Enes Kanter Player Review through First Twenty Games
By Chris Hughes
Enes Kanter has had a bit of a roller-coaster start to the 2016-17 season. The 24-year-old’s start to his second full campaign in Oklahoma City has been mixed, and Thunderous Intentions breaks it down for you here.
Enes Kanter. Enes, Enes Kanter.
It seemed like his Oklahoma City Thunder career might have been over after his disappointing display in OKC’s first loss of the season back at the start of November to the Golden State Warriors. Kanter put up zero points, zero rebounds, and zero assists. In fact he only attempted a single shot, and played just three minutes of basketball.
The big man may have won some fans over for his banter towards former teammate Kevin Durant, but he still had much of the Thunder’s fanbase against him.
Kanter had started his second full season quite tentatively. The Swiss-born-Turk had seen his side recruit heavily in his position over the offseason, whilst Steven Adams was in line for a new contract.
Before that GSW matchup, Kanter had enjoyed two games scoring in the high teens (16 and 17). But he’d also converted 3-11 shots in a six-point performance against the Los Angeles Clippers.
Since that game however, Kanter has scored at least eight points in every game, if not double figures. He is currently on a run of eight consecutive games having scored ten or more.
Among those performances include a 27-point performance against the New York Knicks, in which Kanter converted over 70 percent of his field goal attempts.
In fact his scoring average has settled at 12.8 a game from the 20 appearances, which is exactly one tenth of a point better than last year. Sadly, as a player in the growing stages of his career, Kanter really needs to be upping those numbers.
Related Story: Breaking Down the Enes Kanter Mystery
Looking deeper at his stats, and Kanter has averaged 2.2 fouls across the first 20 games, a steady, if not unneeded increase on the 2.0 he averaged for the 2015/16 season.
But on a lighter note the 24-year-old has started the season with an impressive player efficiency rating of 24.56. For a nice comparison, LeBron James’ PER is 24.73. Kanter’s career average is 19.1.
Where’d that board go?
Whilst Kanter’s player efficiency rating and average fouls are seemingly on the rise, one stat that’s taken a hit is his rebounding.
Enes boasts a career average of 6.7 rebounds, and last season grabbed around 8.1 a game. 5.1 of these were defensive, with the other three on average being on the offensive side.
In fact, across the 26 games he played following arrival from the Utah Jazz in February 2015, Kanter averaged 11.0 rebounds per game, which if sustained for whole season, would’ve been a career-high figure.
However this season the big man is only averaging 5.9 from the first 20 games. If he was to finish on said amount, it would be his lowest since the 2012/13 season.
Related Story: Victor Oladipo Player Review through First 20 Games
Trade rumor galore
Due to his annual salary of around $18 million in comparison to his 19-minute average, Kanter’s 2016-17 season has been littered with speculation surrounding his future.
Just last week, Kanter was linked with two possible trades. One was a slightly far-fetched suggestion he could be involved with a swap with Dirk Nowitzki. The other suggested the Toronto Raptors was a potential destination.
More from Thunderous Intentions
- Stealing one player from every Southwest Division team for the OKC Thunder
- Should the OKC Thunder chase after a disgruntled hometown hero?
- 3 OKC Thunder players who can step up in Aleksej Pokusevski’s absence
- Aleksej Pokusevski sidelined approximately 6 weeks with ankle injury
- Damian Lillard does not fit with the OKC Thunder
Despite his scoring potential, which is considered to only be second fiddle to that of Russell Westbrook’s in the team, Kanter could still be traded away.
OKC fans are seemingly desperate for another star player after Kevin Durant’s departure, and Enes could be the man to make way in the battle to fit everyone within the cap space.
In fact, whether the source be reliable or not, just about every speculated trade involving the Thunder has featured the 24-year-old.
With Domantas Sabonis rated so highly by OKC, and Steven Adams having the center position under lock and key, it looks like Kanter could have his work cut out over the next 62 regular-season games.