Forum › Forum › Lehigh Sports › Lehigh Men’s Basketball › Tim Kempton
This topic contains 8 replies, has 5 voices, and was last updated by lehigh90 10 years, 3 months ago.
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November 18, 2014 at 2:24 pm #16745
There has been some discussion about Tim’s abilities stand now. Personally I believe that he is already a Top 50 Center in college basketball based on nothing but gut feel. The intriguing question to be though is what trajectory he will take in his remaining 3 years. Last year, I did a comparison between Tim, Gabe and Muscala. The later two had outstanding careers with their respective schools. Gabe’s #s tended to level off fairly quickly. Mike’s #s showed a steady progression upward. GK is now playing in Europe. MM is in the NBA. Barring injury, TK will likely have a fantastic career at Lehigh. The question is, “how high is up?”
GK PPG RPG APG SPG BPG
Fresh 9.5 5.6 .9 .4 .2
Soph 12.2 5.7 .5 .6 .8MM
Fresh 9.9 4.9 .8 .3 2.2
Soph 14.9 7.4 1.4 .4 2.0TK
Fresh 13.0 7.1 .7 .7 .4November 18, 2014 at 3:06 pm #16746Thanks TMH, this will be very interesting to watch statistically. Kempton is already terrific on offense and his rebounding is improving. One area of his game that I don’t see Kempton ever catching Muscala is his ability to block and change shots on D. Muscala was long and a decent athlete that helped protect the rim. Tim is a much different player than either Moose or Gabe IMO. I would LOVE to see Tim this year or before the end of his career catch a drop pass from KR and rise up for a two handed dunk. Not because I care about dunks but because it would be a sign of his continued development athletically and increased explosiveness.
November 18, 2014 at 4:07 pm #16747StablerBum,
Interestingly, if TK simply replicates his freshman performance over the next 3 years, he will finish with 1,668 points and 904 rebounds, which would rank 8th and 4th respectively all-time at Lehigh. That would be an outstanding career.
I expect his #s to increase nicely this year though for 4 reasons.
1.)He is now a sophomore, totally used to the speed and size of the college game. I don’t expect him to be intimidated at all this year.
2.)Last season, his biggest problem was fouls, averaging only about 26 minutes/game. I expect him to be on the floor at least 30-31 mpg this year.
3.)I truly believe that KR will get him the ball in a position that he can capitalize on at a much greater frequency this year.
4.)He appears to be physically stronger this year.He put up 15 and 10 against Nova in the first game. I would expect similar #s during the rest of the season. That would be a nice progression.
Continued progression however will depend on whether he can get closer to being a plus athlete IMHO. That would mean increasing his vertical, improving his hands and finishing stronger. Just my opinionNovember 18, 2014 at 4:12 pm #16748We are very luck to have TK, true pleasure. I think it’s pretty clear to me that his numbers should dwarf both mm and gk when doing the soph to soph comparison. I think he gets in the 18/9 arena. SBum, your right about mm length and rim protecting abilities, that’s not TK game. I do however really like the changes he made to his body and athleticism in offseason, he seems a step or two quicker and a bit more fluid in his actions. The one play last Friday that stood out randomly to me was when KR drove and lobbed it up to TK about 8 ft from hoop. Tee defenders converged on TK and last year he would have held his ground and probably put up a hook but tbis year he sliced thru te middle of both defenders and did a drop step to the hoop, was nice move. If he keeps committed to weight room and speed/agility training he’s got huge upside. 2000 point upside for sure. The compete level Friday was really high for him, he was all over the floor and scrapping and fighting for loose balls. Fun to watch.
November 18, 2014 at 5:34 pm #16751I don’t understand the knocks on TK. Is he a premium athlete, absolutely not. But, guess what, if he was a premium athlete at 6’10”, he would be playing in the ACC, not the Patriot League. He is a top flight, mid-level and down Division 1 Center. And, remember, the 5 is the most difficult position to fill on the basketball court at every level. So, this guy is a blessing for the program, a real diamond in the rough.
