When Kendall Marshall was running the show at the University of North Carolina a was extremely impressed by his ability to constantly find the open man and to make the right decision in distributing the ball.
I clearly wasn’t the only one who felt that way considering the Phoenix Suns used the 13th pick in the 2012 draft to select him.
In his lone season with the Suns, his ability to pass the ball was very evident but His shooting stroke was lacking.. Marshall Appeared in 48 games as a rookie but played only about 15 minutes a contest. During that time he shot just 37.1 percent from the field and averaged three points. What he did in his three starts near the end of the season is what really intrigued me. Although his high assist game on the season coming of the bench was six, in each game he started, Marshall registered at least ten dimes. In fact, he totaled 37 assists in those three games. After the Suns traded for Eric Bledsoe in the off-season, Marshall became expendable and was moved to the Washington Wizards as part of a five player trade. The Wizards subsequently cut Marshall And I thought he would get picked up right away. That wasn’t the case. It was nearly two months before Marshall landed on another NBA roster when the Los Angeles Lakers signed him in late December.
Since his arrival with the Lakers, Marshall has produced at a very high clip. After coming off the bench the first four games he was given a chance to start against the Utah Jazz on January 3rd. That night Marshall registered 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting to go along with six rebounds, 15 assists and just one turnover. In nine games as a starter, Marshall is averaging 13 points, 4 rebounds, and 12.2 assists a game. Included in that stretch is five straight games with a double-double. Marshall still has rough shooting nights just like the best of us, but he has improved his outside shot significantly in LA. Over his last five games, he is shooting 54.2 percent from 3-point range to up his season mark to 48.1 percent.
Not bad for a guy who didn’t have a NBA roster spot until a month ago.
JMoneySports 
What the difference between him Rubio. I think Kendall might be a better shooter. I just hope that the Lakers realize that they may have found their long term answer at the point.
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It’s is kind of hard to tell at this point because we have such a tiny sample size from Marshall. Rubio is more flashy and a better on-ball defender, but with his much improved stroke it appears as if Marshall is a substantially better shooter. It will be interesting to see if he can continue to contribute at such a high clip moving forward. If so, he definitely needs to be in the Lakers’ future plans.
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