Kendrick Nunn: New Linsanity?

[mr. dee]

We haven't got an undrafted sensation since Jeremy Lin. Looks like the Heat found another gem with Kendrick Nunn. The guy is averaging 21 PPG in 5 games so far. That feat hasn't been achieved by any rookie since Kevin Durant and Jerry Stackhouse.

I don't know how severe that off-court issue was that made teams wary of him last year but so far, Heat's gamble is paying off just like how they signed Whiteside.

[Somebody]

I've been dubbing his run as Nunnsanity

[saltlover]

Nunn pled guilty to domestic violence charges while in college at Illinois (hit his victim in the head, pushed her to the ground and poured water on her) in 2016.  He was sentenced to counseling and probation.  Two years later, while at his new school and getting some NBA hype, he gave an interview that was lacking in contrition.  I’m going to guess he didn’t do a great job in his interviews.  So teams probably took away one of three things:

1) They believed him that he didn’t do all he was accused of and received poor legal advice in pleading guilty.

2) They didn’t believe him and stayed away because he does not seem to have learned much from the experience and is thus not worth the risk.

3) They didn’t believe him but think he’s talented and their organization is strong enough to keep him in line.

I’m totally fine with teams passing on this guy.

[Fafnir]

Yeah the reports from NBA reporters is that beyond the domestic violence plea that there were other off the court concerns that came up in the pre-draft process.

He also is undersized and has never shot this well in his career. It makes sense why he was in the g-league. Windhorst reported the Warriors were trying to "hide" him and were surprised when the Heat cut McGruder and swooped in to sign him to a three year deal on the last day of the season.

[droopdog7]

Obviously nunn won’t ever compare to lin because he lacks the cultural component.

[Fafnir]

Obviously nunn won’t ever compare to lin because he lacks the cultural component.

Linsanity was an amazing combination of factors. New York media so desperate for a winner, he hit a bunch of dramatic game winners in a short span (similar to Westbrook's late MVP run), and the novelty of an Asian descent guard being so good in the NBA.

Nunn's been scoring a lot, but he lacks those elements for now. If he hits a few game winners in the next few weeks it could definitely keep building though!

[hwangjini_1]

I've been dubbing his run as Nunnsanity

too trite. maybe "unkenny?" 

[hwangjini_1]

Obviously nunn won’t ever compare to lin because he lacks the cultural component.

Linsanity was an amazing combination of factors. New York media so desperate for a winner, he hit a bunch of dramatic game winners in a short span (similar to Westbrook's late MVP run), and the novelty of an Asian descent guard being so good in the NBA.

Nunn's been scoring a lot, but he lacks those elements for now. If he hits a few game winners in the next few weeks it could definitely keep building though!

i believe at that time Lin's stock and reputation were on the rise. 

[PhoSita]

Nunn pled guilty to domestic violence charges while in college at Illinois (hit his victim in the head, pushed her to the ground and poured water on her) in 2016.  He was sentenced to counseling and probation.  Two years later, while at his new school and getting some NBA hype, he gave an interview that was lacking in contrition.  I’m going to guess he didn’t do a great job in his interviews.  So teams probably took away one of three things:

1) They believed him that he didn’t do all he was accused of and received poor legal advice in pleading guilty.

2) They didn’t believe him and stayed away because he does not seem to have learned much from the experience and is thus not worth the risk.

3) They didn’t believe him but think he’s talented and their organization is strong enough to keep him in line.

I’m totally fine with teams passing on this guy.

Yeah, I wish this part of the story were emphasized more.  I didn't know anything about Kendrick Nunn until I noticed him standing out in Heat box scores at the start of this season.  People are sharing highlights and talking about him as this early season surprise.  Also a lot of shade on the Warriors because Nunn was on their G-League team last year.

The DV stuff didn't come up until I googled him and read his wikipedia page.

