot selection but I think Miller may have an impact on that. He is a streak shooter so I do give some freedom to his shot selection when things are going well but certainly don't need the deep shots when he is struggling.