FanPost

Know the Prospect: Kenneth Faried

viva_morrison is back with his award-winning profiles of draft prospects! This Kenneth seems like a pretty great Kenneth. -Seth

What's good, P&T??? I am currently buzzing after seeing a sweet concert up in Providence that featured The Naked & Famous, Freelance Whales, and Foals. So much adrenaline is coursing through my veins that I had to get draft coverage started. We get to scout first round talent this year! Hooray! Not that I didn't enjoy looking at the Craig Brackins and Lance Stephensons of the world, this will be a refreshing and welcome change. Who better a person to pick than one of the players that has been on everyone's radar for quite some time now: Kenneth Faried, F out of Morehead St. (the 9th-grade version of me just chuckled... wait present day version of me chuckled too). I was going to write something up about him last year as a possible second-round choice, but he chose to stay for his senior season. I kept a watchful eye on Faried this season, and even wrote something up on him during his conference tournament for my blog. He's apparently on the Knicks' radar now too!

Take a leap of faith after the jump and maybe we'll all learn something!

Kenneth Bernard Faried Lewis, or Kenneth Faried, will graduate from Morehead St. as the leading rebounder in Division I NCAA history (well, the post-1973 era anyway). Rebounding is exactly what jumps out about Kenneth Faried. He has led the NCAA in rebounding the past two seasons, and that is impressive regardless of where you attend school. It's a skill that translates from the college to the NBA game, and we've seen that with guys like DeJuan Blair who were overlooked but have been able to find success because of that skill. Here is a summarization about just how epically historic Faried's rebounding is.

The run-down:

Measurements: 6'8", Weight: somewhere between 215 and 228, Wingspan: Unknown but probably comparable to this. Vertical: Unknown again, but likely similar to this.

Projected Draft Position (as of right now): 21 on HoopsHype, 21 on NBADraft.net, 20 on DraftExpress.com

Actual Scouting Reports: Draft Express (they have a great strengths/weaknesses video of Faried); NBADraft.net; Tommy Dee's take at KnicksBlog, StatSheet.com statistical orgy and his player profile at Morehead St.'s Internet host site.

Amateur Take-Offense: Faried averaged a career-highs in shooting percentage (62.3%), PPG (17.3), minutes (34.7), True shooting percentage (62%), and Offensive Rating (116.3). Faried doesn't have a great post-up game, but is an opportune scorer. He is quick enough to get around people from time to time, and his mid-range game is raw. In games where I watched, he got a lot of points on second-chance opportunities because of his great rebounding abilities (5.7 OReb-per-game). He has a great second jump after he gets offensive boards, and can get back up to the rim quickly for put backs. He also runs the break extremely well. Faried has freakish athleticism, and uses it well to beat slower big men up the floor.

Amateur Take-Defense: Defensive rebounding remained excellent for Faried going into his senior year. He averaged 8.8 DReb-per-game as a junior and repeated that effort as a senior. Faried attacks the glass with incredible ferocity. He wants every single rebound. He improved in his abilities as a help-defender, averaging a career-high 2.3 blocks-per-game as a senior. He uses the aforementioned length and his great jumping ability to alter shots. The athleticism and quickness relays into good lateral movement that allows him to move across the lane quickly. He could get by in college because of his superior athleticism, but in the pros bigger forwards will be able to back down Faried in the post. He will have to bulk up to defend the post better, but because of his athleticism he can do a lot of damage on defense. Oh, and he also averaged close to 2 steals-per-game, if you really wanted to know that.

Comparison: I was too young to watch Dennis Rodman play, but because of his rebounding Faried is often compared to him. It makes sense, they are both undersized, extremely gritty blue collar kind of guys that rebound at a high rate. I also see a little bit of Gerald Wallace in Faried. I think they have similar body-types, and Gerald averaged close to 10 boards a game this year. Obviously Wallace is a better shooter, and who knows if Faried will ever add that to his repertoire, but they are both great athletes.

The Clyde Factor: My apologies for forgetting this the first time, but we always have to keep in consideration how our beloved Clyde would do with any pronunciations for these prospects. I'm sure Clyde would be able to come up with a slew of alliterative gems for Faried using terms like "Frenzy" and "Frenetic." He might give us a "Fray-Reed" or even "Fairy" when calling games. What else would he come up with?

Cool Stuff:

  • Kenneth is from Newark, NJ. Local boy!
  • Faried is a Muslim.
  • His Mom's name is Waudda, and she is a lesbian.
  • His rebounding accumen came at an early age, and it's actually a pretty cool and pretty moving story.
  • Faried has pretty sweet hair. His locks would probably be good friends with Renaldo Balkman's locks.

Let's go to the video:

Kenneth Faried Getting National Attention (via MSUEagleAthletics)

Morehead State's Kenneth Faried Shows Why He's OVC Defensive Player of the Year (via bawireman) -Activity on defense

Kenneth Faried's best dunk ever (via sread1010) -Pretty insane dunk.

Kenneth Faried Highlights and Track by BC 2-Tone (via 2tone973) -His own rap song/highlight video!

Things to Take Away:

  • You can see the athleticism that Faried brings to the table from the brief clips above.
  • He sounds like a very humble, impressive young man.
  • He might actually be able to fly.
  • I'm not kidding, I think he can fly.

Final Thoughts: Faried would obviously fill a need for the Knicks, and that is rebounding. He would help clear the defensive boards and create more opportunities for second chance buckets on offense. He is still raw offensively, but on a team with Stoudemire, Anthony, and Billups, he wouldn't be asked to score much. The Knicks need someone that will do the dirty work that and won't get injured if he plays more than 20 minutes (yes, I'm talking about you, Ronny). There aren't many sure-things in this draft, and the Knicks definitely need to make the most of this draft pick. I think that Faried is as close to a sure-thing as it's going to get, and I think taking him at 17 would be a great pick. Thoughts?