KPJ: Can someone explain to me why he has become Clutchfans favorite whipping boy?

Yes. A young player averaging those numbers means a lot, especially for a rebuilding team. It’s nonsense to suggest otherwise.

I love how people keep bringing up terms like “winning basketball.” Of course, there’s really no way to prove or disprove such an amorphous concept, and no one seems to apply it to anyone except KPJ.

 

Sengun just started running the offense last night and Raptors chose to triple team him to get the ball out of his hands because he was dominating them. We have a much larger sample size of KPJ running the offense.

 

PF and C have not been interchangeable since 2002.

 

Credit to KPJ for playing well these past few games. If he continues to put in the effort to pass the ball, you can see the difference it makes in the offense.

 

Cmon man that isnt true. He's been a big fulcrum for this team since he's been reinserted into the starting lineup. Not sure why you guys need to keep inventing weird narratives about everyone on this team. Triple team? Like every time down the court? No right? THAT ONE PLAY!! LOL You think Nick Nurse will be the only one who can take away the baby hook offense? Go ahead keep the "he is who he is" energy going - its almost like a daily confirmation at this point with this place.

edit: its like you guys cant stand even for a minute that KPJ has genuine fans who like to celebrate his baby steps and just need to inject the negativity every chance you get.

 

Sengun has def not been the fulcrum of the offense, especially since he started off on the bench so KPJ can have the rock more. Silas has even said he wanted KPJ to have the ball MORE. KPJ has been forced to be the PG because that is how Silas wants to play.

Nick Nurse, after the first qtr made it a point to get the ball out of Sengun hands. That "baby hook" offense was dominating his whole team. Nick's adjustment was to double Sengun. Sengun was def triple teamed a couple more times when he got the ball in the paint not just that highlight that got Bari a three. They were doubling Sengun at the damn 3 point line to get the ball out of his hands in the 2nd qtr. They were doubling and bringing help on Sengun in the 3rd qtr too. There was one time in the 3rd, EG was wide open because Sengun was tripled teamed in the paint. EG missed the shot.

 

I remember they used to taut that Francis was one of a few PGs in how many years who averaged something like 20/6/6. But if you thought about it, 6 apg for a starting PG wasn't very impressive. And is it that important that your PG grabs 6 rebounds a game for you? I'd much rather the stats was 20/4/8 although it doesn't sound as sexy as the "all-around" game of 20/6/6.

 

Oh no! What awful comps! Seriously, how is this proving your point that the stat line isn't impressive?

 

KPJ could hypothetically average 20-5-5 on 30% FG% along with 7 TOs a game, taking up all the usage while Rockets lose 120-80 on a nightly basis and some idiots on here would still point out that KPJ is a great young player just because only a handful of players at a certain age avg 20-5-5, as if those rudimentary counting stats actually mean something.

Anyone trying to make 20-5-5 as if it's something special is just box-score watching and not actually watching Rockets games.

 

Yeah, except that's not what's happening. KPJ's usage rate is about 25%. That's not very high at all.

 

By the way, since the narrative seems to be shifting to usage rates and age...

Cade Cunningham: 21 yrs old; 30% usage rate; 19/6/6 line

KPJ: 22 yrs old; 25% usage rate; 19/6/6 line

 

KPJ has declined every year across the board. His 36 minute equalized number are essentially the same or worse every single year.
https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/p/porteke02.html#per_minute
If you look at the stats above he underperforms at his position and is equal or declined statically every year. He is not thriving or learning anything here. (coaching?). Actually 20% worse shooting than 2019.

Probably better for him and the Rockets to move him on out. 3rd season and same or worse is probably enough to see what we have.

 

For one, per 36 is a dumb stat. Second, your link literally shows that he is averaging 1.5 points and 1 rebound more per 36 this season as compared to last with a much better FT percentage.

 

His on court = -9.4 and his on-off = -5.3. Per 36 is a good stat because it allows you to compare players performances equally.

Your own metric is kind of silly saying he scores 1.5 more points when playing about 4 more minute per game is NO sign of improvement. Same with boards, 1 board in an extra 4 minutes is improvement? Of course not.

 

Um, I’m talking about Per 36. His per 36 PPG and rebounds in 2021 are less than his per 36 PPG and rebounds this season, meaning you’re wrong when you claim he’s gone down “across the board” under that, admittedly absurd, metric. Do you know how to read the very statistic you’re citing?

 

Are you CRAZY!?!?!

I guess you haven't heard he had a lot of assists the past two games, Tilman is wishing he gave this dude $30,000,000 per season guaranteed now!

 

The fact that you are so anti-KPJ is really giving me confidence in my defense of him.

 

The Rockets moved the ball way better the last two games. Last night they were really cruising and the opposing coach made adjustments to take away Sengun. KPJ and Green reverted back to bad hero ball habits. It was pretty much that simple. Silas should take timeouts when he sees this happening and be able to write-up a few plays to counteract the other coach’s moves, if he is capable.

 

KPj for the first time had motivation to pass the ball, to find an open man. This is huge. His base is like 5-6 assists (last year and except for last two games) which are there just because he is handling the ball so much, and our main pg. It is not a coincidence that it jumped to 10-11 the last two games. And they were not just hand offs etc, he was actually looking for someone open to pass to. Not always, but much more than the 0 times he did before. I did not expect it from him, and I hope he keeps doing that.

That's the good part. The rest is not good though. The glorified 20 points he scores comes at a career low 51.7%. It literally means, the more shots he takes, the more we lose. All the opposing teams would be happy to see him taking more and more shots. He turns over 1 in 6 times, most of them very sloppy plays. Generally his concentration is weak except when he wants to score. When he starts dribbling with no plan, he ends up taking a bad shot or bombs the ball to another player to take the bad shot. These possessions are recorded either as a missed field goal, or a turnover to another player.

So, I am happy for the good part and I'll take the good it. Because I see Silas incapable of developing kpj, or run any other offensive scheme. Any change in the positive direction within the Silas regime that enables the other players to get involved should be celebrated.

 

Yes it will take time for KPJ and Green to learn to be patient and do more active thinking on the court to find the best plays. When sengun was taken out of the game, KPJ immediately went back to take more dribbles and stop the ball movement.