KPJ and NBA players who struggled with being professional

Just wait till next season, trade value is not worth considering right now, waiving him before summer is stupid.

 

I agree with this on the most part. What I wonder is how many times has this kid (kpj) been successfully" disciplined"? All the talent/skill in the world and there is a reason why he still seems so undeveloped.
I think teams have tried to discipline him. USC and Cleveland and it all resulted in "addition by subtraction" to improve the team. There is a reason why we got him for an unprotected 2nd round pick. As much as alot of us want to point the finger at Silas, we might need to look at the players as well. I'm not saying Silas is a great coach. There are times his decisions have had all of us scratching our heads, but this is also not all on him.

 

Silas is not responsible for his actions, only his discipline. If Silas and Co. choose not to discipline him then there is an issue but the underlying issue is not the coaching staff, it's Porter. He is the only person who can control his behavior.

 

Or ...
The 23 capspace can be used to add a Max Star in his prime ...
Even smarter to HINT at big extension coming to motivate him ...
If things down work out after next season we can let him walk out the door for free ...

If he hasn't proven himself a reliable professional by next summer, I think 2.5 seasons is more than enough to end the KPJ Rockets PG Experiment and move on

 

I think you are painting in way too broad of strokes listing KPJ among all those players because the reality is how you approach legit mental health issues vs childhood trauma vs drug related issues, etc are all very different and to add to that, as players/people progress, their needs change as well so "where they are in their jounrey" is just as relevant. There isn't a one size fits all "structure & accountability" approach to this that makes sense for the diverse group you listed.

It's like saying "KPJ needs help, guys" - yeah, that's true, but what does that mean in practice because "KPJ needs help" and "KPJ needs structure and accountability" are equally vague and oh by the way, the team would probably say they are helping KPJ and that they(particularly Lucas) are providing structure and accountability - but again is Lucas really capable of addressing KPJ's problems because I would argue while Lucas overcame and has worked with a lot of players - he hasn't been successful with all of them and maybe there are some gaps to his skill sets that even he would be unaware of because he himself is a not a 'one approach fits all' tool. The problem with fixing problems if that many of exact same problems can come from a very diverse group of motivations and causations.

 

I am more concerned with KPJ’s skill than his attitude at this point. Time is running out. Jalen Green has improved more in a few months than KPJ has in years. I am starting to wonder If KPJ is even in the gym… I mean look at those free throw percentages for god sakes. If he isn’t working his tail off behind the scenes, we need to move on to someone who will.

I think he has this off-season and a small portion of next year to prove that he can improve. He needs to make a leap, or he needs to go.

 

This idea that grown men should be treated like kids under disciplinary regime is pretty outdated.

If a guy like KPJ doesn’t improve his game or hustle, bench him then let him walk in free agency. He’s hardly shown that he will ever be more than an average starting pg anyway.

The imposing of our own ideas of discipline and accountability on people we don’t even personally know is silly and futile message board posturing.

 

Other notable knuckleheads:

Gilbert Arenas, Michael Beasley, Delonte West, Josh Howard, Larry Sanders, Latrel Sprewell, Shawn Kemp, Nick Young, Eddie Johnson

How many rings did these guys win

 

I’m surprised nobody mention Demarcus Cousins.. dude has a bad temper and has one of the most technicals in nba History.

 

Another good one. Almost all of these guys had top potential but none of them ever turned a corner in terms of mentality and becoming a winning player.

 

Cousins is this generation's Rasheed Wallace. Very skilled big men. Out of control hotheads. Refs became over harsh on them to make sure they don't stir trouble.

Wallace won a championship after being traded to Detroit. Cousins plays in a period when low post big men can no longer dominate.

 

And KPJ is nothing like Demarcus Cousins or half the players on that list.

How do you account for that?

 

Gilbert Arenas maybe? But the whole gun thing happened later in his career so I dont know if that counts..

 

I think John Lucas knows what he is doing here.

 

I do recall Sheed living at the 3 point line towards the end. Couscous still tries to slash.

 

Ron Artest
Dennis Rodman
JR Smith
Vernon Maxwell
Rasheed Wallace

at least 8 rings there

 

None of these guys are ones you would pay a big contract to before you have franchise cornerstones in place.

KPJ is late in his development after a year of intense development, but he’s also the type that can catch up quickly.

 

1) He’s not a point guard
2) He never will be
3) He should be coming off the bench

Carry on.

 

Some of those players were criticized for having anger issues at some point in their career.
Others are I guess on the list for mailing it in for more than a few games.

But I don't remember any of those players sulking and flying off the handle so often as Porter.
Then again, none of those guys played on such a terrible team as the current Rockets while trying to learn the toughest position in basketball. So, there's that.

 

Also, trade me now because Dream is old & Barkley is fat