A year or two, if he doesnt show improvement, than it is what it is(even though even that wont be enough to really evaluate him). No, you take the best player available. Doest matter what the position. All I'm saying is yall give Jalen an exceptional amount of leeway(and that's fine, he's our second pick in the draft) but I dont really like how we already wanna cut bait on players this early after a tanking season.
Harden had Beverly for years while he tuned and developed into a point guard. Get this kid someone who isn’t a lazy piece of **** when setting screens, cough cough smith, and give him another year This board will complain why Armani brooks or some g league bum isn’t starting but then will want to flat out cut KPJ I’m not hating on players but we have given him lazy mf’s like wood, trying to get his numbers Gordon, undrafted undersized can’t shoot old man Tate, undrafted kinda undersized kJ(I like kJ), g league players like Armani brooks, only god knows where Mathews came from, and 3 rookies. Then there is the Silas situation…. y’all are trippin
I only gave JG grace because he was a skinny teenager and a rookie. If he played like he did this first half well into next season, I would’ve been on his head. I even said as much. You only get to play poorly for so long. It’s not fair. JG would’ve deserved more time. Most guys take 3-4 years before you know what they are. But this is the nature of the NBA. KPJ is in his 3rd year. He played point guard to end the year last year when Wall was out and by the end of the year I had already developed a list of concerns about his style at the position. I listed my concerns and after almost 1 full season at the position, I honestly don’t think he’s improved as a point guard in any way. He’s improved as a 3 point shooter. To me, his game is far too reliant on his shooting rather than his dribble penetration which he struggles with. You’re right, KPJ is not a finished product. If we don’t draft Ivey, I’m sure he’ll get one more year to prove the doubters wrong.
not sure why u wouldn’t care how many years someone’s been in the league…he’s about to be in his 4th season and still has joke efficiency…his turnover rate is 1 of the highest in the NBA being the best passer on this team isn’t saying much, but there’s far more to being a PG than just being able to pass…u have to be the coach on the floor, be able to read the defense each possession, and set up an offense…KPJr ain’t doing that If he can’t run an offense, then where does that leave him. You’d want the inefficient 6’4 guy being your full-time starting SF?
One difference is an SG's role is to score. Green has that on lock as he has shown multiple times this season. He is even more efficient than Cade now in that regard. KPJ seems like he doesnt have the feel for pg, for a pg you need to be looking to make plays for everyone else and be the organizer of the offense, KPJ tries to do that but clearly isnt comfortable. He is best when he just thinks about himself and doesnt worry about getting others shots. If you watch him play you'll notice this he gets more assists as a sg than as a pg.
KPJ hasnt been getting his shot to fall but he can totally be an sf. Its prob the best fit for him as well cuz he isnt efficient enough to be the no 1 scoring option but has the frame and athleticism to be a good defender and can contribute stats across the board ehich is normally what you see from sfs.
KPJ can dribble and pass, but those are just a couple of the requisite skills you need to play the position at a high level. There are several other things he is lackluster at. Right now today, KPJ as a point guard is a stats accumulator. He gets assists because he is the primary ball handler and as such, his sheer number of passes made over the course of a game naturally result in assists as guys take shots. How many of his passes are the result of him breaking down defenses (getting to the basket is clearly not a strength of his) as opposed to him being the guy with the ball in his hands when they run the play and he just simply makes the pass to the guy the play was ran for? We saw JeSean Tate run PG last year in a game and ended up with 13 points, 10 assists, and 8 rebounds. Is he a point guard too? Ok I think I’m done for now. I hate sounding like I hate KPJ. Just making observations based solely on basketball. Start Nix, slide KPJ to small forward and let’s get a look at it before the season ends. If Mathews and Gordon can play SF then so can Scoot.
By comparison, Kyle Lowry was 22 years old and in his third season when he was traded from Memphis to Houston. He was given a very limited role off the bench on a veteran team But he was playing for Adelman who really put a lot of trust in him, and he thrived leading that second unit. Very different circumstances, but Lowry looked like a bona fide PG from the get go when he arrived in Houston. One caveat is that I believe he didn't look as promising when he was coming off the bench in Memphis in his previous seasons. Changing teams did wonders for him, IMO.
I was watching Porter's highlights/lowlights from the recent game, and he kept reminding me of Westbrook. I didn't want to think it but there are similarities.
