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11 - Keith Appling

6-1, 180 Point Guard/Shooting Guard
Michigan St. Senior
Birthday
02/13/92 (32.1 yrs)
Hometown
Detroit, MI
High School
Pershing
Team Site Profile
Statistics
Athleticism
8
Size
6
Defense
7
Strength
7
Quickness
8
Leadership
7
Jump Shot
7
NBA Ready
8
Ball Handling
6
Potential
7
Passing
7
Intangibles
7
85 Overall:

NBA Comparison: James Robinson

Strengths: A very experienced lead guard prospect with a winning pedigree … Has some experience playing both guard spots, and developed some of his skills at each spot … Pretty good athleticism, has nice speed and high-level quickness, with underrated leaping skills … A decent natural talent and is another well-coached Tom Izzo product … Is a pretty nice defensive player, and can make an impact pressuring the ball … Long armed, has a 6’5 wingspan at 6’1 … Learned how to pick his spots better as his career progressed, and made nice strides as a decision maker running the point … A crafty slasher who knows how to “get skinny”, can find his way to the rim and shows good creativity to finish around bigs using either hand in spurts … Seems to be most comfortable when he can be aggressive and look to get to the rim … His best skill at the moment is how well he runs the pick and roll … Has enough speed to turn the corner, shows good timing and can read his teammates and the defense well on the move … Good at knowing when to pass and when to attack the rim … Would rather make a simple play than go for the home run, which makes him a steady player … Showed adequate ability to hit jumpers with his feet set from as far as 23 ft out … Has a good understanding of how to set tempo and start an offense up in the half-court game …

Weaknesses: Appling is the type of player who has to have things kept simple for him to be effective … Though he developed into a lead guard, he is mostly used to do the more basic things on the court, and isn’t to be asked to handle a great deal of responsibility relative to an ordinary PG prospect … Doesn’t have a natural instincts for the position … Seems to think too much as a player, doesn’t always show real strong confidence in himself on the court and was prone to shooting/scoring slumps throughout his career … Never became as aggressive as he should’ve been throughout his career … Pretty thin, not hard to see him struggle to deal with stronger NBA PG’s in the halfcourt game … A bit foul prone for a perimeter player, can struggle a bit to defend without hand checks … Inconsistent shooter, and usually needs time and space to make shots with any regularity … Usually needs screens to break down the defense off the dribble, not a great ball-handler for a PG … Not a great FT shooter (66% as a Sr.) …

Overall: Appling has experience as a lead guard, and he’s a good athlete with some promise as a slasher in pick and roll play … He also can be a pest on defense with his quickness and length … He ended his career in a bad way with his infamous foul on Shabazz Napier while he was shooting a 3 just a step away from his 1st Final 4 appearance, but he did enjoy a reasonably productive career at Michigan State … He might have a future as a backup PG if he plays well in workouts and camps before next season … Look for Appling to be a late 2nd round pick or likely a free agent or overseas player looking to make a team over the summer …

Jorrye Nixon 6/1/14

November 13, 2013

YouTube Clip – 3/20/2010

 

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