VITALS: 6-6, 218, senior, Wisconsin OVERVIEW: Penney is a New Zealand native who played four years of college basketball at Wisconsin. He played as a reserve on the Badgers' Final Four team as a freshman and started his final three years, leading Wisconsin to back-to-back regular-season Big Ten Conference titles his final two seasons. Penney averaged 16.2 points and 3.1 assists last season and led Wisconsin to the "Sweet 16." Penney played for New Zealand's national team in the 2000 Olympics, 2001 Goodwill Games and the 2002 World Championships. The Kiwis used some strong play by Penney to finish fourth in the World Championships. Penney is a strong outside shooter who shot 39 percent from beyond the arc in his career. Penney has plenty of international experience. LIKELY DRAFT POSITION: Second round. COMPARATIVE UPSIDE: Jon Barry COMPARATIVE DOWNSIDE: Brooks Thompson ROLE PROJECTION: Reserve. POSITIVES: Penney has great size at the off guard position and is a terrific 3-point shooter, although he is streaky. He has an incredibly quick release on the catch-and-shoot and can go to the basket as well, often allowing him to find teammates on feeds. In international competition, Penney has played in some big games with New Zealand's national team. Given the fact that he also played in an NCAA Final Four, Penney is as seasoned of a rookie as they come. SHORTCOMINGS: Penney is a solid athlete, but he will not break down defenders off the dribble on a consistent basis at the next level. At best, he is a role player in the NBA. Everything about him by NBA standards is average.
Kirk Penney is the guy I'll be paying most attention to in the draft, because he's from NZ like me and I have watched him play since I started getting interested in basketball. He likes to shoot 3's or penetrate but I don't know how he'll do that in the NBA as effectively as he does in the NCAA. He's got a good first step to get by his defenders. He should get the role of 6th man at best but he's already lead his team into the Sweet 16 and has led a team who had no NBA players for the majority of the comp to 4th at the WBC(the coach had a lot to do with it aswell). So really anything's possibe.
