You mean it's unrealistic to say not only will the rockets win the championship but they will go on to carry texans and the astros to a championship. Clearly you are not saying kpj won't have atleast 20 games with 50 assists and green won't have atleast 10, 100 pt games right????? We are so disillusioned, save us now
No way. 21 year old, doesn't need that much weight on his shoulders with the usage it would take to inflate his numbers. Would rather see the team concept with Wood, Green, Tate even getting to score instead of overloading one player again no matter how talented he is at a young age.
His age is irrelevant. Ja Morant is 21 and beat out Steph Curry for a playoff spot. Trae is 22 and bodied the Knicks in the playoffs while the crowd screamed “**** Trae Young”. This talk about “pressure” and “weight” is soft. If he has a breakout season his usage will and should increase.
He only managed 17 in the g league while being featured. The NBA is quite a steep up from that and he'll be behind KPJ, Wall, and Gordon as of now and Wood would also be ahead of him as a scoring option. I think we need to be realistic about expectations
That's an interesting description "only managed 17". He averaged 17.8 pts on only 13.6 FGA. That's Harden-like efficiency ( 61.3 TS%). What exactly were you expecting? What's your definition of "Featured"? In an 18 team league, Green was #50.in usage and #33 in FGA/gm. He didn't even lead his own team in usage or fga/gm. If Green had put up the same numbers on the RGV then he would have been 5th in usage and 4th in FGA. That doesn't scream "featured" to me. The fact that he could come straight out of HS and go put up very efficient numbers playing against pros is amazing. Shooting 36.5% from behind an arc that is 4 feet further than he's use to is crazy. Not too many players could do that.
most scouts put him ahead of Edwards as a prospect. Edwards was also easily the 3rd option if not 4th on the team when the season started. he averaged more than 12/2. while the nba is tougher than the g-league, green will also be better this year than he was last year. another year shooting from the nba 3 point line, another year with nba coaching, another year in the weight room for a teenager. so I actually think his g-league numbers will transfer over pretty closely to the nba.
He has to. He has had 2 yrs of nba experience. At some point he is an asset or a player we want to keep. He has the physical tools and ability/skills to do 20 and 10 easily. All he has to do is mature mentally. He either shows sign of improvement or we call it a day and trade him before other teams catch on to his mental issues. This is why veteran leadership is so very important. We need someone the young guys respect enough to follow suit. Nene and ariza were those guys for Harden. Cp3 in some ways. I understand developing young talent is important but having vets that can show the way and push a winning mentality and culture is just as important. Let's just not use Bobby brown as that vet.
He's a traditional SG, not a combo guard, since he can't run an offense, how high can his usage really be? What I'd expect from an allegedly nba ready to prospect is 20+ a game easily given the super weak level of competition and the style of games played in the g league. We've seen it time and time again.... but Green failed to so we've heard a ton of excuses for it. Typically if a player struggles to score 20+ in the g league, it translates to about 10 a game tops in the NBA.
He didn't struggle to score in the G-league. He was super efficient. He didn't score 20 per game because he only took 13.6 shots per game. i.e. he wasn't featured. When they got to the playoffs, he upped his shots to 20 per game and put up 30 pts, 5 reb, 7 ast on 65% TS%. It's not like he couldn't have gotten more shots if he'd wanted. How high a usage can a non-combo guard have? Good question. Last year in the G-League Green had a usage of 22.9 while Kenyon Martin Jr. had a usage of 24.1. I'll put it in NBA terms so we all have a point of reference. Here's players who averaged less than 5 assists and had a usage of 25 or higher last year in the NBA: Embiid - 2.8 ast - 35.2 usg Beal. - 4.4 ast - 33.1 usg LaVine - 4.9 ast - 30.2 usg Vucevic - 3.8 ast - 29.2 usg A. Davis - 3.1 ast - 28.7 usg J. Clarkson - 2.5 ast - 28.6 usg B. Ingram - 4.9 ast - 27.9 usg J. Grant - 2.8 ast - 27.8 usg A. Drummond - 2.0 ast, 26.9 usg A. Edwards - 2.9 ast - 26.4 usg Porzingis - 1.6 ast - 25.9 usg J.Brown - 3.4 ast - 29.0 usg Dlllon Brooks - 2.3 ast - 25.6 usg Christian Wood - 1.7 ast, 25.2 usg Z. Williamson - 3.8 ast - 28.7 usg P. Siakam - 4.5 ast - 26.1 usg As you can see, you don't have to be a combo guard to have high usage. For further reference, here's the usage of some of last years Rockets: Wood - 25.2 Gordon - 24.6 Cousins - 22.7 Broderick Thomas - 22.6 K. Olynic - 22.0 Khyri Thomas - 20.8 DJ Wilson - 19.8 I wouldnt consider most of those guys to be facilitators or to have been featured ( at least by my definition of the word).
So are you arguing that Green's team was just holding him back? Is that the new excuse for his pedestrian numbers? I guess it's just too bad he didn't want his team to score more and win more games then right? Of course, when he did take on a larger role and seek to score more, he was a -30 for the game and his team got completely blown out. He was overall a net negative on the court for his team All season, but never as bad as he was during his "best" game.
And especially with how bad this team is... 10 assists per game requires a lot of teammates to hit shots.
My first reaction to @Bobbythegreat 's projections for Green was "wtf is wrong with this guy?" but two things happened: 1. I looked up the stats of the shooting guards drafted since 2010, specifically their 1st and 2nd years 2. Remember that Green isn't going to be heavily used like a Ja Morant, Trae Young or any guard in recent memory where they had the ball in their hands for most of the game. I think asking or expecting Green to score 20 ppg with KPJ manning the point and Wood being pretty much the primary scorer on the team is a bit much. I think 12 ppg like Bobby threw out there is probably more realistic which isn't (or shouldn't be) a mark against Green but rather a fair expectation for a rookie coming into the league that will be 2nd or 3rd (if Tank Commander Wall has his say) or 4th (if Eric Gordon returns and wants to have fun) on the pecking order on the team.
it's obvious at only 13 shots a game the new kid, on a new team, in a new league, wasn't going to put up 20 shots a game. i'm telling you if we increase the pace (silas known for this) and kpj drops his turnovers he will get to put up 20 shots per game by christmas.
The assist numbers depend so much on the players around him hitting shots .... regular like. He did post 16.6 & 6.3 last year in 32 minutes a game ..... I do expect some improvement - in his shooting. I'm going with 20 & 6 assuming he gets those same 32 minutes per.
Kuminga and Green took the most shots on the team...they were both "new kids on a new team on a new league" As by far the best player in the entire g league, KPJ didn't even average 20 shots per game and he took the most shots of anyone in the g league. Thinking Green is going to come into the NBA and start averaging 20 shots per game as the 3rd or 4th option on the Rockets is outright insane. When I say he's likely to score closer to 12 ppg than 20, it's not a knock on him, it's just setting realistic expectations for a raw rookie adjusting to the NBA on a team with better veteran options
