he's a consistent corner 3 away from cracking the rotation. he wont get any PT while he struggles with his jump shot. imo this puts him behind thornton right now for 10th man in the rotation. his contract, age, and potential (and the fact that he's not a rotation player) make him a prime trade candidate. the package of KJ/jones/pat is enough outgoing salary to net us a solid PF.
It's unlikely that McDaniels will ever be an elite shooter. But I believe he is well on his way to becoming a 32-34% shooter from deep. Last season he had two solid months from three: 39.5% in November, and 31% in January (3 attempts and 2.1 attempts a game). In fact, the more I analyse McDaniels' data, the more I believe poor shot selection could be the main culprit affecting his efficiency. He shot 47% from the left wing. The problem is, he was particularly poor from the right wing and the top of the arc (sub 30%). If he can get to his areas on the floor and stick to his strengths there's no reason he can't post 33-34% from three. He has a solid jumper, just needs to fine tune his shot selection. As we all know, he is an effective finisher at the rim, so improving his shot selection should bump him up to a nice 44-45% overall fg.
Annoying, embedding the image didn't work. Here's the link to KJ's heatmap from last season. http://nbasavant.com/img/image.php
Just wait til the playoffs. KJ breaking his wrist before the playoffs was bitter sweet last season at a because of the contract issue, if he played against the Warriors we would've won but he'd be on another team right now. KJ can lock down any guard in the league he's that good. His problem is offense, he's basically Lance Stevenson with a better attitude and more raw athleticism. McHale has endless lineup possibilities because of how athletically versatile this roster is. Hell he could go with Lawson, Harden, KJ, Jones and Capella and terrorize a lot of teams in this league. Man can we start the ****ing season already?!!!
Good for you. Being man enough to say it. I will say I think KJ will get there eventually. KJ, Canaan, Nick Johnson, T-will, D-Mo, etc. All guys CF screamed for more playing time over the years. Coach KNOWS when a guy is ready. He isn't going to sit a guy that can make him look good. If guys would listen coach tells you who is ready. Like when PPat was tearing it up he said he was going to play big minutes. Beverley came over from Russia and coach said he was doing some really good things in practice and he thought he'd see what he could do in a game. McHale will give young guys a chance to get their feet wet then if they show something the get regular minutes. But first you gotta look good in practice.
He has potential to be a great defensive player. His offense looks bad for now. He can't hit shots. He's not a play maker (somewhat of a black hole). He can't finish well either. The only thing going right now is that he runs the court. I see him as a Corey Brewer kind of guy with more athleticism.
I also would like to see KJ defending PGs. See how versatile he is in guarding multiple positions. I would also like to see KJ surrounded by a number of starters. I want to see how he would compliment their games as a wing defender and slasher. Depending on how he grows, he could take minutes away from Ariza, Brewer, Beverley and/or make those higher salary players more expendable in trades. BUT, KJ has to improve, has to shoot that 3pt shot better.
I don't get the comparisons to Williams at all (and thank god he's gone). KJ needs to learn our defensive and offensive systems as he continues to develop. The best thing for the Rockets to do, in my opinion, is to send him to the Vipers for extended stretches, bringing him back from time to time to see how he does with the Rocks. I'm hopeful that he'll improve enough to be worth sticking with the team sometime after the break. Morey wouldn't have gone to such trouble to keep the guy if he didn't see him as capable of contributing at some point this season. KJ cost us Chuck Hayes, who I still wish we had brought back to Houston. I find it hard to believe that Daryl hung on to him just to have another trading chip. He sees real potential, in my opinion.
I remember he was on JJ Barea for a few possessions. Not sure if by design or due to transition/switching, but I remember Barea getting by him a couple times. (Note: this, if accurate, is not damning to KJ and I don't mean to make it sound like that. It was just a few possessions in a preseason game.)
I feel the fastest way for KJ to be able to get court time is to be able to guard PGs defensively and hit the 3pt shot for spacing purposes.
Gonna be hard for him to find meaningful playing time this year. I think the rockets are high on him as a cheap future backup if they go for gold for a free agent anytime soon *cough* kevin durant *cough*
I think Corey Brewer with more athleticism is KJ's upside. That's assuming he learns to shoot and at least appears to understand an offensive system. There is something "off" about KJ. As Clutch said, he's more trade bait that anything else at this point. He won't get meaningful minutes this year and should be hoping the Rockets blow a lot of teams out.
agree with your points..however I think he has to shoot consistently outside of 5 feet. All he's shown me is extreme athleticism with getting to the rim and blocked shots. he doesn't consistently finish around the rim.
They signed him for risk / reward calculation. Pay him 3/$3 now rather than 3/$8 in a year if he does blow up this year.
That is only the case if you don't take into account his made free throws for the times he's fouled at rim.
He's only an injury to Brewer or Ariza away from playing quite a few minutes. Let's hope it doesn't come down to that but I hope he works on his jump shot in the mean time. He can provide a lot of the stuff Brewer can, and he's a better defender.
