Thats one of the advantages of having Stone Cold as the GM. He was a sports lawyer before he became part of Rox FO so he understands politics and relationships. Like I said before the main reason I wanted Green over KPJ is cuz they have a relationship and Green is extremely driven and passionate about bball. Not just Green though, Sengun and Garuba are all serious hoopers, esp Garuba who took on a massive debt just so he can play in the NBA. These kind of people will have a positive impact on KPJ, stoke the love for the game in him and he can devote his energy on becoming a better hooper rather than partying, drugs and other dedtructive habits. That's the sort of stuff Morey doesnt necessarily take into account, pretty sure he would have taken Mobley in the draft without any regard to fit and chemistry.
I feel like 99% of CF is higher on KPJ than I am. I mean I'm glad he's here, especially because we got him for free and his contract is dirt cheap. But overall, he was not good last year. He has potential to be a difference-maker but I'm far from locking down KPJ-Green as our backcourt for the next 6-7 years. I hope he gets good minutes this season because I'm interested in seeing him play and because I think he will contribute to our Ls. There is no way that 20 year old KPJ at starting PG is taking a team anywhere but the lottery.
In what world was KP “not good” last year? Outside of Ja and Zion his numbers were better or on par with the top of his draft class.
I like KPJ but he's battling his inner demons right now. With all due respect I want somebody else being the primary ball handler
I still think he has far more questions leading up to the season. I wouldn’t say he “wasn’t very good” but he was certainly inefficient and turnover prone. I am glad he will have plenty of opportunities to either answer those questions. I think his 50 pt outburst was impressive, but we’ve also more league wide 50 pt games than ever in the past few years. It’s like QB records that keep getting broken.
Inefficient and turnover prone on offense, and a poor defender. To me, I think that is not good. I'm glad he's here because he had shown flashes and there's no reason to think he won't improve, but I'm not signing off on him as a core piece just yet.
It's also the norm for second year players to either be out of the league in a few years or be a bench player. So if that is your trajectory for KPJ then that's fine, I'm talking to those who think he is a positive difference-maker right now and a definite piece of our core. I'm holding him to a standard of core piece of the future. He might be that, but he hasn't shown it yet; he has shown some interesting flashes.
Uhhh.. if you look at the second seasons of current all star guards. Majority of them were inefficient, poor defenders and turnover prone. Which again is the norm even for “core” pieces in their second season.
There's a huge difference between being a lottery team and you being proven correct about Porter. The two are at best indirectly related, totally unrelated at worst. KPJ could average 20/9/5 but the Rockets miss the playoffs and you'll think that proves you right? Nonsense. If this reflects your thought process then I have no confidence in your ability to predict anything. But sure please bump this at the end of the year, I welcome that.
Porters issue is his jumpshot. It's very ugly and flat right now. He needs to hit his catch and shoot 3's consistently before thinking about doing step backs. I think he needs to retune his mechanics like Ball did
Alright let's look at the All Star Guards from last year, since you brought it up. In their second seasons, they averaged 19 ppg, 55.6 TS%, 2.9 TO per 36, 114 ORTG, 108 DRTG. KPJ had 16 ppg, 52.8 TS%, 3.9 TO per 36, 99 ORTG, 115 DRTG. So he was worse across the board. He does not compare to the All Star guards.
The hope would be that either KPJ ascends to an All-Star level PG himself and anchors this backcourt for the next 5-7 years, or that he improves enough to be the main piece in a trade that nets us an All-Star level PG. Either way, everybody on this board should be rooting for him to succeed. The physical tools are there, I just think he needs more time to mature both on and off the court. Mental health is just as important as physical health for professional athletes, so I'm thrilled that he feels like he's in a much better place on that front.
Let me guess you included anomalies, and generational talents in your average lol. Common sense would tell you players like Luka and Steph skew the statistics. Lower tier allstars would be an adequate benchmark Anomalies are not included in Norms
Steph wasn't included, fwiw. I included Westbrook and he brought down the averages. Luka actually helped the KPJ case somewhat because of his high TOs. Anyway we'll see. I don't want to go too hard on KPJ because I'm glad he's here and I hope he does well. His numbers don't compare to all star guards, and last year he was mostly meh but showed flashes of great ability. And most importantly, there's no reason to think he won't improve some. I'm just not personally at the point where I think he's a definite part of our contending core moving forward.
It remains to be seen if ANY of our current roster will ever be part of a contending core. No one is untouchable, and no one save possibly Wood has proven a damn thing. Porter, Jr. is one of many reasons to have hope, though, as he is clearly talented. It will be fun to see who ultimately rises from this group (assuming, y'know, someone does).
