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

He absolutely does not deserve to be 12th in the league. He's no where close to the level of players that are immediately around him in that list.

Again this is also on Stone to make KPJ this type of high time of possession guard. That isn't KPJ's game. It isn't supposed to be. And yes even with the current roster, he could have had that time of possession significantly reduced if he was a less selfish player.

 

Now go ahead and let the mask slip, tell us who you think should have had that time of possession instead. Who on the Rockets is just SO MUCH BETTER than KPJ?

 

Nobody deserves anything on this team if you want to be honest. It was resulting stat from the philosophy. Not surprising Jalen had the second most TOP on the team because of that. Point the finger at Silas and Stone if you want to -- if the next coach comes in with an emphasis on guard play that stat wont change much. If the supporting cast can actually shoot like professional basketball players it will not become a point of contention for people who are looking for excuses either way.

 

Rockets shooting terribly from the 3 should not deter KPJ from making reads. Those two things are entirely independent of each other. Luka playing with high schoolers will still make the same passes and reads he does now. A correct pass is the correct pass regardless of who receives it in most cases.

It's not about assists, KPJ spends a lot of times in possessions surveying and surveying and would miss multiple opportunities to make the pass until the shot clock is running out. It's partly coaching and partly natural instincts. I don't think Porter is selfish, he does want to make the right passes, but his basketball brain just doesn't function as fast as the truly great passers out there.

I think it's great that his 3 point shooting is improving so much, he should stick to that instead of dribbling.

Jalen also has limited reads and passing, but at least he's quite a bit more decisive whether it's good or bad.

 

KPJ is 16th in the NBA in passes made and 20th in "average seconds per touch".

"He just doesnt make the right read and is selfish"

Before the discussion devolves even further lets remember that it started with KPJ being unable to spot a corner 3 point shooter. Here are the Rockets stats for the season. Go take a peek at the corner 3 percentages and then miss me with the "he STILL needs to be making that pass" stuff.

"I dont care if its going to be a wasted play it still needs to be attempted"

https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/HOU/2023.html

 

I hope they all continue to improve in their bbiq and making the right passes at the right time. We need to make a big leap next year in efficiency and winning or the owner is going to do something stupid. No reason to trade any of our developing players with high potential like Sengun, Green, Jabari, and KPJ unless the return is a vet in their prime or a young developing vet that is a better fit like Lamelo. But even then, the price can’t be outrageous. Stone laid out his plan and so far has stuck to it. His biggest mistake was not eating the Silas contract after the 2021/22 season.

The easiest path to major improvement is to put KPJ and Green into a guard rotation that includes a really good vet PG and to mix Sengun in as a more frequent facilitator in the half court. In order for that to lead to big time improvement, Sengun needs to have a better and less reluctant outside shot (preferably from both 3 pt and elbow/ft line). Even if the vet is a Conley and not a Harden, with a good coach, we should see immediate returns to at least in the conversation for the play-in. If we get Wemby then the forward/center spots also have the potential for a great rotation. If we get Scoot, then KPJ becomes the odd-man out. In all scenarios, defense has to improve and that, in my opinion, is the most dependent on the coaching change.

 

I'm sorry but regardless of how low the team corner three point percentage is, a starting NBA pg should be able to make the read to a open three point shooter.


Just listing what the 3pt percentage average is irrelevant as it doesn't provide context. The Rockets have limited open 3 pt attempts and a lot of the corner threes are probably Jalen and KPJ off the dribble in the corner doing a step back fadeaway three towards the baseline.

 

KPJ hit nearly 48% of his corner 3's this season....so unfortunately no, there weren't that many of them because no one on the team other than KPJ was capable of consistently creating 3 point shots for teammates.

Now Jalen on the other hand, he got plenty of corner 3 attempts....unfortunately he only hit just under 32% of them because he's not a very good shooter.

Sure, KJ Martin and Tari probably should have gotten more, but how many times have we seen someone try to hit one of those two in the corner only for it to be a turnover because they left the corner spot before the pass? It seems like that happened at least once every game and IMO that's a coaching problem. The players aren't taught to do the right things and it leads to miscommunications like that.

Hopefully now that they are moving on from Silas and trying to get a real coach, that problem can be solved.

 

I'm amazed that this thread is at 287 pages. KPJ is not a PG, experiment failed. Why you guys still arguing about this?