He’s never going to be a shot blocker, or shot altering big man. He has limited quickness, explosiveness off the floor, and leaping ability. But, that is fine, you just pair him with others who have those qualities. He is a very seasoned offensive player at 19 years old, or maybe 20, whatever he is. He has a vast array of post moves, plus a face up game out to 20 feet. He’s a star in my book. Now he is showing a better ability to rebound (he should become a good positional rebounder) and a real toughness to him, with a bigger body.
If you want to project what he will become, just look to his father. Same exact size (played in NBA at 6’10” and 245 lbs), same exact skill set, an unathletic big man who could score the ball. By the way, he played 8 seasons in the NBA with time mixed in along the way as a pro in Europe. Dad averaged only about 10 ppg at Notre Dame, so TK will blow that away. Dad was not a great rebounder, either. Pedigree goes a long way in my book on this guy.
I think he finishes his Lehigh career at over 2,000 points and probably third all-time scorer. I don’t think he reaches Queenan or CJ, but barring injury, I think he passes Polaha. He will graduate as the best big man to ever play for Lehigh.
November 18, 2014 at 6:26 pm #16752I agree with Lehigh90 on the fact that TK reaches 2000pts and graduates as LU’s all-time greatest big man. Professionally TK will have many opportunities IMO, but the 6’10 player his dad was in the NBA is very rare in the NBA today. The athletic ability of the players 6’9 and above in the NBA is ridiculous. TK must work extremely hard over the next 3 years on footspeed and explosion if he wants to duplicate his fathers career, IMHO. If TK’s advancement physically from last year to this year is any indication he seems to be up to the challenge.
November 18, 2014 at 6:45 pm #16755lehigh90,
Nobody is knocking TK. We have all acknowledged that he had a wonderful freshman season, surpassing those of GK and MM. We are all projecting that there will be very tangible improvement during his sophomore season. I’ve already said how impressive his #s would be even if we just extrapolate his freshman season. We all are extremely glad that he plays for our team. We also acknowledged, as have you that he is not now a plus athlete.
All we are doing is trying to discuss what trajectory TK will take in the future. The sky is the limit…but how high is up?IMO, in terms of NBA projection, comparing TK to his father may not be legitimate. TK will be coming out of college about 30 years after his father. PFs are 6-10 today. The better barometer may be MM. They will coming from the same level of competition in a similar era. Let’s just see how they compare over the next 3 years.
November 18, 2014 at 6:47 pm #16756Who is really knocking TK 90? Just think I see some honest commentary on both sides of the ledger, tilted 90/10 on the extreme positive. He is awesome, everyone loves him, and many myself included been calling 2000 point career. Fantastic touch around basket, jumper extended now, love Timmy. But also fair to say he’s not premium athlete, which doesn’t mean he can’t be our best post ever and future pro at some level. Also fair to say with more hard work and already improved body via hard work that he can continue to Improve size and speed to point
The biggest ad most important TK question for all of us is can he and will he lead us to championships? Can he lead us there this year? Can he lead this young group to a multiple championship run? That’s the dream sxenario.
November 19, 2014 at 8:55 pm #16784I agree the NBA has changed dramatically since TK, Sr, and Jr played. Yet, I look around the NBA rosters, and most of them have a 6’10” to 7’1″ white big man (usually a stiff) who sits on the bench for the NBA minimum. Can’t coach size after all. Can TK be a Greg Stiesma? I say yes. Many of these guys progress out to the 3 point line and reinvent themselves as 3 point shooters. There are still a lot of unathletic NBA players. I look at a guy like Kyle Korver. Mid-major, 2nd round pick, no foot speed, unathletic, can’t guard, yet he has carved out a really nice career for himself as he does one thing well (can flat out shoot the orange).
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