Ryan Kelly: An Active Offseason for a Breakout Year

It’s been a tremendously active off-season for Ryan Kelly.  It seems very unlikely he’ll hit a sophomore slump.

His role this upcoming season is to be a perimeter spacer at either forward position. Ryan Kelly has a foundation of triple-threat skills, and this skill-set will allow Byron Scott to place him in various situations once he slowly implements the Princeton offense.  Sure, it won’t be the pure offensive set that Coach Mike Brown ran, but the ball-protection, passing, and perimeter shooting are all required to run the offensive set effectively.

He spent the entire summer with core workouts, general strength, conditioning, perimeter shooting, and some post-play with contact.  This will help his overall athleticism in terms of lateral agility, speed, quickness, and vertical ability. Those tools will allow him to be a more effective defensive player as well, with the possibility of defending small forwards.

More importantly, those tools can help him become a better rim protector.  While he’s not known as a premier shot-blocker, Draftexpress.com has him listed at 6’9.75″ (w/o shoes) with a standing reach of 9’2″.  He has tremendous height for a power forward and the standing reach of a center at the NBA level.  He averaged 0.8 blocks per game in 22.2 minutes of play.

Overall, Ryan Kelly has demonstrated tremendous work ethic over the summer.  He has worked on his body, which will only enhance his skill set on both ends of the floor.

Ryan Kelly is part of a huge squad of power forwards.  Julius Randle, Jordan Hill, Carlos Boozer, and Ed Davis all play that position naturally.  While Hill, Davis, and Boozer may all get some playing time at center, Ryan Kelly’s guard-like skill-set should earn him consistent playing time throughout the season.

All that hard work has won me over.  Now, I can’t wait to see him play.