Case for Josh Christopher - Possibly Best Value Pick w/ All-star Potential

JC needs time in G League.

It helped Porter, hopefully it will help him too.

But coaching matters.

 

G league.

DD

 

Bruh stop. His ceiling is Westbrook and even that he won't even accomplish

 

He is an inconsistent 6th man that will win games if the coach keeps a very tight leash on him. He needs a coach with a firm hand that will not let him shoot himself & the team out of the game. It will be fun to watch him develop.

 

Porter went there to the GLeague to get away from NBA life for a minute and his resentments. I think it’s more accurate to say a bubble life helped him reset and center himself, again.

JC is the exact opposite. He is well grounded. He’s learned from his brother how to live in NBA ambience. He has a pro routine already, a home chef even. He’s a lockerroom favorite. But most importantly, for the first time since the Rockets had a D/Gleague team, (with such a young team) all of our primary development staff are going to be in Houston.

if we send JC to the valley, not only are we uprooting his home life (which is all focused on BBall), you are sending him away from the development staff. Plus his infectious positivity and high IQ/high motor defense in practice is helpful to the staff.

I don’t think they will send him down.

 

JC:

 

He just needs to learn to defer on offense. Focus on defense and pick your spots on offense. He should not be shooting twice as many times as Alp.

 

Perhaps our veteran PG John Wall can teach him that? I hear hes a great locker room guy and JC is another great locker room guy as well!

 

Last season when we sent KPJ down I recall stone mentioning how they gave him a list of tasks that he needed to accomplish during his bubble stint.

I imagine with JC it would be similar. I personally would send him down with the goals of learning how to run an NBA offense, focusing on his catch and shoot three point shooting and learning how to get to his midrange with the pick and roll.

His reality is that he will never get the types of shots he is taking in the summer league in the regular season. This team just has too many mouths to feed and if JC is taking more than 10 shots a game in rotational minutes something is wrong with our team.

He needs focus on his strengths (defense) and shore up his playmaking and shot making ability from a catch and shoot perspective.

 

Athleticism is there in spades.
Desire is there in spades.
IQ is questionable for now.

I agree that we should see what a year of G-League coaching can do. Otherwise his ceiling might start to look more like a Monta Ellis.

 

great point give JC a chance to learn in practice, be with the team in games, and get spot minutes first

 

Copied from Summer League thread
h/t @J.R.



“We’re trying to give him tons of opportunities to succeed and tons of opportunities to struggle,” Rockets summer league coach Will Weaver said. “So far, I’d say it’s a success. He’s handling and creating for others out of necessity. But you see that he has gifts that will allow him to be great at that.

“I love the way that he’s studying. I love the way he’s obsessing and feeling disappointed when it doesn’t go perfect. In order for someone to grow in those areas, you have to struggle through some of those things.”

With guards Kyri Thomas (groin) and Jalen Green (hamstring) out, Christopher has been handling the ball and initiating the offense “certainly more than he’s used to and more than he projects for,” Weaver said. “But that’s what this event is about: just trying to make sure essential guys have not only an opportunity to grow but to recognize how exactly they need to grow.”

Christopher has averaged 16 points, four assists and four rebounds in his 27.4 minutes per game. He has made just 34.4 percent of his shots, misfiring largely because he has hit 15.4 percent of his 3-pointers. He has missed some of the shots he normally would expect to make but also has been held back by having to create most of his looks for himself, along with the bulk of the shots taken around him.

“Not having Jalen, not having Khyri, it was rough,” Christopher said. “Those are guys that make things happen.

“I forced it a little bit. I have to make the game simpler. I’ve been in attack mode. I think it’s OK to be in attack mode but penetrating the lane, just have to make the right reads. I think I got in the lanes pretty easily. It’s just a matter of me making the right play, hitting open guys. If my shot is there, take the shot. Just make the right play.”

“I think I’m so in tune to putting the ball in the basket sometimes and don’t realize how good I am at playmaking,” Christopher said. “I can do both. Just find the balance of doing that. I do such a good job of getting in that paint. Now, I just have to complete that by making the right play. Times like this is when you learn what you need to do better.

“For sure, my responsibilities changed. It’s always good to be versatile. My job is to come in, play defense, get downhill and play-make. Just to come to summer league and improve on all those aspects and to see everything I might see on the court come season is good for me just to learn.”

“Defense will always be about effort,” Christopher said. “I’m 6-5, 215 with a 6-9 wingspan, and I play hard, and I’m in shape. This is summer league. We’ll see a lot of these max-contract guys very soon. That’ll be another test come the NBA season. I’m just looking forward to it.

“Defense wins games, wins championships. That’s the route we need to go anyway. Raf told me to be like a Jrue Holiday. He knows I can play offense. He knows I can play defense also. Trying to do both.”

“In that playmaking role, he obviously can get to the rim,” Weaver said. “He obviously can shoot and score. The next layer for him is to be able to read the defense and make plays for others. He makes some of those plays, but he can certainly make more.”

 

I don't understand all the Westbrook comparisons. JC is a defense first player. He's a bit out of control, ball hoggy, and has poor shot selection so I guess he's like Westbrook in those ways. But he's a defense first player and the coaches need to remind him of that.

It also looks like the org wanted him to shoot a lot after Green went down. Yes, he should have passed more to Alpie, but everyone on the team should have done that. His Bball IQ needs work, he's 19 so he can get it. We were lifeless in that last game when he was out. JC entered the game and we started to try to make a push to close the gap. That's important to remember.

G league or no g league? I want him to stay with the team but it probably makes sense to send him down. There's too many guards now and he'll get more time down there to learn the system. This works IF he understands his role is not to score 20 a night. If he tries that down there then he can stay until he figures this out. His role should be a defense first combo guard who can score at times, does not carry the offensive load, and looks for good shot opportunities.

 

JC is in the best position he could be in as a pro. He's got a lifelong friend that he really respects on the team. He's going to do whatever work he needs to do to stick. If Jalen Green sells to JC that he'll get minutes down in the Valley, he'll go. It's not a demotion. It's a chance to play rather than simply traveling with the team.

For the first two months of the season after training camp, why not let him make his mistakes and find his way?

 

They will need to send him down just so he can get reps.

This roster is stacked with guards right now and JC is not better than the following:

Wall, Porter, EGo, Green, Augustin

That's 5 players already ahead of him not including Khyri.

 

can we send wall to the valley?

if we gonna watch a ballhog i prefer it to be Josh, theres a hope he may see the light one day or simply become too good regardless of being tunellvisioned

 

LOL

That would be hilarious if possible.

 

if they do it , this is my championship... i dont need a single win for the rest of the year and they have a carte blanshe to blunder however they want