[Fafnir]

Nunn pled guilty to domestic violence charges while in college at Illinois (hit his victim in the head, pushed her to the ground and poured water on her) in 2016.  He was sentenced to counseling and probation.  Two years later, while at his new school and getting some NBA hype, he gave an interview that was lacking in contrition.  I’m going to guess he didn’t do a great job in his interviews.  So teams probably took away one of three things:

1) They believed him that he didn’t do all he was accused of and received poor legal advice in pleading guilty.

2) They didn’t believe him and stayed away because he does not seem to have learned much from the experience and is thus not worth the risk.

3) They didn’t believe him but think he’s talented and their organization is strong enough to keep him in line.

I’m totally fine with teams passing on this guy.

Yeah, I wish this part of the story were emphasized more.  I didn't know anything about Kendrick Nunn until I noticed him standing out in Heat box scores at the start of this season.  People are sharing highlights and talking about him as this early season surprise.  Also a lot of shade on the Warriors because Nunn was on their G-League team last year.

The DV stuff didn't come up until I googled him and read his wikipedia page.

Its coming up on all the podcasts now, I'm betting some features on the issue are being worked on now. It even came up on the broadcast TNT briefly last night iirc. (at least his leaving Illinois did)

Definitely makes it complicated to enjoy the story of a player breaking out.

[PhoSita]

Definitely makes it complicated to enjoy the story of a player breaking out.

Another story that I wanted to hear more about:

Porzingis.


It's nice that he's playing again, I guess, and I like the Mavericks.

Whatever happened with the accusation against him?  I feel like that story totally disappeared.  Did the league investigate? 

I feel like I don't know how to feel about players like Porzingis that have serious allegations made against them but then the stories just kind of disappear.


Then of course there's guys like Rose and Kobe who have cases brought against them and then everybody just kind of forgets.

[bopna]

an undrafted rook has made a major impact for the cHeat while our very own lottery pick can't get himself healthy enough to even score his first basket yet.

Happy for Nunn's success story though, I just hate that Danny I feel made another bungle by drafting the next JR Giddens with the 14th pick.

[bdm860]

Nunn pled guilty to domestic violence charges while in college at Illinois (hit his victim in the head, pushed her to the ground and poured water on her) in 2016. 

The water part seems like a weird detail to add (though I realize this is in every summary of the events).  Like he threw a drink at her?  Waterboarded her?

Looked it up, and it was actually "hot" water.  So now I'm picturing holding her down, grabbing a coffee pot with boiling water, and pouring it on her slow.  But then you'd think something would have been mentioned about burns.  So maybe he just dumped a not-so-hot coffee on her?  Now I'm back to it being a weird detail to add (maybe coffee that was not hot enough to burn, but it's added to the charges because at the time he didn't know it wouldn't burn?).

So I'm stuck somewhere between (while in no way condoning it): "ya throwing a drink at somebody during a fight seems like a normal reaction (along with things like hair pulling, punching, choking, etc.)" and "man, Nunn might actually be sadistic."

[PhoSita]

an undrafted rook has made a major impact for the cHeat while our very own lottery pick can't get himself healthy enough to even score his first basket yet.

Happy for Nunn's success story though, I just hate that Danny I feel made another bungle by drafting the next JR Giddens with the 14th pick.

Danny does seem to have a type with these mid 1st round guard / wings.

In fairness it worked with AB.  Mixed results with Rozier. 

Much too early to say with Romeo, even though it is disappointing that he basically hasn't played at all since getting drafted.

[RockinRyA]

an undrafted rook has made a major impact for the cHeat while our very own lottery pick can't get himself healthy enough to even score his first basket yet.

Happy for Nunn's success story though, I just hate that Danny I feel made another bungle by drafting the next JR Giddens with the 14th pick.

I bet this post is gonna age just as well as your posts in the bucks-celtics game thread- badly!

Remember when Okafor and Gordon where better than Dwight durig their rookie years? ****