Kevin Knox Benefits from Calipari’s “Tweak”
It’s January, folks. Which means Calipari has confidently announced to Big Blue Nation that he has “tweaked” Kentucky’s offense. It’s not a coincidence that since this tweak was made, Kevin Knox has looked like a definitive lottery pick in this summer’s draft.
More than a week ago, John Calipari announced that he had once again “tweaked” the Wildcats’ offense. BBN very well remembers the infamous “tweak” Calipari made in 2014 with the Harrisons. Essentially, Andrew Harrison was to drive every time he caught the ball, creating more open shots for outside shooters or scoring in the paint himself. The official announcement of a “tweak” has become almost annual by Calipari, and BBN patiently awaits for this announcement each season. Each year, however, Calipari maintains mystery about what exactly each tweak is. This year, Kevin Knox most certainly has to be at the core of Cal’s newest tweak.
At the beginning of the season, Calipari proclaimed that he had to develop Knox’s game. Knox, who Coach Cal asserted wanted to simply shoot outside shots, had to attack the basket more. Coach Cal wanted Kevin Knox driving the ball, attacking the paint, and getting to the free-throw line. Unfortunately for Knox and BBN, this led to poor shooting nights from Knox and an increase in turnovers. During most of December, Knox simply didn’t look like a potential NBA lottery pick. He looked unconfident, uncomfortable, and sometimes uninterested. But then came the Calipari tweak.
Following UK’s loss to Florida, Calipari announced he had recently tweaked Kentucky’s offense. Since then, Kentucky has defeated both Mississippi State and West Virginia. Against Mississippi St, Knox scored 19 points. Against WVU, Knox scored 34 points. In the 2 games since Calipari’s tweak, Kevin Knox is averaging 28 points, upping his season average to 15.5 per game. In these 2 games, Knox has shown that he is a shoot-first player, not a drive-first scorer. Knox was perfect from 3-point line versus Mississippi State, shooting 4-of-4 from deep. Against WVU, Knox was 5-8 from beyond the arc.
Kevin Knox has publicly stated that he models his game from Kevin Durant. Durant is able to score in the paint and throw down monster dunks because of his shooting ability. Teams have to closeout hard on Durant, which allows him to shot-fake and drive past them. The same philosophy applies to Knox. Now that he’s knocking down outside shots so consistently, teams now have to try to run him off the 3-point line. This will open up driving lanes for him to attack the basket. It seemed like early in the season Calipari wanted him to drive first, shoot second. Now it seems like he’s much more similar to Malik Monk last year. Monk consistently played with a shoot-first mindset, drive second. Knox is currently thriving under this same mindset.
It took Knox 19 games to make 25 three-point shots. In the last 2 games, he’s combined for 9 made three-pointers. Calipari’s decision to give Kevin Knox more of a green light from deep is definitely paying dividends. Knox will still drive to the rim and post up occasionally as well. However, Knox’s green light from deep probably isn’t the only tweak Calipari made recently. His players have been “encouraged” to pass more, even charting assists to the assister now. But you know what looks good? When those assists come at the hands of Kevin Knox three-point jumpers.