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

How many years kpj has been in the league? 4. How many years green been in the league? 2.

Kpj stans using mental gymnastics to refute this basic concept.

When u compare players developmental process u compared their production/performance by the year they been playing in the league not their actual age like a dumb@$$.

Green year 2 is not the same as kpj year 4 even if they are "close in age".

U don't compare a 2nd grader learning process to a 4th grader learning process. Such a basic concept.

 

Ah yes, it's me not comprehending that someone who is 22 is really 23 and someone who was 20 was really 19.

I guess it's my fault for not seeing how that makes sense.

LOL, you crazy kids struggle so much with very basic things.

 

So a guy like Halliburton or Paul is going to magically create shooters with their awesome court vision - got it! Im not arguing KPJ as needing a PG/lead guard title anyway Im just not in tune with your observation. The malady of this team as shooters and play finishers doesnt fall at the feet of KPJ and then get twisted into an archetype problem. Poor reads leads to bad shots? CMon man. Houston was already dead last in corner 3 frequency without you mentioning that a good portion of those came with time running out in heaves. Do you get it now?

Like it or not statistically speaking KPJ is the 2nd best player on the team next to Sengun and is BY FAR the best shooter on the squad who is also an above average playmaker. Trying to relegate him to a bench role or worse in favor of a player who will at most impact an extra 2-3 assists per game is faulty logic if they dont bring anything else to the table. Teams need cross trained players not specialists in todays game. You dont need this romantic ideal of a "pure PG" or pass first floor generals anymore.

KPJ needs to give consistent effort on defense every play and understand tempo and pace better to continue to ascend. You make that work - you dont get locked into thinking that a pure passer in todays game is going to catapult a team that cant even demonstrate the ability to be at least average in the most fundamental aspect of the sport. Passer/shooter is a symbiotic relationship in terms of assists and how they are weighed and assigned to successful "PGs". KPJ is robbed of 2-3 assists per game just due to how bad this team has shot for the last couple seasons particularly in wide open shots and layups.

 

The team does worse with KPJ on the court than when Green is on the court. Both are starters playing against mostly opposing team starters. So no I don't think he's the second best player on the team.

It's not about creating open looks. It's about making reads to the open looks. As of right now we have a starting backcourt where neither of our guards can make reads beyond the immediate direct line of sight open shooter or roll man.

You can't operate a NBA offense like that. One of your guards has to be able to make more advanced reads than just that.

 

KJP lost efficiency his second year too. Green got better everywhere else besides TS%, so we saw plenty of improvement from Green. I'd like to wait until Green's 4th season to compare him to KPJ's 4th season, that is correct. Typically, recently drafted players take 3-4 years to show what kind of player they're going to be in the NBA. I feel the same way about Jabari/Sengun etc.

 

Jalen Green and KPJ are seperated by 1 year and 10 months or 1.83 years. They are seperated by two seasons of NBA experience and training.

I'm noticing you are still having basic issues with basic mathematical concepts. It's okay I already know your politics and your intellegence on matters outside of sports also and your math skills match up with my perception of you.

 

Good reads/passes lead to easy buckets/shots. That's a simple fact.

Hardens touchdown passes leads to easy buckets/shots. Can kpj do those?

Alley oops passes leads to easy buckets/shots. Kpj hardly utilize those passes hence lob threat Bruno wasn't useful in the starting line up.

There are so many passes that aren't utilized bc kpj lacks the fking ability to do them. That's what happens when u never played pg in your life.

Since its quite obvious that kpj game as a playmaker is lacking blaming it on his teammates whiffing is just generic mental gymnastics u hear from kpj stans.

A good playmaker elevates his teammates. Kpj isn't able to do that. Not that hard of a concept. Blaming his teammates for his own inability is laughable.

Isn't skilled enough to carry the offense load and isn't good enough to elevate his teammates via playmaking, hence sixth man position is fitting.


When we are basically dead last in the offense system, the pg is the one to blame since he is the one that controls it.


If u are the qb of the team and your offense cant score, folks are generally gonna blame the qb for being dogsht. Same towards the pg.

 

"Its KPJ's fault this team was the worst jump shooting team in the NBA I dont care if the potential assist passes are bricked because he isnt as good as Chris Paul or James Harden"

Casuals masquerading as self professed analysts and high leverage players and/or coaches. ClutchFans at its finest!

 

No that isn't what people are saying. Engage in good faith please.

Im asking a simple question here:

Should KPJ be the starting pg of the Houston Rockets next season?

Another question: if Stone insists that he still be the starting pg next year, will that harm interest from potential hc candidates and vet free agents?

 

Just a quick drive-by comment, not gonna get into it with Bobby again since he never stops and never concedes anything:

I definitely agree that an under-talked about aspect of "KPJ is not a point guard" is that his passes don't hit shooters at the right spots in rhythm to shoot. Even when he hits a guy on the perimeter, which didn't happen nearly as often as it should have because he doesn't have good court vision, it's just "get the ball in the general area where they can catch it at some point". He wasn't exactly setting guys like Jabari up to have success in their spot-up attempts and I think that did play a part in our overall 3P% being low.

