Kevin Porter Jr. loses temper, leaves Toyota Center during 2nd half

Yeah, this is the problem with Porter. If we decide to get rid of him now, we are pretty much doing the same thing Cleveland did. No return. That might be the only sensible thing to do. I don't know.

I have been cautioning people when they were giddy about getting this talented guy for nothing and a lot of people even thought we could build around him and Green. (We had John Lucas, remember?) Emotional issues aren't gonna change overnight. In fact, most never change significantly. The pattern has been there since his college days, maybe even earlier. I understand that he had a rough childhood. I feel for him. But from the professional point of view, the behaviors are damaging. If we let him go, he might get another chance from another team, or he might be out of the league and become some deranged guy out there.

 

I don't know if I'd say that, everyone is emotional including professionals. You have to train yourself to stay logical. BUT I'd say the difference is the pros know the full context of what's going on in a locker room. We are missing 40% of the story but feel entitled to speak as if we are the definitive truth on the subject... just like anything on the internet.

 

Don't leave me like this
Don't leave me stranded
If you walk away now
You leave me empty handed
Don't leave me like this
Don't leave me stranded
Stranded

 

Ouch!!

 

This might be too much of a generalization but I see the situation as:

Team was playing less than desired/expected from the coaching staff. Coaching staff has finally said "F this" and laid into the players that were supposed to be the top players and/or leaders of this team. Supposed top players and/or leaders can't handle criticism and reacted in ways that's not surprising to anyone on here given their respective journeys in the NBA so far.

Is that a fair assessment or am I missing something?

 

He was a high risk, high reward player when we acquired him and he's still very much so. Unfortunately this outburst isn't an outlier based on what happened in Cleveland. Fortunately for this team we didn't spend a lot of assets/capital to get him. The kid is still very talented but he has some things he needs to sort out in order to have a long career in the NBA.

 

I don’t doubt Lucas has helped many such players - but just because he has, doesn’t mean he can help ALL players. “Telling it like it is”, honesty, or “tough love” won’t necessarily make someone’s mental health problems go away. KPJ probably has some maturity issues that Lucas can help with but I highly doubt Lucas is going to make some breakthroughs if KPJ has real underlying mental health problems - he could possibly make it worse if he can’t understand the nature of those issues.

 

That's true. and let's say it's true. How should it change my reaction to this situation? Should I be demanding Lucas to be fired or KPJ to be cut without knowing any context? We haven't even heard from the team on the punishment yet. I don't feel like I need to fully react without all of the facts.

One thing is for sure which is that this will definitely affect trade value which should change the equation in how the org deals with these guys.

 

Yep pretty much

 

Sorry but this is just clueless.
It is pretty commonplace on every level, from high school varsity on up, for assistants to have strong voices in the locker room, particularly firebrands/straight shooters like Lucas.

Just ask Larry Smith,
or Elston Turner,
or Kelvin Sampson
or Tom Thibodeau.

 

Yes, but it must be clear that the head coach shares your disappointment. Lucas said they are using “good cop, bad cop”. That is a ridiculous strategy to deal with anyone other than criminals. Another analogy would be the parent that wants to be the child’s friend, while the responsible parent gets all the hate for being the disciplinarian. Very poor management philosophy that will never work.

 

You happened to visit during one of the worst snowstorms in recent history. There was snow all up and down the state. The power outages were overwhelming but slowly getting restored. We really got some relief from the drought though.

 

It was madness as I was on the west/CA side of Tahoe and all points (80, 89, 28, 50, etc) were shut down. It's concerning that whenever we go on family vacations with my wife's family it ends up with mother nature tiger uppercutting us in the face. 2019 we went to Paris and experienced the hottest day in recorded history that summer and, fast forward to 2021, we went through the worst snowstorm Tahoe saw in the past 50 years. I don't know what to expect when we head to Greece this summer.

 

Agreed. There needs to be an alignment among the coaching staff on how to manage/handle the players. Maybe Lucas meant "good cop, bad cop" in looser terms but it doesn't help anyone (Wood, KPJ, Lucas, Silas, etc.) if you got an assistant that doles out all of the tough love while the head coach provides the exact opposite in terms of emotional reinforcements. Of course this is all based on assumptions but if we've gathered everything we've seen on how Silas communicates/reacts to his players, we can make a good assumption that he's not the one to use a more disciplinary approach.

 

We have @DaDakota , an adult with life experiences, that wants these kids to challenge JL on his past instead. I mean, come on dude, JL turned his life around and has helped countless individuals get their **** back together and instead, you are suggesting that a known headcase like Wood/KPJ, challenge his authority based on his passed sins. Ridiculous man.

No, he isn't a mental health professional, but I doubt JL is trying to pretend to be a mental health professional. He is using his life experiences to mentor these young men and rehab themselves. I'm sure if they need a psychiatrist, he lets them know, he doesn't try to perform a job he is not qualified to do.

Sorry, but that bullshit irked me the wrong way. It's as if DD does not believe that people can rehab themselves and help others do the same. Very insulting.

 

Yeah, I agree with that. Well put.

 

Brother, if you bring the rain/snow like you did this Christmas, you'll be given a hero's welcome each time.

 

Dear Rockets Brass Team:
Porter needs discipline and i have no problem with Coach Lucas giving him structure because if you use the passive approach with him, he is going to act up after a bad miss or a foul not called against him and will not play defense going down the court. Rockets, stop playing him at PG he cannot do it. Do i think we should cut him? Tell him he is only playing SF and not PG anymore. The guy just needs to concentrate on scoring and playing defense not trying to play the most important spot on the team. You have to be mentally and emotionally elite to play that position in other words you have to be a LEADER and he is not. Green is good to go and he is averaging more than 20 points a game since he came back, so play Porter at SF and see if he can hit 50 points again and play defense. Put Wall at PG so Green know how it feel to play with a pro PG. Put Sengun at Point Power Forward and trade Gordon, Nwaba or and FRP for Myles Turner. Then trade Wood, Tate, Augustin, Garuba and 2 FRP to the Kings for Fox.

New Lineup:

Fox
Green
Porter
Sengun
Turner

The lineup would be fast and long, however i would still tank this year, everyone comes up with hamstring and thigh issues so we can get Chet or Pablo to play with our bench

 

Of course they can, but in the heat of the moment, all history gets dredged up, and Lucas is NOT a mental health expert. What the team should be doing is working with a mental health professional on how to get Porter to a good mental state. If they are not going to do that, and are hoping he matures on his own, I think this will get even worse.

The point I was making was that Lucas and his history would be fair game in an argument......

IE - who the **** are you to say that, when you snorted your way out of the league? Type of rebuttal.

DD