I think the exercise that Stone needs to have here is low key shopping KPJ and seeing what offers are out there for him. I think we would find despite this 24 page thread, there are likely very few GMs who are "high" on KPJ - doesn't mean Houston goofed in acquiring him, just validates the idea that more likely than not, teams arent expecting him to turn into a valuable contributor or he hasn't shown enough to trade real assets for.
His strengths are spot up shooting and secondary playmaking. Put him in a position to be successful. How hard is this?
Best game of his career. He penetrated which is what I wanted to see him do more of, he didn’t settle, he had some amazing passes. Not just those accumulated stats from having the ball all the time. Proud of him. Opponent has to be taken into consideration so I won’t go too crazy, but if he could bottle the approach to the game he had tonight and play like this all the time, he might actually reach his potential. I’ve never seem play like this though so it could be a one off. I hope not.
Idk what you do with him to be honest. Not sure if you can win with him. Maybe in a couple more seasons and if we had some other pieces like a defensive big.
The Rockets may want to start experimenting with getting rid of Wood first and seeing how things play out. I don't think the Rockets can have both on the team, but it does look like KPJ and especially Green thrives without Wood (well the whole team does to be honest).
KPJ when he is in attack mode is really something, the question is can you get him to play that way more often and he has to start playing THROUGH contact on his drives, he contorts away from it and misses so often. Is he a building block? Man, I have no clue.....who the Rox will keep in the next 3 years DD
KPJ will be here next season and Wood will be gone. He'll be given another season but the writings on the wall. He's just not capable. He's more a poor man's Jamal Crawford than a viable starter or PG. He has these games where he shows "potential" but theyre flashes in the pan and nothing more. He wanted to take the last shot yesterday so bad instead of setting up plays for his teammates. As such Jaygup put up a rushed shot and thr game was over. Worked out for the tank but this is who he is.
This year a 3-man unit consisting of JC, Porter and Green has an offensive rating of 110.8 and a defensive rating of 109.5 in 114 minutes (25 games) of game time. A 4-man unit with those 3 and Sengun has an offensive rating of 108.1 and a defensive rating of 119.4 in 30 minutes (7 games). If we get Holmgren in the draft I'd be very interested to see how a Holmgren/Sengun/Christopher/Porter/Green lineup fare.
I'm still not swayed by his recent on court performances, the on court ability was always there when things are going well. Even if he behaved and showed professionalism all off season and well into next season, I'm still not sure I would trust him enough to lock him in long term. He has played well enough that I wouldn't be willing to outright give him away like a few weeks ago, but it still wouldn't take much to pry him away. I don't think he will ever be a guy that contributes to winning basketball, he will melt down mentally when real expectations are put on him by coaches, teammates, fans and media.
I think KPJ and Green both benefit from not having another ball dominant player in the lineup (Wood). I think we are at the point where roles are more defined going into next year. What will Wood's role be (if he's still here?).
I'm a bit disappointed that KPJ didn't take a major leap this year and in many ways regressed for most of the season. I can still envision him being a major scorer and playmaker off the bench by the time we are ready to compete, but I'm having a hard time seeing him as the primary playmaker in the starting unit even with the great past few games. He's only 21 and we don't need to think about a possible future contract for at least another year where he'll be a restricted free agent, so I see no pressure at all to jettison him like we do with Wood. IMO, he's still a good asset to hold onto.
I am not asking kpj to do this all the time but if he can be a 15 and 8 kinda guy and avg that all next year then he can be the PG
