KPJ is (as you said) a year older, had one year of actual NBA experience under his belt, and that year included getting kicked off the NBA team that drafted him. I'm not a Green homer. Far from it; dude has holes in his game just like any young prospect. I'm a realist. There's a reason Porter went 30th in his draft class and there's a reason why Cleveland dumped him for next to nothing. If he had been incredible at the NBA level last year, I would maybe see your point. He was not. And, no, I don't think their G-League stats are a good barometer, especially given the factors I've already outlined. I wouldn't take KPJ over any of the top 5-6 prospects in this draft. If one of those teams came to Stone and offered him a top 6 pick for KPJ straight up, he should do it in a heartbeat. He'd be crazy not to. That being said, I don't think Porter is getting dealt, nor do I want him to. I just want everyone to stop with the absurd statements and let the man prove himself on the floor before being crowned a superstar.
KPJ is the youngest person ever with a 50 and 10 game. He beat Lebron by three years. He absolutely dominated the G League at 20. You don’t trade that. If we didn’t have a top three pick, I’d probably trade #1 for KPJ has a think Cade is that good a prospect. I wouldn’t, however, trade KPJ straight-up for #2.
Corey Brewer had a 50-point game. I'm sorry, but raw stats from a single performance don't impress me, especially on a team this bad where shots on a given night are easy to come by. Consistency impresses me. If he can give me a whole season of some solid numbers, improve his scoring efficiency, cut down on his turnovers, improve his defensive effort and stay out of trouble for a season, I'll be impressed and will buy into the hype. We're just going to have to agree to disagree, but suffice it to say that—while I'm a fan of the guy and hope he succeeds and has a long-lasting career in Houston—the odds say the guys at the top of this draft class are way more likely to have successful careers right now. There isn't a GM in the league who wouldn't deal him for a top 5-6 pick in this draft.
What makes Green a better prospect than KPJ? I just don’t get it. KPJ was so much better in the G-League that most the Green backers are pointing to as better than college competition. KPJ has much better handles, is a great passer and an improving shooter. There about the same size, neither play defense very well. So you would trade KPJ for top 6 pick to have a chance at Green?
I didn't forget the 11 assists. I was literally just looking at his box score numbers for the season as I was typing that post. 50 and 11 is great. I'm more impressed by consistency. I feel like I've made that clear now.
Here is the list of guys who have notched a game with points and 10 assists. Random players don’t go off for 50 points AND 10 assists. https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/most-games-with-50-points-and-10-assists-in-nba-history-by-players
You obviously did by comparing Brewer’s game to KPJ’s. 9 guys have notched a 50 and 10 game, all stars other than KPJ. Jordan did it once. Parker did it once. Lebron has done it twice. KPJ did it at 20. But sure, trade KPJ for a guy like Kuminga who shot .38/.27 in the G League.
If we took Cade wouldn't we be overloaded in point guards? Wouldn't that conflict with playing time for Scoot? He might be the better PG prospect but you already have a pretty good one and we don't have the potential future SG.
Cade doesn’t need to be PG…he can easily just be a playmaking wing that does secondary creation and shares ballhandling duties
Again, it's an arbitrary set of numbers, chief. They're impressive numbers, but it's still a single regular season game. I'm sure we could find other incredible one-hit wonders if we had the box scores of every player in NBA history in front of us of guys who posted 40/20 or 30/10/15, etc. A single game, even one that impressive, is not a good barometer of whether a guy is going to be a star in the NBA or not. Consistency, maturity and improvement over time are more important. We're just not going to see eye to eye on this, and that's OK. I just think many posters, yourself included, are overrating him based on what he's done up to this point.
I'm done hijacking the thread with KPJ talk, though. This is a Cade thread. And for the sake of this thread, I 100% would support the Rockets making a move to trade up to No. 1 as long as the trade felt reasonable. I wonder if No. 2, No. 23 and the Pistons pick would get it done? Or is that too much to bump up one spot?
Cade would slot in at the 3 and they'd share PG duties making it harder for defenses to double anyone. SG's are a dime a dozen. Hell, if you want a hyper athletic SG prospect, just play KMJ at the 2.
Actually KMJ at the 2 is not far fetched if he gets to be > 35% 3 pt shooter. I see him more as our future SF though.
What part of that is confusing? KMJ is a SG/SF, he's just ridiculously athletic, he scored every bit as well as Jalen Green did in the G league against "grown ass men" and then went on to shoot 36% from 3 in the NBA. His handle is suspect, and he doesn't really have point guard skills, but you don't need him to at the 2. He can give you all of the flashy highlights you want without having to spend the #2 pick on him.....and he can give you rebounding, and some defense.
