KPJ: Can someone explain to me why he has become Clutchfans favorite whipping boy?

He is coming back up..

DD

 

Going from .335 on 3 attempts to between 3.5 - .375 on 6 attempts per game is a pretty big improvement. It’s pretty common for percentages to go down on additional 3s attempted. I also think the difference between .72 and .76 is pretty big, especially considering, like 3s, he’s shooting way more FTs now. Not to mention his catch-and-shoot 3 percentage is among the league’s best.

I think KPJ’s TS% will creep up to around .56 - .57, which is fine for an option B scorer.

 

Personally, I've seen nothing to suggest he should be the Rocket's primary ball handler. I think he certainly has his positives and value, but I'm just not sure he's a future Rocket or he'd accept a 6th man role here.

 

Id be happy if KPJ can get there consistently. I’m not so sure that it’s good enough as a 2nd option , maybe if you happen to be the best defense in the league.

Top two teams right now…
Suns top 3 scorers are 60.0 TS% and above.
Bostons top 3 scorers are 60.0TS% and above.

The league as a whole continues to emphasize efficiency more and more. Being an average efficiency player likely means you should probably be a 4th option at best.

 

While your Boston example is valid, it severely cuts against your premise. Neither Tatum nor Brown averaged anywhere near .6 TS% before this season, 6+ seasons in. Both hovered around .56 - .57 for much of their careers. Efficiency around the league this season has been nuts.

 

Those two dorks are red rowdies and KPj stans. I sincerely hope you're not associated with them

 

Well Boston hasn’t really been a serious contender with them until last year and last year they were the 2nd best defense in the league.

Look at the top 3 teams in each conference this season and their top 3-4 scorers. They are either stacked with 2-3 60+ TS% players or they have 1 60+ TS%, a couple others in the high 50s AND one of the best defenses in the league.

Pretty much like I said, if we happen to be a top defense in the league, we MIGHT be able to get away with a 2nd option being just around league average efficiency, particularly if our top option is Curry/Durant level elite, but nowadays for the most part the best teams have multiple high efficient guys as their top options.

 

Who on this team should be our primary ballhandler?

 

To me, Sengun and Green are options 1 and 2. Green the scorer, Sengun the point-forward playmaker. Green should be able to hit .6 TS% eventually, and Sengun is already there. To the extent KPJ is the third offensive option averaging 15 shots a game or so, I think .56 - .58 should be fine. KPJ can bring up the ball as he has the best handles in the starting lineup, but this offense should flow through Sengun.

 

Green. That's easy

 

Playing some D too.

DD

 

Here’s the thing though: most of the KPJ critics aren’t saying he’s worthless. Kid’s got talent for sure. We aren’t against developing him. Just against developing him as the primary ball handler.

Think of it this way, if we instead let him grow at his natural SG position, wouldn’t that benefit EVERYONE?

1. As a scoring guard, he doesn’t have to over think. By playing off the ball more, I’m sure his efficiency will go way up, since he’s a very good c/s player. - WIN for KPJ

2. Before we find a competent playmaker, just move Green to PG. Let him expand his game more. - WIN for Jalen Green

3. With less iso hero ball, offense will flow better, and rest of the players also benefit. - WIN for the team

4. That one game when we missed KPJ, the 1st quarter was the BEST Rox basketball I’ve seen in years. By moving KPJ to SG, hopefully we’ll see more quarters/games like that PLUS the 20pt contribution from KPJ. Why would anybody not want to watch that? - WIN for the fans.

So WIN-WIN-WIN-WIN scenarios. Sure beats your scenarios.

 

Oh, and this. Then why are you b****ing and moaning about Silas’ incompetence? To the extent even blame KPJ’s own fault on the coach? Why don’t you just STFU and enjoy Silas however long he’s gonna be here?

What a hypocrite.

 

I am fine with the criticism - and you make a fair point, I don't like Silas.....

However the bit about KPJ I feel has gone into bullying and is way over the top, people are like Jalen Green can be the PG, and he has a worse assist to turnover ration than KPJ ....last night Green had 7 assists and 7 turnovers.....neither is a PG.