In defense of KPJ, Giddey's numbers are quite inflated. I think most people would agree that far too many offensive plays run through KPJ, but even more plays are ran through Giddey. Giddey has by far the highest amount of touches among any other rookie, and actually would be OKC's historical leader in touches if Westbrook never existed. He's 18th in the entire league in touches, but offensively only has 13 points and 6 assists on 48TS% to show for it, so it's no surprise that OKC has the worse offense in the league. Of course, Giddey could be a significantly better player than KPJ by his 3rd season, but at this point in time KPJ is more efficient offensively.
He just does not have it nor is he working his ass off to improve. Just looks like he plays pg because he has to. Sengun has more pg in him than kpj. Sees the floor, plays better, has more interest to make a play for others. Don’t blame kpj though. It is the organization’s fault to insist on this experiment.
I actually think that KPj's flaw(s) might not be easily correctible. (more on this in a moment) I think that Jalen has AT LEAST as good if not better vision for passing as KPj does. It's just that KPj has a much superior handle atm and can get in and out of possible assist situations much better than Jalen can. When JG gets a solid screen and has space he has shown himself quite good at making the correct pass to his teammates. This gives me hope he will be at least combo guard efficient in his passing as he matures But KPj worries me in a couple of ways. These are just examples of a larger pattern I see. I think it was our last preseason game (or maybe 1st reg. season) iirc but it was just before halftime and KPj ran a pick and roll where C-Wood came WIDE OPEN underneath the basket with NO ONE within at least 5ft of him. Right in front of KPj's sightline! Does he pass it to him for the uncontested dunk? No, he fades into a step back 3 pointer! I was incredulous, shaking my head and going "Pass him the ballll!". In his defense he made the 3 and this was one of his best scoring games of the year but that's besides the point. If your big man is wide open underneath the rim you HAVE TO pass him the ball!! Especially if you call yourself a point/combo guard! The other example is from a week or so ago. It was in the 1st half and both JG and KPj were in foul trouble with 3. Mastermind Silas left both in. Jalen had the sense to back off when his man drove into his body trying to pick up his 4th but KPj did the exact opposite. He bodied up HARD to his man and even tried to swipe down hard to make a steal (a la Karl Malone)! He did this on 2 or 3 posessions in a row. I remember thinking "WTH are you doing"! You're literally begging the ref to foul you out! I'm sorry but there's only 1 way to describe that..........BRAIN DEAD!!! Of course Silas did nothing about it! My worry is that KPj's biggest flaw is between his ears and that can be the hardest flaw there is to correct! And with our "everything's good!" head coach maybe impossible!
2nd real season. He has as much games as Anthony Edwards out there. That will come with time man. That's like one of the most experience reliant skills in this game. I'd like to give him more time. Yall just want to cut bait really early. That's fine. But I wanna see if he can really get it.
I like kpj. I think he would be an awesome 6th man where he can just play. I think to be a pg you have to be smart and have a level head. As far as level head goes he is closer to cousins than he is cp3. As far as smart goes, he doesn't have a high basketball iq but he can develop some of that over time so I'll hold off on that.
Beverley was a different kind of PG from KPJ. He was brought in for defense and to play a complementary role to Harden. A lot of his offense came from shooting 3s, I believe. He initiated the offense sometimes, but the ball was mostly in Harden's hand. And on the defensive side, Beverley was there to take on the hard backcourt assignments.
He’s a turnover machine. And he’s not even trying to play point guard anymore. He’s just ignoring people and isoing to get his own shot.
He’s 6’6 and has improved both shooting and defending this year. I’d definitely move him to SF. Simplify his game into 3 and D with secondary scoring and playmaking. He might not be a pg but he’s not hopeless or useless lol.
If KPJ were a good enough passer I’d be ok calling him the pg and letting him initiate the offense. I think some of the other stuff can be worked on. Billups wasn’t the leader and floor general that he ended up being later in his career. I just don’t think he is a good enough passer. Never mind that he’s only averaging 6 ast and 3.5 turnovers — I’m just talking about his passing timing and accuracy. He doesn’t make good crisp passes. I don’t think I’ve seen one skip pass from him all season. Even if he were to see an opening for that type of pass I don’t think he has the ability to make it, especially off the dribble.
I think ultimately this will be our starting lineup Nix - PG Green - SG KPJ - SF PF - Sengun C- TBD We might trade KPJ and put KMJ in at SF......but one of them will be our starter.....IMHO. DD
