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

Harden wasn't a PG, neither was Ron Harper, or Danny Ainge, or....well the league is littered with teams that don't play a PG...championship teams.....

And if KPJ was more efficient scoring you wouldn't hear a peep......people are just impatient and the org has been silent on what they want.....

None of us know what they org wants, we are all commenting from our own bias and what we want.

If you want a traditional PG, that is not what the Rocket's are doing now.

DD

 

Harden was a PG - he played backup PG on the OKC team. That's not a legit argument. Harden was a PG who was turned into a scoring guard who was turned back into a PG.

First of all the examples you bring up are from 30 years ago, when the NBA was completely different. Secondly Ron Harper and Ainge understood their roles on both ends of the court. KPJ does not.

People think that a pg has to rack up a ton of assists to be effective. That's not the case. The job of a PG is to facilitate the offense by initiating it and making sure to see what the defense is going and help make sure the team is adjusting to that. KPJ doesn't have this skill set. He doesn't get when he should do what. Even on fast breaks he is uncertain where to go.

At some point you have to stop trying to teach a horse how to do a backflip.

 

i agree the coaching is a deficiency, but I disagree with you on KPJ. This the 3rd year of the KPJ point guard experiment and there hasn’t been any real improvement from him playing that position. We’d see some progress by now. Green and Sengun both look more comfortable when he’s not on the floor. It’s time to try something different. There are other ways for KPJ to get his minutes.

 

So you're saying the lazy bast@rd can't be bothered to guard the paint and the 3-ball at the same time!!
That's Gen-Z for you: silent quitters all of them. SMH.

 

harden was at the top of the assist leaders every year. That’s a pg. I have been very pro KPJ but I am getting off that train. His regression this year, especially defensively, is sickening. Time to move him to the bench and see if he can excel with the second unit.

 

There are not many traditional PGs in the league right now. There are more score first PGs, than PGs.

Also, I think we place too much emphasis on TURNOVERS. I think as long as we can keep them under 20 and focus more on the DEFENSE, I think this team can win. My reasoning is based upon the Warriors. They have been a consistent high turnover team for yrs and we all know how good they are. But they focus on shooting 3s and DEFENSE.

I still think if we could've shot at least 35% from 3 last night the Rockets could've won. And for them to win against Phoenix and get within 2 of the Warriors as bad as they played, I'm excited.

 

Not to question how you feel about KPJ, because Harden was and is great but Harden was never a savant when it came to perimeter defense. And if you're getting off his train because of his defense, I just don't know if you were really ever on it

 

I watched an entire quarter of play last night so I am fairly certain I am an expert. In my expert opinion, kpj makes some dumb plays. I think heart is their, legs/arms for athleticism are there, heck even the eyes might be there. The brain I think is where his issues lie. He gets caught up in the moment and tries to play hero ball which doesn't work out, he tries to take on 2 or 3 people bc he is caught up in the moment.
As a side not I think there was a seq where kpj turned the ball over, Nix shot an airball, Josh turned the ball over and I was just like wow, our guards.

 

No he didn't he was a scoring guard that also passed, let's not make stuff up to fit a narrative.

DD

 

would you say it's fair to say that KPJ is basically Harden without the offensive ability? Probably about equally bad on defense (numbers favor harden but lets be real, he wasn't good).

 

Great post

 

I will answer everyone's questions right now about kp and basically put an end to this thread by saying this, the argument is "why is kp starting at pg, he sucks"

Well, yes he sucks. I answered that question, but then yall ask "why is Silas so stupid to put kp at pg and not 6th man"?

Simple answer that most of you haven't figured out, it's because we are NOT tanking, and the alternative of kp at pg is nix. Disaster 101. That would be tanking if they started nix and had kp on the bench.

I'm sure when or if they get a better pg then and only then will this argument or thread come to an end because even silas or the next coach will put kp either at sf or bench.

Of course, if I'm wrong, and five yrs from now kp is still the starting pg then the problems are deeper than silas(because silas won't be here in 5 yrs) and that would mean we have the dumbest franchise ever in the nba. I don't think we have a dumb franchise, so it's a 'pick your poison' situation now. Nix or kp. They both suck but management chose kp and i can't fault them for that.

Hope this helps

 

That's what bad habits do to your players.

And no HOF veterans in sight to teach them the opposite.

 

I think it's subjective, he plays like a PG in his last 5 to 6 years.

I think you can call him the prototypical combo guard but his specialty was passing and scoring.

Scoring PGs like Dame or Tony Parker couldn't do what he does, he is on his own island in that respect.

Curry just plays differently.

 

Worst FG% on drives (min 200 drives):

1. FVV: 35.8% (24/67)
2. Tre Jones: 37.2% (48/129)
3. Keldon: 38.4% (48/125)
4. KPJ: 41.4% (58/140)
5. Anunoby: 42.9% (45/105)
6. McCollum: 43.3% (39/90)
7. Dejounte: 43.6% (61/140)
8. Rozier: 44.0% (48/109)
9. Morant: 44.7% (38/85)

 

Proved once again last night that he's an off the bench scorer at best. It's truly LOL material at this point. Had high HOPES, but sadly reality set in and the negative remained. The in-game sequence of him jacking one bricked 3, getting it back to iso and jack another bricked 3, then stupidly someone makes the bright eyed decision to once again pass it out to him... at that moment, I knew 100% he was going to iso and launch another ZERO hesitation 3, with four other dudes waiting, regardless. Another no shame brick.

On any legit team, with a respectable coach he would not sniff a starting lineup. He does not have it between the ears. No control whatsoever over his horrible decision making.

The Rox "ORG" is starting to look quite suspect with him "running" things.

Wemby maybe?

 

What I see is a guy that flashes offensive talent but lacks the necessary attributes to be a starting point guard. Especially when paired in the backcourt with Jalen Green where their collective lack of defense ends up digging us a hole against opposing backcourts. They are both flat out shitty in fighting through a screen and limiting space for a shooter.

KPJ gets caught up in believing he’s as good as Green and deserves as many shots. Add in Sengun to the mix with he and green on the court and you are setting up a track meet for other teams. Worse still - with KPJ at the point guard, two players on the court are always isolated out of the offense. The 3 & 4. You could point to the offensive scheme as playing a contributing role here - but watching KPJs mental meltdowns in the first quarter game after game I see it more as coaching allowing him to continue bad habits.

Green is bad defensively. Period.
Sengun is pathetic defensively. Period.
Yet they both contribute more offensively and factor into our future plans.

KPJ will have a career in the nba - but it’s painfully obvious to me that it’s not on this team. Pulling him off ball doesn’t solve it.

Yes he has talent. Yes he was worth a second round pick flyer when we got him. But when you add in the young core we have drafted - he just doesn’t fit. Trade him to the Lakers or another team desperate for a gamble on upside. We are flush with better players we are currently gambling on.

and for the love of god could we please incorporate some plays for shooters running through screens for open shots? 8-10 a game?

 

I would say some of that, but he is not nearly as efficient. I contend if he were making his shots more often people would stop microanalyzing him.

DD

 

Weird how so many good players are on that list.

DD

 

lol ya obviously, if he could make shots he would be a better player, that goes for 100% of nba players ever