Yes you’re right. He isn’t a starter. He could be a bench guy and be productive. Right now I don’t think he is as good as any of those 6th man types you mentioned but doesn’t mean he can’t be. He could very well be one of those journeyman types like Shaun Livingston who settles down with a team and understands his role and perform that role really well.
Well, hard to argue with such a well-reasoned and dispassionate perspective. I am a bit confused why I would saying “I told you so” when he gets cut next year given that I have said that idea is patently absurd … but given I am apparently a loser mentality moron, these things are tough for me to understand.
Sure the team needs a pg but not sure why thats somehow KPJ's fault. I mean just look at Jalen Green's ast to turnover ratio it's even worse than KPj. KPJ has a "scant" 52% TS but Green only has 54% TS. Considering our cornerstone is barely any better I dont see the need to take a dump on KPJ. KPJ is one of the good prospects we have on this team at only 21 he still has potential waiting to be uncovered. Just cuz he cant be the pg doesnt mean he is a bad player or he doesnt have a plsce here.
Actually this team has a lot of talent. Theres just some gaping holes the mgt didnt fill intentionally or unintentionally. If the Rox had a good pg and an interior defensive presence we would have been in the playins.
Hey KPJ, so…we were thinking we might need you to play a little SF or be the 6th man. What do you think?
For playing in the worst team in the league, his stats are quite inconsistent and nothing to boast about. Certain "potential stars" in the making usually put up big numbers in a losing team as they showcase their individual talent. He has also shown a poor attitude on the court in the past for an average player. Maybe it's tankathon strategy that might be holding him back but until we see some measurable consistency in KPJs game and a winning attitude, there is simply nothing to be grateful about. And the Rockets organization is doing him a favor and not the other way around by giving him a chance when he literally got kicked out from a team. It is ridiculous to say the Rockets have done nothing unless it is a championship. Rockets have made many deep playoffs push over the years and that is commendable. If injuries were not a prime game-changer for the team (Yao, CP3, Tmac), who knows where the Rockets could have been. Even then they gave a respectable effort.
I think he can still be a very good player who can contribute to a future contender (i.e. us). A very very quick look at where his shooting stats rank among all guards this year (criteria, mpg > 30 a game): FG% on drives to the basket: 46.7% (rank 35th among all guards) FG% on catch and shoot attempts: 47.9% (1st) FG% on pull up jumpers: 32.5% (47th note: right above him is Anthony Edwards at 32.9%. Tatum is a few spots higher at 34.6%) FG% in the painted area: 67.6% (11th) eFG%: 50.7% (tie 33rd with De'Aaron Fox and Jalen Green) Even if he's not starting point guard material (and I still believe he's not), Porter is still a player worth keeping for now. I'd like to see what he's capable of when he doesn't have to shoulder primary ball handling duties and goes out and score and play defense.
This place can be so curious at times! Have the guys who are genuinely proposing a bench role for Scooter been watching the last handful of games? Remove the chuckers and touch needy guys from the lineup and VIOLA - you have the best backcourt in the NBA. So weird to be shown how awesome that could be and still want another option.
Caveat: Throwing any and all off court and reliability/personality concerns out the window and keeping it strictly about ball and on court performance. People who think he doesn't have any talent are either blind or the "other things" that I alluded to that I'm not even going to address have understandably turned them off in regards to KPJ. For me personally and a few others that have posted that share my sentiments, I just think KPJ shouldn't be tasked with the BURDEN of being the guy setting the table the majority of the time because he is only okay at it. That in no way means that I don't think he can be a really good player. I just have my doubts that he'll ever reach his full potential playing out of position unless certain concessions are made such as him spending more time off the ball to do what he does best. I want to unleash him. He is better at getting the ball and attacking and he doesn't need to be tasked with initiating the offense and dictating the tempo of the game in order to do that. When also considering how much better he is at catch and shoot, it just makes sense to accentuate his strengths and mitigate his weaker areas. That's what good coaches do. I'd prefer he either share that responsibility, which he can do from the point guard spot and has occasionally been doing more of lately or totally be freed up on the wing where he can still facilitate plenty throughout the course of the game and likely still average 4-5 assists per game like other SG/SF like Booker, Mitchell, McCollum, DeRozen, Lavine, etc. Right now he is our best option at the position. He's been given a full season to try this on. There are some positives and negatives, but he has gotten better to close out the season.
You have to take the good with the bad. Kevin has shown some innate and spectacular passing skills. He is settling into his role as the floor general and finding a balance between scoring and playmaking. Saying he's a head case is a convenient ace to play when a guy may have another preferred player in mind to run point. I agree that he shouldnt be the initiator 100% of the time. Besides Scoot who's the next best playmaker? Sengun? Jalen can make reads and drop some nice dimes at times, but he's on the floor to be your assassin. Its's why I've been hoping to add MORE playmaking to the team for that very reason. Its a good thing when your team has multiple guys to run the offense and spell some guys. Let Scoot go score for a handful of plays and share the ball. Wood and Gordon who are going to 'get theirs' were in the way of this development. I can also see adding 3&D players to the mix if Stone/Silas are going to showcase KPJ/Jalen Green as the premier backcourt in the league.
Not to repeat: #1 Rocket's last ten games had 29th easiest schedule in the league. Meaning "easy" opponents. So if we had an offense, it was supposed to do relatively well. We played blazers twice, most of their guys injured or sat, they had so many 10-day scrubs playing, even then, Rockets could only split the win on those two games. #2 Among the sample of the last 5 games, since that same tweet has been re-posted in several threads, those teams had sub-500 defense, again confirming point #1. And despite somewhat good offensive game from Scoot, he (and others) didn't score more than these supposed "easy" opponents to win those games. We lost all of our last 5 games. There's no Wood, Schroder, or Gordon to blame. KPJ was starter, he was either lead or 2nd lead shot taker. And he also help decided who else got shots. None of that resulted in wins. In summary: offense was good, but expected against below average teams. And team (including KPJ), didn't do enough on defense. Yes, since we are tanking, that's is considered good. But players were trying to win. KPJ played decent offensively, he certainly wasn't carrying the team. He didn't pull an Allen Iverson and carried his team to the finals. He hasn't done enough to warrant immunity from criticism. Rockets have been on the bottom for the last two years. I can lower my expectations, but I'm not going to lower my standards.
Watching KPJ and Green play together gives me Cat and Franchise vibes sometimes. Neither are great (yet) at playmaking but when they click, it can be really awesome to see.
I personally like him despite what happened mid season, he has improved second half on the season with turnovers. His defense is probably under rated on here imo aswell. First season playing point guard and playing a full season as a starter. Don’t have to extend him yet and can probably just give him the qualifying offer after next season. He seems loyal and wants to suceed as a Rocket and with Jalen. Don’t see why need to make a decision right now there are more decisions that need to made before KPJ at this stage for me.
