Basketball Intelligence For 4/14/26, Part Two

Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson had heard little of the 26-year-old. Still, it didn’t take him long to see how he’d fit in.
“When someone defends and plays as hard as he does, it’s kind of easy to appreciate that, and he’s made an immediate impact,” Atkinson said in early March. “There was obviously a big push to get him. [The front office] was gung-ho over the prospects of getting Keon.
“The defense has been excellent. … I think the steals and deflections thing, you got it or you don’t. For the most part — you can get a little uptick, but the extreme where he is, that’s innate. I don’t know where he got it from, how, where it came about. There was one play the other night, I think he had five deflections on the same play and then finished with a block. He’s a unique, unique player, but it’s all innate. We can’t take any credit for it, unfortunately.”

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