1) Saying that Larry Brown's coaching has caused KT's play to rise to another level is not really correct. In the playoffs and regular season, KT has averaged around 10.5 pts and 8 boards. Last year, he was a 14/7 guy. This year, with the Rockets, he was a 10/7 guy (keep in mind, he had to split mins with EG and MT). So tell me then, exactly how did Larry Brown turn KT into the player that we wanted when KT, based on stats, was the exact same player we had to begin with? 2) We didn't trade KT because of any type of development problems with his game. We traded him because he was our only tradeable commodity that we were willing to part with (i.e. Rudy wanted to give EG mins so that he could develop and Mo was absolutely un-tradeable). If it weren't for the fact that EG was a highly touted rookie who needed mins and the fact that Mo was a high salary player coming off a major injury, then KT would have never been traded. 3) Who said we are hunting for a PF? I know there has been alot of talk about going for Brand or whoever, but no one with any sort of clout has come out and said that EG is out as the PF. I would not be suprised at all to see EG be given one more season as our starting PF to see if he can raise his game and develop into the player we all hope for.
KT plays much much more teamball at Philly and defers to AI, KVH... Also, he comes off bench now, so his mpg is lower. I don't think his once-selfish game was the reason we traded him. But, his performance in Philly shows he could have been a better player in houston before traded. Anyway, even he played like a semi allstar in houston, we would probably still trade him because our urgent need for a SF and the faith on EG. What I felt bad was.. when we had him, we didn't utilize him to the max. Some players like Big Dog, Cambell, NVE would never change the way they play, even it hurts the team. But KT's play in 76ers shows he's not in this category. Many people think Cat is a stubborn, hard neck, stupid selfish player. Well....I say. Cat is a stubborn, hard neck, stupid selish player, under Rudy's coaching.
I dont remember Posey playing any power fwd and thats where we were hurt after the trade.. We had a stretch of games where our pf was averaging 4 rebounds a game..Would KT have been the difference ? Who knows? But for those who think Larry Brown is smarter than RudyT.. LarryB picked KT over Posey RudyT picked Posey over KT I doubt Larry Brown has seen anything that has changed his mind.
Well.......Rockets at 76ers. We beat them. With contributions from Posey and Mo Taylor. But yeah.....I still miss Kenny. Too bad Rudy couldn't get him to play like he is playing.....
damn k.t.! 16 points and 19 rebounds. a rebounding power forward...what a noble concept! i was thinking how if the eddie griffin trade hadnt gone down than we probably wouldnt have had to trade k.t. we could have richard jefferson, collins, harris, k.t., taylor and cato. of course we probably wouldnt have landed ming and that would not be good. would a lineup w/ francis, cat, jefferson, kt and cato be better than our current one w/ yao? i bet steve and cat would like it better cause jefferson is more their style than yao.
