Fansided

Open Letter to Marshall Henderson About Joining the Reno Bighorns

By Chris Reichert

Jan 29, 2014; Knoxville, TN, USA; Mississippi Rebels guard Marshall Henderson (22) shoots a three pointer against the Tennessee Volunteers during the second half against the Mississippi Rebels at Thompson-Boling Arena. Tennessee won 86 to 70. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 29, 2014; Knoxville, TN, USA; Mississippi Rebels guard Marshall Henderson (22) shoots a three pointer against the Tennessee Volunteers during the second half against the Mississippi Rebels at Thompson-Boling Arena. Tennessee won 86 to 70. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports /
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Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports
Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports /

Dear Marshall,

Man, it’s good to see your name being associated with relevant basketball again. You set Twitter ablaze Thursday night when Marc Spears reported you’ve signed a training camp deal with the Sacramento Kings.

Look, I know the ultimate goal is to make the Kings’ roster with this opportunity, but let’s call a spade a spade and face the facts: This is likely a deal that lands you in the D-League next season playing for the Reno Bighorns.

Hear me out, though — this is a good thing!

As kids we all grow up wanting to play in the bright lights of the NBA, but there is limited space and honestly, the NBA isn’t the end all be all in professional basketball. The D-League is the wave of the future for players like you who don’t quite fit the mold in the NBA, but can still make plenty of money playing professionally.

Thankfully, the Bighorns can help you get to that point.

Last season, the Bighorns brought in first-time head coach David Arseneault Jr. His offensive scheme known as “The System” took the league by storm with guys like Brady Heslip, Dar Tucker, Jordan Hamilton, David Stockton and Quincy Miller all putting up mind boggling stats to everyone’s amazement. Six players from the Bighorns have deals to play either overseas or in the NBA next season and, man, you’re a perfect fit for this offense.

Coach Arseneault is true proprietor of the “Seven Seconds or Less” mantra and the majority of those shots are 3-pointers. Last season, Reno took 47 3-pointers per game! 47! We all know that you love the 3-ball from your days at Ole Miss. In your senior season, almost 78 percent of your shots were from downtown (that’s both a staggering and impressive number, by the way).

So, look, I know things have changed since your senior year at Ole Miss and you’ve probably improved your game and shot selection — honestly, I hope not — but I took a look at some projections based on your numbers at Ole Miss, and here they are:

Simple projections based on % of team's shots taken
Simple projections based on percetange of team’s shots taken /

There’s nothing more I want to see next season than you shooting 20-plus 3s per game in Reno and while that sounds astronomical, keep in mind that Heslip took nearly 13 shots from deep per game last year. Heslip has confidence for days and is one of the best pure shooters out there, but nobody pulls the trigger like you. Nobody has the confidence to dribble down the court and jack it up from 28 feet with only mere seconds elapsed from the shot clock like you.

Clearly, if you get offered a contract to play with the Kings next season, you’re going to take that. But that’s rather unlikely, so my recommendation is to embrace the D-League, join forces with Coach Arseneault and create a buzz like we’ve never seen before!

You can either be DeMarcus Cousins’ personal assistant or wreak havoc on a league that’s dying for a personality like yours. The decision is yours. Just make sure you choose wisely, Marshall.

All the best,

Chris

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