Kreiner reminds me of a young Frank Kaminsky from Wisky

[anon_i8nzeu2gbf0ba]

Kaminsky, you may recall, was the 2015 national player of the year. Not saying Kreiner will reach those heights. Not saying he won't. Just saying Kreiner's skill set is similar. In fact, Kreiner is ahead of where Kaminsky was as a freshman. Even as a soph, Kaminsky only averaged 4.2 points and 1.8 rebounds per game. I don't think anyone was saying "Hey! That kid's gonna be the national POY!" Then he jumped onto the national scene as a junior and dominated as a senior.

Kaminsky had great footwork around the basket, a great shooting touch, and could step out and hit the three, much like Kreiner.

Kaminsky was a little bigger than Kreiner, but if you want a comparison, IMHO, this is it. I hope the young Hawkeye will have a similar career trajectory.

 

[goodbyebobby]

Kaminsky, you may recall, was the 2015 national player of the year. Not saying Kreiner will reach those heights. Not saying he won't. Just saying Kreiner's skill set is similar. In fact, Kreiner is ahead of where Kaminsky was as a freshman. Even as a soph, Kaminsky only averaged 4.2 points and 1.8 rebounds per game. I don't think anyone was saying "Hey! That kid's gonna be the national POY!" Then he jumped onto the national scene as a junior and dominated as a senior.

Kaminsky had great footwork around the basket, a great shooting touch, and could step out and hit the three, much like Kreiner.

Kaminsky was a little bigger than Kreiner, but if you want a comparison, IMHO, this is it. I hope the young Hawkeye will have a similar career.

What impresses me about this kid are his hands. Every time he seems to get both hands on the ball and doesn't really let it go.
We can only hope he lights it up like Frank did....

 

[StormHawk42]

There are similarities. The difference however, and what made Kaminsky elite, was his ball handling skills. When he was young and before he hit his spurt, he was a guard. So you had a 7 footer who had terrific footwork and touch, but also had a 3 point shot and the ability to take big men off the dribble.

Kriener doesn't quite have the perimeter game at this point.

 

[CanadaHawk]

There are similarities. The difference however, and what made Kaminsky elite, was his ball handling skills. When he was young and before he hit his spurt, he was a guard. So you had a 7 footer who had terrific footwork and touch, but also had a 3 point shot and the ability to take big men off the dribble.

Kriener doesn't quite have the perimeter game at this point.

I believe Kriener might get to Frank's level in the outside game. To me, the thing that made Kaminisky elite was the signature drop step move that no one could stop. Kriener can score underneath, but doesn't have anything like that.

 

[Iowamavs14]

There's a lot more to Kriener's game we haven't had a chance to see yet. He's shown a jump hook with either hand, up and under's, counter moves, jump shot out to 3. He also has a very good one and two dribble pull up jump shot. Currently in conference Kriener is averaging 7.3 points/game(4th on team), 3.9 rebounds/game and leads his team in shooting percentage during the conference at 62.5%. That's with half is shots coming from 15-17 feet. All of this is done with only 14 minutes per game in playing time. These are conference stats, no cream puff stats from early season games. Kriener is young and grew late. Lots of time for his body to mature and become more explosive.

As much as I like Kriener, I would like to see him paired more with Pemsl. Both are highly efficient and very intelligent ball players. Both Kriener and Pemsl help the offense flow as they pass well and help get shots for their teammates by screening and setting them up.

 

[HoustonREDHawk]

Kaminsky blew up in his last couple of years, once he figured out how to use his new size. Kriener does have similarities, but I wouldn't want to put those high expectations on him. I agree with the comment about pairing Kriener with Pemsl. I only hope that Cook develops more court awareness and fire, to go along with his tremendous raw talent.

 

[jwardelt]

Both are white and tall. Similarities end there. If you don't see it, check back in 4 years.

 

[EpenesaEpenesa]

Kreiner's better than Frank at this age. Not saying he's gonna blow up like that, but Kaminsky was pretty raw as a freshman and improved drastically obviously. What made Frank elite is he finished. His footwork was good, moved well, etc....but what made him elite is he finished the play and scored the basket at a very high rate.

 

[EpenesaEpenesa]

Both are white and tall. Similarities end there. If you don't see it, check back in 4 years.

So you saw Frank blowing up the way he did when he was a freshman? If so, let me know the lotto numbers

 

[DodgerHawki]

I believe Kriener might get to Frank's level in the outside game. To me, the thing that made Kaminisky elite was the signature drop step move that no one could stop. Kriener can score underneath, but doesn't have anything like that.

Nothing like Iowa fans to go right to comparing a freshman to Frank Kaminsky.

So you saw Frank blowing up the way he did when he was a freshman? If so, let me know the lotto numbers

I think the point he's making is that the Kaminsky of his junior and senior years resembles not all that much to Kriener other than they are both white and tall. Kaminsky as a senior shot 42% from 3-point land, 59% on 2-pointers, got to the line 200 times in 39 games (making 78% of those), averaged 8 boards a game and 3 assists per game. Oh and he was 6-11. A senior year that could be argued to be among the top 10 of all seasons in the B1G in the last 25 years.

Of course, no one saw Kaminsky blowing up like that. Just as it's likely a bit premature to start making the Kaminsky comparisons to Kriener now. Every player has a different journey. It's what makes sports interesting. In the past two days, we've had comparisons of Kriener to Street and Kaminsky. One first round pick, and one who would have been had he not died. Personally, I don't see the Kriener comparison to those two, his footspeed/agility aren't as good as those two. But that doesn't mean he won't/can't be a good player.

 

[Ronman]

Saw Zach Bohannon on "On Iowa Live" last evening and he made the comparison between Kriener and Kaminsky. He roomed with Frank in college.