I said this a while back, but I don't think the coaching staff does him any favors when the defense is crowding him. They leave him out there to go one-on-one and that takes him out of running the offense. It becomes a personal challenge and showdown for him. In situations like the one you posted where Jrue was in his space ball-hawking, they need to run a guy out there and set a pick for him just like the Pistons do for Cade Cunningham. When KPJ is able to get that aggressive defender on his hip, he is much better in these situations in my opinion. I don't know why they just leave him out there to go And 1 mixtape so often.
I disagree that you don't know what you are getting from him or that he wildly inconsistent, I am going to need to see the numbers. I think people look at KPJ and can't wait to nitpick his game and ignore that Green has been very up and down. I see the same approach with KPJ every time I see him play, I don't know where you are getting, he approaches the game differently from night to night. And even so young players are inconsistent, it's the nature of the beast. I don't know why most people are so eager to think they have figured out KPJ's game or what type of player he will be, just relax and let it play out.
Ultimately this is an experiment. Sometimes it looks to be working great and other times not so much. I can separate how I feel about KPJ as a player from how I think he is doing in his role. I'm not critiquing his ability or questioning his talent. I can speak for myself and not others, but I mainly critique him in his role. He is clearly still developing in his role. It isn't unfair to talk about it if we're trying to project if this should be his role long-term and not just in the interim. I don't know why some of you guys think roughly 70% of the fanbase is picking on KPJ and singling him out when most of the complaints are for the same exact reasons. It was the same with Christian Wood at first. I would love nothing more than for KPJ and Wood to be franchise players. Do you know how far ahead of the game that would put us with Jalen Green being the young up-and-coming third option? We'd have a big 3 one year into a rebuild with a top pick incoming! I'd love that. I understand we may not all see the game the same way, but many people that I talk to that either coach or have played the position have an understanding of what I'm referring to. Maybe it isn't easy to explain. It isn't a statistically related issue that I'm seeing. Ryan Hollins (former NBA player and current analyst) who is a huge KPJ supporter even got on the Twitter Spaces last week and made a comment that although he believes in KPJ and thinks he is a special talent, the Rockets probably would've been better this year with a "natural point guard." He went on to say that this didn't matter for this year since it was a year of growth, and that he supports the decision to give KPJ the chance to grow into that role because of his upside and that the organization made the right choice by giving him the keys and letting him go with it. I also believe letting KPJ play point guard this year was a good idea. Other than Wall, there was no better option and I wanted Wall to play as much as I wanted to see Eric Gordon or Schroder which means not at all. There are very specific things that KPJ shows flashes of doing that he doesn't consistently do enough of and I'm just hoping like crazy he figures it out. He is still only 21 for another month.
I think they can be this. This is what I want to believe they have the potential to be. Two 6-6 uber-athletic, two-way, combo guards. That's the vision.
I swear this love fest is primarily pushed by fans under 25. No one who watches these games can really believe these two can coexist while actually winning
Hopefully they are able to move Wall and Wood (for the teams sake) and EG (for his). Then pick up some guys on team friendly deals, that fit that need.
I don't see KPJ and Green co-existing unless KPJ is moved to a 3, in a more off-ball type of role. KPJ has the talents to be an off-ball player, and his shooting numbers are drastically improved as a catch and shoot player, but as a primary ball handler he hasn't really showcased enough consistent good decision making to be the long term answer at PG. It's worth a least exploring him at PG for the first couple of months into next season, but if the results aren't there, the Rockets will need to have a conversation with him to see if he would consider a SF role or a 6th man role. The earlier the conversation, the more information the Rockets will have to work with in determining his value during FA.
I think it can be a mistake to frame his mistakes a certain way. I get the sense that some defenders here see all of his turnovers happening because he's trying to do too much or being too fancy. But go back and watch the game. Many turnovers come from an inability to make good passes. He can't make good passes to guys who are in the post and who have sealed off their man. When he has to hit a pass in a seam, he misses to the left or right every time. There was one play like that the other night when he tried to throw it to Nix, who was wide open down low, but he just plain missed. On occasion he'll make a nice pass in the midst of a move he's making, but those passes are most instinctive, when he's focused on scoring and not passing. When you just look at all the passes he can't make with any consistency along with all the misses and poor decisions that come from him having the ball in his hands for extended periods of time, I just don't see how you can continue to think he's the PG going forward. Frankly, I am often more confident in Tate bringing it up or Wood bringing it up, because then at least we'll get a shot during the possession instead of a turnover or dribble out.
They haven't been around basketball long enough to know when some "ain't it". Doesn't take long to look at everything Porter does and come to that conclusion. The worst part is that he's one of those that does juuuust enough to keep giving him chances.
Ok so in this Nets game. KPJ and JG practically split point guard duty. This may be the recipe. They both had decent first quarters. There are some kinks to work out for sure. They both need to get into the offense faster and play with better pace, but I’m intrigued. Let’s see more.
2nd quarter was a disaster. I was going to say never mind. Let’s see what the 3rd quarter brings. 2nd quarter was unwatchable though.
Yep, a new group that all they do is repost tweets from no name fans, as if simply being on twitter gives you credibility.
I’m sure as hell not under 25, I’ve watched basketball for decades, and I couldn’t care less what people on twitter are saying. But Porter has been playing extremely well at the same time that Green has exploded. To say “sure, but they aren’t winning” and somehow attribute that to KPJ while celebrating Green/Sengun and ignoring that the bench is comprised of Viper rejects scoring 5 PPG reeks of an agenda. And ad hominem “people who think he has a strong future here just must be young people who don’t watch games” attacks don’t add credibility. “Cutting their losses” on someone who has improved so dramatically while still being younger than a college senior is just silly. If you look at what this backcourt has done the past few weeks and come to the conclusion that it just can’t work, that’s on you, not on some imaginary 20 year old straw man you’ve constructed.
