I care about the Rockets. He has honestly not shown enough that makes me say he deserves minutes to be developed outside of just not wanting Brewer to play.
I believe SOMEONE should be getting all Brewer's minutes. I don't necessarily believe that person should be KJ, especially if there are any attitude issues that caused his reduction in minutes.
It does if you saw MDA get pissed at KJ. Brewer will do what he's told. Who knows what's going on with MDA & KJ. Maybe KJ ignored MDA's instructions. Maybe you tell someone not to do something 10x in practice and he still does it in the game. I'd bench someone for that.
Pretending to be a shrink here, we know that KJ went against the grain by not signing his rookie contract. While it carried risk, it ultimately worked out for him as he was able to sign a bigger contract. Based on this, we know he's a risk taker and he'll do something he believes in regardless of what advice people give him. It is my impression that he may think he knows better than the coaches with regards to some of his game/ability and has not taken their instruction or advice. This may be the reason he's in the dog house. Oh and I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night.
Same here, obviously. But was actually MDA pissed at KJ? I'm genuinely asking because i may have lost this...?
When did this happen? I'll post the vid if you could get me close to the time. Also, wrt showcasing that ppl mention -- It's a stretch to say this is all about showcasing Brewer, as the league knows what he is. KJ is making $3.3m / yr. I would showcase him, if I were Morey. He's got that all-important "image if he could shoot 3s" potential, still left in trade that Brewer doesn't have anymore. Oh, and I saved 15% by switching to Geico.
At the bare minimum you literally have to be able to shoot to even be a commodity in some cases.... KJ needs to develop that shot to have a chance in this league.
Can't remember which game it was. Someone else mentioned it on here before in one of the Brewer threads. Said MDA was super pissed that KJ missed a defensive rotation or something and got benched shortly afterwards but keeps plugging Brewer in the lineup.
IMO it's mainly about showcasing Brewer hoping that he starts to get his confidence back hopefully before the deadline, so that he could be traded as an asset rather than a throw away. While KJ may have missed rotation he is a better offensive and defensive player than Brewer and while being more trade-able is not yet good enough to get you a high draft pick or real asset in return. Dekker is slowly but surely getting to the point where if traded he could get you a first round pick or is good enough for a team to take Brewers contract to get Dekker..
"This might cost us a few games, but showcasing that Brewer is worth it." "Dekker's playing great. Better trade him now before he helps us win more games." You guys over think stuff
Believe it or not, Brewer is shooting .586 from 2 pointers. And he's 2nd on the TEAM in FG% from 0-3 ft in. Better than Capela. Its TOTALLY Brewer's awful 3pt shooting killing his entire effectiveness. That said, I'm not with protecting the coach's leadership prowess, helping give him justifications to not play KJ. I'm hardly EVER critical of coaches. I never had much problem with McHale or JBB. I'm just not gonna put down KJ and find cracks in his game, who to me is better than Brewer, to make coach decision look better in comparison. I don't hate Brewer either. I just don't think he's part of the 9-10 best players to put on the court.
Brewer in two games has finally shown why he should play over KJ, though not always. I wish coaches who like to stick to 8-9 guys just go to others when someone is not performing. If Nene is off, play Trez. Brew is off, play KJ. I get the counter arguments in the broader picture, but when you're trying to win a game, at least give others a chance to prove themselves. Even if it's only 2-3 minutes. In one of those stretches Brew goes through, I get a coach has to have his back, but at some point it's just foolish not to try something else a few times. I'm not complaining too much about coaching, just that I wish MDA would just play Trez and KJ more in games where Nene, Brew, maybe even Ariza & Capela, are not cutting it.
Personally, I think MDA likes Brewer because he's always flying down the court and helps his uptempo offense. While I'm not a Brewer fan, he does that better than anyone on our team, with Sam and Clint being the next best guys at beating their guys down the court. As some have said KJ is a good 1-on-1 defender, but he may have problems with playing within the schemes well. I did like the plays he and Harden were running together early in the season.
Brewer should not be playing over McDaniels. I'll never understand why people harp on KJ's 3 point shooting (or lack there of) while ignoring/accepting that Brewer's is significantly worse.
