I would love that idea, sounds hilarious, the pearl clutchers who are still upset about it might stroke out though.
Mad Max helped lock up the GOAT and had some of his biggest moments in the biggest games of the season. Meanwhile, KPJ has not done anything to really convince me that he's worth the trouble he can be. Besides, people forget that things didn't exactly end well for Mad Max and the Rockets while he was still playing. We shipped his crazy ass out remember?
Make a list on both sides I don't mind being called out....my predicted stats for KPj: 20 pts...5.5 rebs...7.8 Ast...2.4 TOV's...37% (3P%)...34.4 (Ast%) & no incidents (contract year) ------------------ Marcus Smart gets paid $17.2M this yr------> progresses to $21.3M M Smart 20/21 (1st yr as PG): 48 games...39.8 (FG%)..33.0 (3P%)..3.5 rebs..5.7 Ast...1.5 stl...2.0 TOV...13.1 pts. M Smart 21/22 (2nd he as PG): 71 gms..41.8 (FG%)...33.1 (3P%)..3.8 rebs...5.9 Ast...1.7 stl...2.2 TOV...12.1 pts...25.6 Ast% KPj (21/22....1st full season at PG): 61 gms...41.5 (FG%)..37.5 (3P%)...4.4 rebs...6.2 Ast...1.1 stl...3.1 TOV...15.6 pts....30.7 Ast% Marcus Smart age 26 and then following season age 27..... Porter jr age 21. Higher ceiling
Have you see Henderson's midrange game? They can sag off all they want. He can just drill 15 footers all day. With his handles and explosiveness, he is going to kill defenses with NBA spacing. His drive and dish game is legit. He's gonna live at the line. He's strong enough to take the contact, make the shot and shoots them at 85%. Gonna be fun to watch for sure.
If he's settling for the worst shot in basketball, you've already won. Almost no one can hit them at a level that makes them benefit the team. If he can't shoot 3's, he'll kill his team's spacing. That's something you can't have from a guard.
Its better for you guys to debate HERE in the realm of anecdote and "whataboutisms" rather than actually trying to hold onto anything relevant basketball/skill wise regarding the player. Funny enough when do you think Mad Max took his biggest jump as a player?
It wont matter. Scooter can have an All Star season and the goalposts will keep moving. The doubters will go down with the ship - you'll see! I agree that the receipts at the end of the season will be SUCCULENT! Does the "Glad I was wrong" work both ways??
Regarding judging someone after his incident with Lucas, seems cherry picking. So if other players had no behavior issues full year, then their full year of game counts? It's ok to see if by end of year, where someone is at, but throwing out half a season just because they acted up mid season seems is not evaluating in good faith.
So Scooter not only has the best defenders guard him, but he in turn steps up to guard opposing "best wings" WHILE having a huge offensive burden!
On the subject of catch and shoot. It's good that KPJ improved in that department. And in Silas' five out system, that works out well and is very valuable. Imagine a Alp hub, or another initialtor, but you have options and spacing because of catch n shoot guys: Green, KPJ, Gordon, Garrison, (and hopefully a Jabari soon). But gentle reminder last year was supposed to be his PG experiment. If it was just catch and shoot, it'd be similar to his prior years of being a sg/sf. For the PG part of that combo it was more about setting the table, initiating plays, and taking care of the ball. In which case, for such a young team, I think Silas wanted the older players (KPJ/Tate/Gordon) to lead on that front. It's ok to see what works and what's mediocre. As far as the playmaking, I put KPJ in Tate's playmaking category, where he can do some, but maybe not someone you want to initiate all the time down the road. On learning to be PG, it is probably the hardest role on the court, but for some players, it does come more naturally. And more importantly on the hard work / effort side. Does he put in the work to study film sessions of Rockets and other teams. Be a film dork junkie. Guys like Chris Paul (and yes even John Wall) put in the mental prep to get to where they are. IQ is nourished. Can't just do the bare minimum, one could argue he the PG should prep mentally than any other players. Rockets trying stuff with kpj is ok, but at some point, if other playmakers candidates are in line (Tyty and Daishen), they should be given a shot. And at some spoint if a player's strengths (and weakness). Rocket fans kinda knows KPJ's strengths, weakness, potential already. Instead of trying to improve too many things, maybe Rockets should put him in more of a specialized role and focus on what he's good at.
Maybe you're right. I guess everyone else in the country that has him ranked no 1 or 2 in this draft, people that do it for a living, are just wrong.
Its just very rare for a rookie to not suck, and while KPJ has been horrendous so far, it's more likely a 4th year player that's fairly talented will perform better then a rookie.
Yeah I seem to very often read posts questioning his passing ability or “true PG” skills and I gotta say just off my eye test it’s been pretty easy to see that he has good vision/passing instincts. Numbers backing that up isn’t surprising to me. I only have two concerns. 1 : Maturity/decision making 2 : Scoring efficiency I actually have pretty good optimism for concern #1. Concern #2 worries me a bit more. There just aren’t really examples in todays game of successful teams whose most ball dominant guy is below league average in scoring efficiency. Even bad teams, most the time their most ball dominant player is one of their most efficient. KPJ has work to do there.
All I'm saying is regardless of how negative folks r about kpj, it's extremely unlikely for Smith to be a much better player right out the gate. That sht is rare as fk for rookies.
