I've noticed that KPJ has a pretty serious issues committing to a move. He has a tendency to pump fake and/or lose his dribble once every couple few possessions, but based on these clips there has never been a successful offense set generated after a pump fake/picking up his dribble. I've basically stopped clipping after the beginning of the 3rd quarter, but the last time I saw a player pumpfake/pick up his dribble this much is Jeremy Lin driving in the paint. Note that the play at at the 3:20 mark was particularly bad, Tate had perfect position for a lob pass.
I think it's because we are forcing him to play a position he is uncomfortable playing. He thinks too much and is too indecisive with his decision. I wish he would just stop picking up his dribble and commit to either the pass or the shot.
KP3 looks like he lacks confidence the last few games. I think a lot of his struggles are in his head.
He's struggling upstairs. Its spilling over. Just needs to do less. Go with the flow and stop putting extra pressure on himself. No need for flash and dash just keep it basic. Coming off the bench for a few games might even be a good thing for him to play vs 2nd units and allow him to look for offense instead of being a facilitator. Rebuild some confidence.
I believe you hit the nail on the head. He is trying too much to be like Harden. Rockets don't need a player dribbling the air out of the ball....and his step back three is far from automatic as with Harden. Needs to pick a side (around his defender) in which to drive, knowing it will free up a teammate on that side (safety valve pass). Get it and go. I want the Pace to be break neck speed but it's too much one on one. Silas needs more double pin downs already mixed in or preset before players hit mid court. Some interference for our ball handler to go around and rub the defender off of. Too much run to 5-men out set....to one-on-one.....to missed shot...... to no rebounders in position or crashing the boards.
Agreed. He could literally save his career if he was put in the position to be a professional scorer/6th man. He is far better on just focusing to score.
Not even a good scorer.. what does he do well offensively? He doesn’t have a reliable jump shot, can’t finish at the rim, can’t make free throws when he got fouled. I seriously question his work ethics. He did not look this bad last season.
Thanks for the clip @flamingdts . My own .02: 1. He doesn't know how to read and react. If Silas wants his team to run a "chaos offense" and rely on his point guard / primary ball handler to orchestrate the offense then he's expecting Porter to do all of the creating. Looking at that first sequence, once he gets a pick from Theis...what is his next move? You can't just get a pick from your center and not know that a 7'2" wall called Joel Embiid won't be there to greet you with open arms. Porter should know this and react accordingly--either pull up for that long 2 the defense is giving him (not a good shot but not that bad considering he's getting plenty of space) or, see that huge area to your left, Kevin? The area where nobody is standing? You just need to move a few steps to the left, drawing Embiid further away from the paint, allow time for Theis to roll towards the basket, and thread that ball to him for a bucket. 2. The second sequence is 100% on Wood and his lazyass picks. It's inexcusable to set such a bad pick for your point guard because you're not doing anything other than now putting BOTH his defender and your defender on him while your selfish ass tries to roll to the basket. 3. That fourth sequence where Porter received a proper pick from Theis, it's confusing as to why he passes up a wide open 3 that is there right after the pick, to move back to pretty much where he started from to take a heavily contested step back 3. Like @marky :) said He just needs to be given the keys to be a scorer and he would probably excel at that over time. That or at least put him in a situation/system that teaches/conditions him to know all the possible options he has when certain things happen so he can pick from said options when the opportunity presents itself.
I’m having trouble understanding how a scorer role will work for someone who neither shoots well nor finishes around the rim well. He’s got decent but not NBA-elite hops so he isn’t jumping over and dunking on anyone either. Basically, he’s below average at every skill a perimeter player should have. The Rockets gave it a try and it didn’t work. Wasting any more time on KPJ as a PG and floor general will only hinder the development of other players, who need someone capable and reliable to run the offense. Otherwise, they will only stagnate, and for the vets who aren’t in the long term team plans, they will see their trade value diminished. I realize a demotion means KPJ will probably fall apart and that sucks. If the Rockets want to do the right thing. they should invest in getting him the emotional and psychological support he needs rather than spend any more resources trying to make him a PG.
This season he definitely is playing worse. He has the tools to breakdown a defender and create space for himself. We saw last season he can finish at the basket and shoot a decent percentage also. I think there's too much off court distractions going on and he's caught between trying to play floor general and just playing basketball.
Won't be a popular opinion but I think maybe the rockets want to start wall at point and play kpj and green at the 2 and 3 just to see how they play with a pg. I don't love wall but he is by far the best pg we have on the roster
Im not a fan of KPJ but he has foundation on every great scorer. Can get a shot off when he wants. Can go to the spots, can penetrate and use hang time to pull off a shot. Can step back. Can use dribbles. He has moves and physical tools he just started to learn organized basketball too late imo. College would be great for him
I think this is true only because he is not a read and react player - he is just a react player. Someone said "use your offense that you already do well to generate shots for teammates" but KPJ doesn't actually think when he is in that attack mode he does so well so what is happening is he is thinking too much so that is not a legit "I'm about to hit this shot in your face" pump fake, it's a "let me see if you are scared enough of me to make a mistake and I'll keep my eyes peeled for the mistake" pump fake which of course no one is buying. People aren't scared enough of a career 12pt/gm scorer to leave their feet on deep mid range shots - those are the types of mistakes that get you pulled from the game for as a defender. I agree and have said it a few other times already - they need to stagger KPJ and Green as much as possible and let KPJ be a bucket getter on the 2nd unit. He could be a GREAT 6th man in the vein of a Eric Gordon if they used him that way. Let him cook people in the 2nd unit all game and maybe you bring him back to close the game out when the situation presents itself. Again this is one of those context problems - we knew Green was too young and we needed a "put the team on your back" guy and KPJ was the only guy who even remotely looked like he could be that guy on the roster so "tag, you're it"....but just because we needed that guy didn't mean we needed to destroy this kids confidence by trying to make him be Harden 2.0. The worst thing to happen to KPJ on the basketball court was that 50pt game because everyone interpreted it the wrong way - fans I can understand, but the coaching staff shouldn't have made that mistake. The message to KPJ at this point is - we don't need you to be the man - you can have a long NBA career and make 20-25mil a year eventually as a bench spark plug. DO THAT! Generate offense for yourself and play solid defense and on some nights you'll be closing teams out. Calling on you, Silas to right the wrong.
...plus no one would even bother watching it because everyone just wants him traded at this point anyway. We don't need the video to know we don't like his game.
The issue is him not showing evolution. He has the same problem since day 1. At this point it's better to share ball handling with Green and let them evolve as scorers. Point guard he is not. Plan B.2 would be to just dump the veterans and bring Sengun to play with the 3 kids on the perimeter and see how it looks. Maybe if none is a PG but all are doing a bit of playmaking for each other, things could look better.