What I hope is the Rox draft Amon Thompson as the POINT FORWARD at 6'8" and KPJ and Green can both play SG off of him.

DD

 

You want Thompson over Wemby or the real Scoot? That's nuts

 

Option 1: 5-10% chance
Option 2: 0% That statline won't make him a valuable trade piece, option 1 and 2 are basically identical. He will be a valuable trade piece if he is a valuable piece to the rockets.
Option 3: 90-95%

When the outcome is very like that he will not be a starting pg, why spend the valuable time on playing him there. We can try many other things and get much more development from them. There is no one to bring up the ball better than kpj at the moment but once it is half court game, there are many options. Investing somewhere else in this sense is much better, which will also investing in kpj in the right role, that will benefit him as well. It is all about finding the right role for players, kpj's current role is not going to last (almost) for sure.

 

Primarily, as the guy with the ball in his hands most, the team offense looks like **** most of the time despite a lot of offense first players is hard to talk around.

On more detail side, one should point out that the Rockets are literally the worst team in the league in scoring in transition, they don't push the ball, and even when they occasionally get into transition (mainly due to pick 6s and/or the other team just throwing the ball away.) they suck really bad at it, now while the "sucking at it" part isn't really Porter's fault (it's more Jabari / Garuba / Tari all either really sucking at dribbling, passing, or making decisions and making layups.), the "Not pushing" part definitely is, he plays at a very deliberately slow down pace with the ball, which is kind of who he is and that's not necessarily a bad thing, but it is for this group in particular given that the Rockets are a young inexperienced team, the likelihood of them carving up the other team consistently in the half court isn't great. and that the two guards especially KPJ rarely gets into the transition action really hurts them.

Similarly, while KPJ plays at a pace similar to a Trae Young / James Harden / Luka Doncic, he's obviously not on THAT level, and the Rockets half court plays breaks out a ton, while again, it's not JUST his fault when he's running out there with a bunch of other young players, as the guy that starts it all it's hard to not say he deserve a lot more of the blame especially since it's not like there are other guys who's glaringly messing things up (well ok Jabari did in the first 10 games or so.)

That he noticeably don't play well With Sengun is an issue too, they've been on the same team for 2 years now and they're still running into each other in the pick and roll, while Sengun's like one of the best feel for game player you'd see out there and pretty much every other guard do just fine with him.

There are a lot of things to like about his game, but clearly at least at this point in time in the role he's in, it is quite frustrating. I'm pretty sure he'll be a good NBA player in some capacity for sure, maybe even as a point guard, but obviously not right now for this current set of players.

In fact, the whole transition / fast break thing is probably the most mind blowing part of this season, The Rockets are at the same time one of the worst team in giving up fast break points AND the worst in scoring in fast break themselves, so if you want more ammo for the "fire Silas" bandwagon, this is probably it, Charlotte has a similiarly bad record but they're giving up one of the fewest transition points because of course Steve Clifford, if the Rockets just do that, the'd probably win in the mid 30s, if they also score in Transition at a normal rate, they'd be at least .500.

 

His handling and C&S are elite, his vision and decision making are very poor. Coaches find a way to use his strenghts instead of forcing him to do something he is not good at. He will be either darling of Houston in a different role or will be villain in his current status. No chance to be between.

Coach and KPJ should decide which one him to be.

 

Last game he had 7 turnovers and the game KPJ missed, the team looked discombobulated. Who else?

 

KPJ stans like to preach patience for him, but when it comes to Green, won’t hesitate to bring up his turnovers even though he’s younger and has JUST started to learn the playmaker role.

Here’s the bottom line. I view developing Green as our #1 priority. So even if playing him at PG also goes to nowhere, I don’t consider it wasted time because we know he’s a cornerstone. Playing him at PG will expand his game more if nothing else.

On the other hand I always fear if we play KPJ at PG and goes nowhere (more likely outcome given what we’ve seen so far) it may be wasted because his future with Rox is still uncertain. See the non guaranteed years in his extension.