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Kendall Marshall Says He Can be Team USA Point Guard

By Josh Wilson

Dec 13, 2015; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Philadelphia 76ers guard Kendall Marshall (5) dribbles past Toronto Raptors guard Kyle Lowry (7) in the second quarter at Air Canada Centre. Mandatory Credit: Peter Llewellyn-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 13, 2015; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Philadelphia 76ers guard Kendall Marshall (5) dribbles past Toronto Raptors guard Kyle Lowry (7) in the second quarter at Air Canada Centre. Mandatory Credit: Peter Llewellyn-USA TODAY Sports /
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Kendall Marshall tweeted out that he was ready for the challenge of being the Team USA point guard, no matter how unlikely that is.

Kendall Marshall is no stranger to getting in some deep water because of social media. Earlier this season, his own father, Dennis Marshall, called out the Philadelphia 76ers coaching staff on Twitter for being racist and playing Nik Stauskas instead of Kendall Marshall. Dennis went under fire for these actions, and eventually deleted his account. Kendall’s account, at one point, went missing as well.

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Now, Marshall is back, and after an awful first season with the Sixers, his social media bio says nothing about playing for the Sixers, and none of his tweets indicate anything about being excited for the season. But still, Marshall seems to think he’s capable of running the United States Men’s National Team offense.

Marc Spears of ESPN, in light of a near loss by Team USA to Serbia, tweeted out that the team needed a true point guard to become a more cohesive unit. The current point guards are Kyle Lowry and Kyrie Irving, which seem to be decent options, since Stephen Curry sat out this summer.

Kendall Marshall appears up for the challenge, as he tweeted this out after Spears said that.

Ready for the challenge? Okay, great, but how about first, we grab the challenge of making the Philadelphia 76ers final roster, and then the challenge of putting out starter-like numbers for a full season with no injury before we jump right to Team USA. Considering the Team USA roster is made up of starter NBA players, and the top-tier players at that, Marshall has a lot of work to do if he’s going to be the point guard of the team.

This past season was a debut year for Marshall in a Sixers uniform, and he was coming off of an ACL injury, but he was not impressive by any stretch of the imagination. Marshall put up 3.7 points, 0.9 rebounds, and 2.4 assists per game. Even translating those stats to per 36 minutes to adjust for low playing time (10.0 points, 2.5 rebounds, 6.6 assists) doesn’t make his first year in Philly impressive.

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I understand the idea of setting goals, and can even the idea of setting goals that are not realistically attainable. If Marshall sets a goal of making Team USA, and misses that goal, he could still become a great player in the process, and even a starting point guard in the league. It’s the idea of, “shoot for the moon, if you miss, you still land amongst the stars.”

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But to put yourself out there like that on Twitter after such an awful past season and, to be honest, a lackluster career at best so far, is just asking for trouble and bad publicity. Marshall, if he even is around for training camp, has a lot of work to do with the Sixers if he has any shot of making the team. He is technically on contract through 2019 at the moment.