His game and contract are not tradable unless we give up an asset which is stupid. Let him ride the bench. Maybe he will check his attitude.
Obviously you try to trade him but his contract will be difficult to move until the off season or even the deadline next season. This year he can continue starting but his minutes should be decreased to 20-25 per game for 'load management' purposes. Next year he should either be moved to a 6th man role or starting 2 until he's moved. It's a very good question to ponder, of course all this is contingent on KPJ staying on his current trajectory.
We're a tanking team. We need picks. If we needed cap space or something, to sign a FA, then yeah, mortgage those picks away. But we don't.
Stone needs to convince teams like Heat, Nuggets, Knicks, Magic that Wall is their missing piece. Earn your money Stone.
KPs defense is real SUS right now. I want to attribute it to getting acclimated to NBA speed again and being a young guy, but there are too many times per game where he is getting lost. He's way too athletic to be negative defensively. I put that as a bigger question mark than his 3 point shooting which needs to be shored up as well. Just keeping things level - his offensive game and tempo are worth the price of admission plus he hasn't done this yet:
I think there's something to build around with Porter and Wood. Wall was never going to be here for the long term. I also think that had they seen Porter earlier, they probably wouldn't have bothered offering Oladipo that extension. He's still very raw and needs to get up to NBA game speed. But he's clearly a very talented player and quite likely the next Rockets star. I'm excited to see what he and Wood will do together. They'll look for a trade for Wall before the deadline or move him in the offseason. Oladipo will leave. It's amazing that Gordon got hurt again before the deadline otherwise he'd be gone, too. They're going to have to lower their expectations on what they're going to get for Tucker and just move him.
Lateral speed is a real thing. Just cause you can jump out the building doesnt make you a good defensive player. Look at Gerald Green and Deandre Jordan. Get under the squat bar and lift heavy with a wide stance but more players are going the gimmicky contraption route But youre right, his lack of lateral speed is worrisome
At this point, most of the league are "in contention" for the playoffs so teams aren't eager to move their valuable players and the ones that aren't like the Pistons, Magic and Timberwolves aren't going to want to take on Wall's contract. He's going to play out his contract here in Houston; that's just the reality of it.
Hopefully it gets better. I see it more as an IQ/attention thing. He flashes at times and its usually due to his athleticism, but if lateral quickness is what ails him and all he needs to do is squat then im feeling good he can improve that aspect.
I'm confused. His issue with defense is being out of place. He was doing great staying in front of his man in iso situations.
Hmmm... I didn't see that. I saw him stay infront of his man pretty consistently. His problem is he often just drifts around the middle with no direction.
could have had 15 assists in the first half last night if rox could hit a barndoor. would take wall 3 games to get that.
Sure but at 20 and just playing 3 NBA games in a year I expect some confusion especially on a team that has no coaching direction and is full of veterans looking purely to showcase themselves for other teams.
