Being defended by the best defender is a valid point, but a minor point as well. Opposing teams did not put on their best defenses on us either. The names on that list are already facing better and more motivated defenses all season long.
^"List of non-nominal F/C who took a lot of dribbles and had high usage" is an alternative name for this data point.
I have noticed it's mostly the "player X only" or "player X primarily" type fans that irrationally hate KPJ..... despite the fact that KPJ helps their progression by drawing the attention of the other team's best defenders and creating open looks for them... or by helping hide them on the other end of the court. Ultimately, I don't have a lot of patience for those kinds of fans. Either be a Rockets fan first and foremost, or it devalues your opinion.
The random cherry picking stats on the media are getting out of hand. It used to be Morey's gimmick to pick some weird numbers to make someone look impressive. Now everybody is doing that.
Sam look at that list again -- KPJ is near the top along with some of the most elite talent in league history. It's time to LOCK HIM UP.
Kevin Porter jr had a USG% of 24.1 Not sure that's considered high usage. ANT 26 Dame 29 Cade 27 Irving 29 the rest in the 30's or 40's
Considering the tragically low number of touches and the fact they they wouldn’t have been guarding Wood (other high touch numbers guy), that 24% is pretty high.
Yeah fine, I'm just saying out of context, this stat isn't very helpful. Like, you could be an elite, world-historical one-man threat like Luka, you could also be a low-efficiency guy who initiates a lot of P&R as the ball handler or runs a lot of isos. Bradley Beal was awful last season but the Wizards simply don't have much else. Though, at least he was formerly an effective player so there's that. The other thing is that it's just missing tons and tons of context. What criteria is "most impactful defender" - does defending lots of perimeter players correlate with whatever metric is used for impact? How does this account for switches? What about teams that start off with their second "most impactful" defender on to another guy to take away switches, etc.
Sure ok. Just like the stats having Green mentioned with MJ, Kobe and Iverson. Some of the greatest of the game. Nobody complains of Michael Jordan having 28 FGA's in what his 3rd year? People can make what they want from the stats. Harden first year as full time PG was with us and he had a higher USG% and lower Ast% than Porter USG% and Ast%..... Im saying if you have better catch and shoot guys around him the stats would be better as the best defender would need to rotate. Instead we had 4 defenders camped out in the paint. Not even MJ would do good against 4 defenders camped out in the paint the whole freaking game. Yes, context does matter.
Said almost nobody in the NBA when it's concerning 2nd contracts. If this was the prevailing wisdom, almost no rookies would get big money on their 2nd contracts. It's amazing that some think all of a sudden economics are going to change in the NBA regarding KPJ when there is nothing to back that up. It makes zero sense.
Im guessing you're referring to Hardens first year not his first nominal PG year in 2017 when he lead the entire league in assists for an all-time great offensive team. Even then - who cares? The Rockets were the 26th best offense in the league last year and 23d in assists. In Hardens first season, they were 6 and 6 respectively. Who cares if he finished 2nd to Jeremy Lin in assist %? If you're asking me to compare 2013 Harden with 2022 Porter its.. not much of a contest.
Yeah no, in 12/13 I don't consider Beverley as our real PG even if Basketball-reference.com shows Beverley as PG 98% of the time. People need to actually watch the games to understand. Beverley was just called PG....in name only.
What do you consider serious and how do you know Dream and Barkely never had altercations like that? I think what dream did to Maxwell and what Barkley did with his drinking and fighting are just as bad as what KPJ did, Dream slapped a teammate how is that not as bad as throwing something in anger? You are arbitrarily assigning weight to these issues, what Akeem did to Maxwell is far worse than any of this stuff if you want to use actual logic. Can you name me a player that threw a fan through a plate glass window and had those types of drinking problems? Talk about underplaying the seriousness of prior incidents.
Yeah....anyhow Jeremy Lin started all 82 games and led the Rockets in assists that year. Weird that anyone who watched the games could forget our brief stint of Linsanity. Again, not sure why we're arguing this because 2013 Harden v. 2022 Porter is not really a legitimate contest.
The best wing defender guards whichever non-big has the ball most, which usually happens to be the team's best player. It just so happens that our best player didn't have the ball the most last season.
Your bringing up that Hakeem was a much better player than KPJ was a straw man nobody has ever said they were comparable as players, we are talking about incidents as young players and slapping a teammate at halftime is more of an issue than leaving at halftime and Hakeem has admitted to having a real attitude problem as a young guy.
Hakeem was a top pick and just because Hakeem was not suspended really means nothing, especially considering the time and the place that team under Guy Lewis was not a bastion of choir boys. Now do you want to talk about the actual things he did as a young player in the NBA as opposed to what KPJ has done? He was given away because they did not have much draft capital invested, and I have no idea why that should have any bearing on what he is worth now to the Rockets.
What is the cost savings of locking him up now? Because, as the games become more impactful and as winning will takes priority, can KPJ sustain his continued improvement? And will that amplify or detract from the core of Green and Smith? I say, there is no rush in signing him right now, unless it’s a very team friendly type of deal. Sure, Maybe it will cost a little more. And there is a risk he can play himself into a near max contract somewhere else. But the way I see it, KPJ was one route for an infusion of youth before the implosion after Harden got his trade out of town; but since then the Rockets have added Green and Smith as elite building blocks. KPJ gave hope with a very dry talent roster, devoid of youth and potential. But, the Rockets have to gauge who compliments the core that the team is hoping gets them to the championship. For all we know KPJ may separate himself from Green and everyone else, but so far, I think most agree that Green has that “IT” factor.
