Khalil Small – from Chicago to Lapua

The fast and athletic little guard from Chicago has made his first pro-baller destination to be Lapua in Finland, and in the early season – he is proving to be an accomplished player and someone the coach can trust. Leading his team in scoring, and fifth in the league over all, the just over 20 points per game is a good start to Khalil.

He does also have the jump to challenge for the rebounds, and is almost in the Top10 in the league. With the season being seven games old, there is still lot we will learn from the teams and players. But the increasing on court time for Small is a sign of how quickly he is adjusting to the style of play in Korisliiga.

His stats are pretty similar to his last year at UWGB – so the transition has gone smoothly.

Finland and Lapua came on top of the options Small’s agent gave him over the summer, and now that he is in Finland. His ambitions are set high – and his work ethic on court/practise is showing it.

Moving to a small (sorry Lapua 🙂 ) town in central Finland, has not phased Small, but like most players. The off time is spent catching-up with the folks back home – watching Netflix or watching basketball games. Something which I am starting to learn is the day to day grind of an import player in Finland 🙂

So far Khalil Small has been one of the players who have stood out as a ‘surprise’ in the first weeks of the season. And Kobrat having a positive 4/3 record heading into November – it will be interesting to see where the season takes them. But for now, the team is riding on the crest of wave and enjoying the winning feeling.

And some (smarter than me) people have said, that winning breeds more of the winning mentality, when you get it early in the season – it can keep you going until the very end. Let’s hope the feel good story of Kobrat is one that their fans can keep enjoying for the coming months.. and Khalil Small will remain a part of what the team is building there!