While it’s still a bit early to start getting into these kinds of conversations, the guys at Sleepers Media put out lists of their top-10 players for the upcoming season, and both included Marquette’s Kam Jones at number 8.
Kam ended up having a ridiculously good campaign last year, with an insanely hot end to the season, so it makes sense that he’s receiving plenty of love at this point in the offseason from peeps that know ball. Still, it’s a little strange, for me, because I’m still not used to Marquette players getting this much respect, when his own conference didn’t even put him on an All-Big East team.
One area that I’ll quickly touch on is Kam’s prowess in the pick and roll, particularly on possessions where he finishes the possession. Using Synergy’s database, I filtered for all D1 players who averaged at least 3 pick and roll ball handler possessions a game last season and then further filtered for high major players, to account for opponent quality.
Sure enough, Kam was one of the best in the country, with the 3rd highest points per possession of eligible players.
To put this in perspective, the average PPP on P&R Ball Handler possessions, for high usage players, is 0.82. So putting up a 1.025 is a pretty incredible feat.
And to add further context, it’s something only 4 Big East players have done since the reformation in 2014.
Any time you are on a list that contains Markus Howard and Jalen Brunson, you know you are reaching the upper echelons of the sport. Kam hasn’t been at their level yet, mostly due to volume, but the 4th best season in a span that included 4 national champions from the conference is quite an accomplishment.
Looking forward to next season, without Tyler Kolek and his 14+ pick and roll possessions a game in the primary playmaker spot, Kam will be called on to be much more of a creator for others than he has been to this point in his career. But even here, the stats paint a rosy picture.
On possessions where he’s the handler in the pick and roll and passes out, Marquette scored 1.037 PPP this past season, and that include a paltry 28% shooting on spot up jumpers from teammates, scoring only 24 points on 28 possessions. What’s more, 14 of those 28 possessions came in the 6 games Kolek missed with an injury. So we’ve seen that when transferred to primary ball handler, Kam can and will distribute the rock well.
There’s plenty more we can and will talk about throughout the offseason as it relates to Kam, but just know, that he deserves every bit of high praise coming his way and so much more.
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