 

So you admit that the lack of corner 3 pt shooting is not a byproduct of guard play. Good! Now we're getting somewhere. Give the team viable shooters (not just corner shooters) and you would see the whole offense flourish. Whatever works! KPJ cant pass the ball to himself. Jalen is only a 32% corner shooter. I guess we should have drawn up more corner shots for Garuba and Garrison Mathews in hindsight.

To me it seems like it was a case of self realization. Why push that singular play as an example of poor guard vision if the whole team acknowledged they just werent very good at it by not running many of those plays? Somehow it turns into "they have shooters in the corners but KPJ doesnt see them".

As a team Houston was 2nd to last in corner 3 pt shooting so AT LEAST they didnt keep doing the same thing over and over expecting different results in limiting the frequency of that specific shooting zone.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2023.html

Corner 3 pt shooting was important when you mentioned it, but now its irrelevant? Now its about the general overall read and pass to open 3 point shooters that KPJ neglects? Ok well the team sucked ass at general 3pt shooting too! The plays were there to be made - the passes were getting there and most of the team routinely clanked wide open shot after wide open shot. That was the reality.

For the record im not advocating for KPJ as a "best" of anything. Just illuminating the bias and misplaced culpability on the team by fans. If the team trades him and anyone else on this roster and gets closer to a ring in the process sign me up -- not a single player is untouchable on one of the worst teams in the league.

 

Pick your poison:

1) cannot make the reads
2) does not make the correct passes on purpose

 

The reason the thread continues is because he's still the whipping boy of player first and player only fans looking to blame the struggles of their favorite player on someone else.

He's currently the 2nd best player on the roster, but if you listen to these simpletons they'd have you think he was as bad as Jalen Green or Jabari Smith were this season.

 

No the lack of corner 3 pt attempts is a lack of guard playamking. Absolutely. Our low percentage is a product of bad shooters AND poor reads by guards. And again the Rockets probably have a lot more larger share of contested corner threes from Green and KPJ primarily when the shot clock is running down


KPJ is not a pg. He's either a starting off guard or a 6th man. This is near universal consensus by now.

 

He's a combo guard that is forced into a PG role due to being on a team full of scrubs that have no PG skills. Sure in a perfect world he'd be the starting SG playing next to a competent ball handler at PG or in a situation where he at the very least had a competent combo guard playing next to him to share those responsibilities. Unfortunately that's just not reality, the Rockets lack the guard talent to have him in a role that would be better for him.

I don't think anyone has ever argued that KPJ is a pure PG.

Perhaps if the Rockets land a PG in the draft, they can move KPJ to the SG spot and being the inefficient chucker Green off the bench. Here's hoping.

 

Serious question. Knowing Green is the #2 pick, knowing everything you know about the front office and overall organization, do you actually believe there's any real chance of this happening?

Just, like... checking your levels here.

 

There are a few KPJ threads, this one might be the most vibrant one.

 

That's the point, this franchise values high end picks.

If Green was a 14th pick or wherever Christopher got drafted, it would be very different unbeknownst of everything that has happened.

I don't mind the prototype of a hierarchy here but I don't think KPJ is below Green in that pecking order, at least not by much.

 

I mean, if you bring in a new coach, I'd have to believe that Green would no longer be protected and decisions would be based on performance rather than draft status.....so sure, there's certainly a path for that to happen.

If you bring in a coach that blindly plays players based on draft status alone....you just got another tanking coach.

I think the most likely scenario is that neither palyer gets benched. My hope is that Jalen finally becomes an efficient player and improves his ball handling and passing to where he can be a combo guard to help KPJ with those responsibilities.

 

KPJ is not ever going to be the starting SG for this team over Jalen Green. Give it up. I hope you root for whoever replaces KPJ on the roster next season or in 2024 with the same zeal that you do for him.

And let's drop the "combo guard" stuff. He's brought his shooting #s up to a respectable level but his passing stats and BBIQ are too low too run an efficient offense and aren't improving year-to-year. He's a 2 guard who can handle and create, for himself.

 

Green's advanced stats at year 2 are significantly better than KPJ's during his second year. If we want to project players' careers, based on their current trajectories he will likely be better than KPJ within 1-2 years. Because of this, it's highly unlikely Green will be coming off the bench lol.