Living in the Shadows: Xavier Henry

Overshadowed by the great players at Kansas, as well as other rookies producing (mainly John Wall), Xavier Henry is putting together a very nice rookie campaign for Bill Self and the Jayhawks. There is no doubt that fellow teammates Sherron Collins and Cole Aldrich are very good players, just like John Wall; however, I believe that Henry is a player that has a very nice future ahead of him.

The Kansas freshman leads the top team in the nation in scoring at 17.2 a game. Few know this, including me, before I did some research. His points come in all sorts of fashions: layups from driving, three point baskets with a hand in his face, and even some assists say some things about how he can produce for himself, as well as others.

I love Xavier Henry now, and as time goes by, I will like him even more, especially when his NBA career comes. He possesses a chance to be a huge impact player, and in my opinion, a better player than Wall.

He has an outstanding NBA body, and I'm sure scouts love it. At 6'6", 220, Henry has an ideal body for an NBA shooting guard. Even more impressive, he has the strength to be a small forward at times, but ultimately, he will make his name known as a shooting guard at the next level.

Xavier Henry has one of the best strokes that I've seen from an incoming freshman in a long time. His high school and short college career has shown how he can shoot with his points and three-point percentage. As we can all see, he has become accustomed to shooting the ball well; just like a sixth sense.

Being left-handed, he reminds me of Manu Ginobili and a bigger Michael Redd. Henry's fluent shot looks almost identical to the sharp-shooting Bucks guard Redd, while his overall body reminds me more of Ginobili. Both of these NBA stars are great, but I believe Xavier Henry could be even better.

John Wall could play some at the 2, and that's a big COULD. Henry will be able to play the 2 and the 3. I love versatile guys, and if he can developed better ball handling skills, he could even play some point guard. That's way out there, but definitely not out of the question.

Maybe the best thing I like about Henry (as well as Wall) is his defense. Most players hate to play defense, but when you watch Henry, it is like he loves it. He causes deflections, gets steals straight up from players, and even gets some blocked shots here and there; that's a great defensive gamechanger. Despite all that, he is very sound as a defensive player and does most things right. It easily can get better, but I like where he is as of right now.

One of these days we will finally see the great player that goes by the name of Xavier Henry. When he finally emerges from the shadows of teammates and other popular players, I think we could see this guy as one of the best of recent memory.