Sean Kilpatrick

Kilpatrick played for four teams last season, his fourth in the NBA. He did little for the Nets, having lost the rotation spot with them that he held the previous year, then underwhelmed in a part-season stay with the Bucks and a 10-day contract with the Clippers, before rebounding to average 15.4 points per game over the final nine games of the season for the tanking Chicago Bulls. Kilpatrick now sports a 10.3 points per game career average over four seasons, and while he has been inefficient in doing so (never being as good of a three-point shooter as he is a turnaround two-point shooter), and the consequence-less nature of many of those points on poor Nets teams, he can also score the ball at the NBA level for the minimum. It should be worth something.

Sean Kilpatrick
SG - 6’4, 212lbs - 28 years old - 4 years of experience

Bouncing his way through three NBA teams this season, Kilpatrick was in the midst of a bad one until his late-season audition with Chicago saw him get up a ton of shots and salvage it.

Kilpatrick seemed to enjoy this carte blanche to shoot on sight, as that suits his skill set. Wherever he has played, he has been a gunner, and no different was that here. Kilpatrick in fact gunned so well for the Bulls, particularly in clutch situations, that he inadvertently turned some intended losses into wins, which, when combined with losing the coin flip to the Kings, accidentally improved the first-round draft pick they had tanked to bolstered. And all so that Sean Kilpatrick could help them meet the salary floor. Whoops.

Nevertheless, notwithstanding the parallels between Kilpatrick right here and Jannero Pargo’s first Bulls stint back in 1864 or whenever it was, the question now is whether Kilpatrick can be a piece of the future.

A look at his total body of work for the season says no, not really. Kilpatrick is a scorer, yes, but no better of one than other replacement-level players, including Antonio Blakeney. It is not for nothing that Kilpatrick is about the same size as Blakeney with basically the same skill set to work with, the same shot-dominance, defensive concerns, etc. It is also not for nothing that Zach LaVine has all the same concerns, too.

Nevertheless, even if he gets squeezed out here, Kildrapick got $2.1 million for nine games of work. Now that’s good hustle.

Player Plan: Two years and $4,109,712 remaining, none of which is guaranteed. Should think he will be waived unless he shows a lot quickly.

Sean Kilpatrick
SG, 6’4, 210lbs, 27 years old, 3 years of experience

It might be very beneficial for Kilpatrick to be on a team with better offensive players. Then again, his lack of ball movement (and poor defensive effort) is partly why the Nets offence is where it is. His unafraid nature offensively is a virtue, but in being inefficient, undersized and already aged 27, he is not a noteworthy piece for the future. Keep him and let his deal guarantee, but if a second round pick should ever be hanging out there for him from somewhere - unlikely but possible - then take it.

Player Plan: Unguaranteed minimum salary for 2017/18, final year. Guarantee date is before the moratorium, thus essentially functioning as an option. Keep, but upgrade.

Sean Kilpatrick, pictured just after being told he was a "prompt & efficient payer, A+++++".

Kilpatrick was the only scorer on a Cincinnati team who prided themselves on defense, because they had to, because they did not have any scorers. Besides Kilpatrick, the only other player to score more than seven points per game was power forward Justin Jackson (11.1), a man who pretty much needed setting up all the time. And there was no one to do such setting up - paltry as they may seem, Kilpatrick's 2.5 assists per game were actually the team high. Kilpatrick, then, took a lot of shots because he had to. And while some of those shots were what we might otherwise consider 'bad', they had to be.

Mostly taking deep range jump shots - and sometimes VERY deep range jump shots - Kilpatrick always looks to score. With a quick release, he can single-handedly win games on the offensive end, and has all the hallmarks of a true microwave type. Diversifying his offensive game more as an upperclassman, Kilpatrick improved somewhat as a shooter off the dribble (although he is not especially good at this and is distinctly better off the catch still), and used this added threat to get to the rim and the foul line more driving off of screens. He doesn't finish especially well at the rim, small for the position and not an elite athlete, and has never been much of a ball handler, but the knowledge that he can and will get to the rim anyway benefits his jump shot, as he has to be played for it. Kilpatrick mostly plays in the half court and doesn't play much in transition, but this might change when he's on a team that can do it as a unit - in theory, with decent speed and his always hunting for a shot, Kilpatrick could thrive in this aspect.

Defensively, Kilpatrick has historically paid little attention to this end of the court, but did pick up his intensity in that aspect as a senior. His amazingly low foul rates speak to his tendency to hide on this end, but when he wants to move his feet and stay in front, he can, combined with good strength. Kilpatrick's talent and drive on the offensive end has never spilled over to defense, yet should it ever do so, there is a foundation to work with.

Having to go five on one isn't good for anybody, and Kilpatrick did an admirable job in the circumstances. It is perhaps telling that he always had to try and score in such situations and could not create for others, but it's not really the point. Kilpatrick is a shooter, and that's fine. And now that he's no longer chucking to meet quotas, he's a very good one.