Tweets like this get me excited. He understands he's not where he needs to be. Seems to me he's simply telling the fair-weather fans to stay off the bandwagon once his game takes off. I may be totally off base here, but KPJ comes across as a smart yet misunderstood loner type with a heart of gold. You just need to get past his walls. He's posted on his instagram of, Itachi Uchiha, a Naruto character that sacrificed his own personal happiness so as to benefit the well being of others. A dark Jesus of sorts. KPJ leans into being the misconstrued "bad guy", because maybe that's how some in his life have unfairly viewed him. Now, here in Houston, he gets a chance to grow and to be a part of a great group of guys. Porter Jr has certainly had an incredibly sad childhood after losing his father at the tender age of four, but we have guys on this squad that can relate to him. For instance JG's dad skipped out on the family when he was a small child and he's lost too many close friends for someone so young. Despite these hardships both have overcome the odds and have taken their talents to the grandest of stages. Scoot's already embraced his role as Green's big brother on the team. Being around these rookies and possibly cutting out a few of the bad apples he may have hung out with before is going to be vital to his success. Porter Jr controls his own destiny. This is his chance to change his stars and write a fantastic second act. https://www.instagram.com/p/CR1v25ZBMpy/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
This is a tough crowd here, in general. People think All-NBA PGs like John Wall and Westbrook are total garbage… So I don’t know how to calibrate expectations, really, for Scoot. He will not be the next CP3, that’s for sure. In terms of being team general, running and executing sophisticated schemes, controlling tempo, probing and devising the plays, probably that’s not the guy… But he can totally be the guy who brings the ball up, puts pressure and bends the defense and makes the right decision in response. Is that PG enough for you guys?
Growing pains... I think we got a little bit spoiled since the last ten years we had capable playmakers, who could dictate a tempo and play with more ball security, and we expect the same from these kids. They will get there eventually. Having said that, I expected KPJ to play better ball these 3 games. He just had too much lazy turnovers that could've been easily avoided. He tends to slow down the tempo instead of pushing, which is not a good way to play for this team right now. We need more PnR action with KPJ and Wood, that's the easiest way to generate offense right now.
Listen I dont think he'll ever be a pass first point guard. He's clearly a score first point guard. This is why Sengun should start. Silas wont do it though.
In his defense Silas did say they were over-penetrating. So KPJ may very well have the green light on the pull-up 3s, but may be making his life more difficult by himself.
Pretty sure Wood cutting to the basket, Green slashing to the basket or Sengun in the deep post are better offensive possessions than KPJ chucking a 3.
I hope KPJ sees this - the goal for him isn't to show how he can cut down on TOs or score more points - it's not measured in outputs but rather outcomes. I visibly see frustration in his game out there and his mistakes seem to cluster around those points when he starts to play more emotionally and pushes himself beyond the point of "control". He needs to do that self introspection thing to monitor when he is starting to get upset or elect a teammate to help keep him in check. It's a fine balance because ultimately the emotions help him do extraordinary things, but as a young player he has to learn to play within himself, find that cruising pace, and then learn to push that pace while retaining control. It's a feel thing and is going to require making mistakes(lots of them), but I think if the team creates that safe space for him he will be fine....but realistically he has a year or so to start showing progress because that safe space won't exist as the expectations increase when the team matures around him so he really needs to measure his progress in small stretches of games and focus around small short term goals - keep TOs under 5 while retaining the same usage for 3 games and don't worry about other stats. He has to bring specific focus to where his problems are so he can work on those.
So the Rockets are dead last in Opponent points off of Turnovers, surrendering 25 points per game so far into the season. Houston is second to last in Turnovers per game at 19 per contest. Porter is averaging 6.3 turnovers per game Napkin math gets me to: (6.3/19)*25 = 8.3 points that Porter gives the other team on any given night Porter has 24 total assists this year with 11 of them accounting for 3 pointers, so about 46% of his assists. ((6.3*.46)*3)+((6.3*.54)*2)=8.694 + 6.804 = 15.498 points generated, on average, from Porter's assists 15.498 - 8.3 = 7.198 net points after accounting for his turnovers.