 

That's a great question, and based on what you hear from the non-hack NBA guys who are plugged in (Zach Lowe, etc.) I do think that these high profile HQ's are going to ask alot of questions about KPJ, and what they can expect with the PG situation. I know I sure as hell would based on what we hear from the guys who hear stuff.

And what those plugged in high profile coaches will want to ensure is that they will not be overruled if KPJ stinks in their offense, and they need to either move him to the 3 or to the bench.

If you think a coach like Atkinson, or Nurse WONT be asking that question in interviews to address that concern then frankly you are a Dufus.

Doesn't mean they wouldn't start KPJ under any circumstances, but I do think it's unlikely any of them will sign up to come to Houston without knowing that they won't be overruled and forced to start him.... IF it's just not working out.

 

It's funny because Ryno was better at shooting with passes from CP3 vs Harden and flat out stated that it was due to CP3 passing in a way that makes it easy to get his shot off. Yet, some posters still deny the concept of passing into a shooter's pocket and insist they know better with KPJ.

 

It's a huge deal and one that I credit Clutch for articulating, and bringing to our attention the other day over anyone reciting that fact. As Clutch put it, there's no way the team that basically defined the corner-3 as the best shot in basketball, would suddenly decide to be dead last in the league in corner 3's.

Who on this roster would be responsible for setting up guys in the corner's???

Bringing up that fact doesn't make you a KPJ Hater or whatever, but its a simple fact that has to be addressed. Either by KPJ moving off the ball, getting better shooters in general, better coaching, or all the above. Probably.... ALL OF THE ABOVE. KPJ might not be the entire problem here, but he sure as hell is part of the reason why the corner 3 suddenly vanished.

 

Ah yes, the person who said that a 20 year old was 19 and a 22 year old was 23 is telling me that I'M the one having problems with mathematical concepts.....that's adorable.

I get that you are fundamentally dishonest when it comes to discussing the love of your life, Jalen Green, but at least make an effort to not make it so obvious that you are constantly dishonest.

 

Yes you are having the issue with mathematical concepts. You are trying really hard to portray Green and KPJ having one year difference in age and experience. That is what you are doing. It's blatantly obvious.

Don't waste time online being insincere.

 

I know you aren't big on being honest or accurate, but this season the disparity between the Rockets offensive rate and the opposing team's offensive rate was -1.1 with KPJ on the court vs off the court and -1.8 with Jalen green on the court vs off the court. Now sure, they were both dragged down by sharing the court with Jabari Smith (-8.5 on vs off), but the facts simply don't support your false narrative.

So yeah, turns out you are lying for your man again.

 

I'm the one saying Jalen Green will be 22 next year at this time....something factually accurate that makes you cry.

You are the one saying that Jalen Green was 19 last season after the all star break which is an outright lie and saying that KPJ is 23 years old right now which is an outright lie.

So yeah....I'm not sure why you think doubling down on your outright lies while doing your best to make factually accurate statements appear to be inaccurate will be effective. I guess you just can't help yourself due to being fundamentally dishonest.

Either way, it's kind of sad my guy.

 

All I will say is that you guys who value traditional roles in an antiquated belief on what constitutes winning basketball should mentally prepare for KPJ to continue to run lead guard for this team and to be attached at the hip to Stone and Fertitta who both seem to be OK with the job he's doing. Could KPJ be relegated to a different role with a better player in his current spot - OF COURSE! Im only here to dispute this fan myth of KPJ being a terrible initiator for this team when this team didnt do him any favors in return. A new coach should be able to extract the most from all of these players with a focus on playing to individual strengths in an effort to help the whole team. This team is an attractive destination for plenty of reasons and I dont see why having KPJ on the roster in any role would cause candidates to balk.

 

Let's get the fact straight, KPJ is one of the best ISO players in the league last season. For the eyes test, he also played significantly better in the second half of the season than the previous two and a half season before that. The problem is that pairing him and Green together on the court are negatives, any advanced statistics will show that. I do not know whether who is the problem, he or Green. Green usually gets the pass because he was the second pick, plus KPJ had some on and off court issues that added insult to the injury.

To answer your question, I would say KPJ shouldn't be the starting pg of the Houston Rockets next season. It may be unfair to KPJ because he's a better ISO player, but Green was the second round pick and has a higher ceiling. The most logical move is sending KPJ to the bench; this move will strength our bench unit significantly. Think about if KPJ replaced Nix running the second unit, that would be huge for our team.

 

Saying that KPJ is a better iso player than Green when discussing pg role is silly.

If you look at iso possessions for each player on NBA.com, they are low. Because in reality the Rockets actually don't run many "iso plays". What they run is pnr plays the eventually lead to iso plays but the stat is recorded as "pnr" possession. So the sample size is low for each player we are comparing per game so iso ppp has a lot more noise.


A true indicator of efficiency per possession for KPJ and Green is their pnr ball handling ppp. If you look at those possessions it's easily the highest frequency possession for KPJ and Green at 10 per game for Green and 8.5 per game for KPJ compared to like 2-3 possessions per game for iso possessions for each player.

And if you look at pnr ball handler possessions, Green has lead in ppp. Which is sad because the starting pg should be the most efficient pnr ball handler, not the off guard.