NEW YORK -- Sean Kilpatrick’s performance against the Sixers on Tuesday could have seemed like a game of “look what you are you missing.”
Kilpatrick played for the Sixers' Summer League team and their D-League affiliate, the Delaware 87ers, for a season and a half. Now on his second 10-day contract with the Nets, he dropped 19 points with three rebounds and two assists in 23 minutes in a standout game, a 131-114 Nets' win Tuesday night (see game story).
“I don’t … have any type of hard feelings towards those guys because they didn’t call me up,” Kilpatrick said. “A lot of guys in my situation would have a problem with that. It’s just more so go out there and play your game.”
The Sixers kept an eye on Kilpatrick this season, head coach Brett Brown said, as the 26-year-old led the D-League in scoring (26.4 points per game). For a while the Sixers didn’t have wiggle room at his position. They waived JaKarr Sampson at the trade deadline for a later-voided deal with the Rockets and Nuggets, leaving an open roster spot. The Nets signed Kilpatrick to his first 10-day on Feb. 28. The Sixers filled the 15th spot with Sonny Weems in March.
“We had seen and we talked about him,” Brown said. “It really got down to one of the wing positions, was he going to come in and bump out JaKarr or Isaiah (Canaan) or Nik (Stauskas) or whomever. We just went with the wings that we had. But we paid attention. I know our coaching staff thought highly of him and he did a great job for our young program in Delaware. [Tuesday] he came out and I’m sure reminded us that he was with us at one point and had a great game, was a real contributor off the bench for them.”
Kilpatrick referred to his experience with the 87ers as “one of the great places I can say I’ve ever been.” After going undrafted, he went through a transition period to get adjusted to the D-League. His highest level of basketball had been college at Cincinnati, and he gained what he described as “professional confidence” in Delaware.
When he took the court at the Wells Fargo Center Friday with the Nets, he was overwhelmed by the reception from the Sixers' crowd.
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“When you have a guy like me coming from their affiliate team going to another team and we play in Philly, and the next minute you hear a standing ovation, it’s crazy,” Kilpatrick said. “I didn’t know the fans played attention to the affiliate team like that. To have a standing ovation like that, it’s amazing.”
Kilpatrick didn't show what he had as an NBA player on the Sixers, but he put it on display against them Tuesday night.
"He was tough," Brown said. "He made shots. There’s a physical side that you can’t help but be impressed with. He plays with that tenacity and he clearly was a big spark off the bench for them."