Skal Labissiere finding his way in the D-League
We haven’t heard much about Skal Labissiere since he was drafted by the Sacramento Kings, and that’s probably because he’s spent a good part of this season in the D-League playing for the Reno Bighorns. It turns out the D-League has been the perfect place for Skal to find his footing again. According to Joshua Riddell, in the last five games, Skal is averaging 29.6 points and 11 rebounds per 40 minutes (a metric that evaluates a player’s performance more accurately than normal game averages), looking much more like the prospect that came to Kentucky than the one that left.
Look how much more comfortable he seems in the post:
Skal may be the best example we have of a highly-touted prospect that didn’t respond well to the fishbowl atmosphere at Kentucky. I’m glad to see he’s finding his way again in the D-League.
9 Comments for Skal Labissiere finding his way in the D-League
I think you should also mentioned what he’s ACTUALLY averaging – as, for example, if he’s playing twenty minutes a game and averaging 15 points, that’s impressive – BUT, if he’s playing 6 minutes a game and averaging 3, I’d say that’s bad… Even though both mean he’s averaging 20 points in 40 minutes…
Straight up averages over last 5 games: 27.4 minutes, 19.8 points, 7.4 rebounds.
solid…
How far down the depth chart do you have to be to be a D-League cheerleader?
Skal is going to be a good player. He needs to gain weight, strength and maturity. He didn’t play against real competition before enrolling at UK. He should have played more than one year at UK. Cal should have eased him into the rotation at the 4 spot. Shal will never be a 5 and shouldn’t have been forced to play it early on. He is where he needs to be now and should stay there for a year. That team he was shown playing against played almost no defense. He needs a good work ethic like Andrew Harrison and Liggins have.
It is true UK is a fishbowl and it can build you up or tear you down. The player decides for himself how it will be.
Skal grew significantly at UK. He was just much further behind than most UK freshmen because of his junior and senior years of “high school”.
Still looks like he would have been fighting for playing time on this year’s team.
Skal was a square peg that Cal tried to pound into a round hole…
Kind of like you and your boyfriend??