First off, KPjr is still our best defender. And, on offense, he's being asked to play more of a pure point rather than playing off his natural scoring instincts. Again, as Sengun has more of the offense run through him, our guards will prosper. They're young and extremely talented. Just chill out, and enjoy the ride.
Jalen Green in his last 8 games is averaging 6 assists (KPJ's season average) on 23.3 points and TS 61.59%. It doesn't look like increased playmaking duties has somehow worsened his shooting percentage, if anything the opposite has happened. I have never heard of anyone make claims that increased playmaking duties will make you shoot worse until you started peddling it. As far as I am concerned they are entirely unrelated. When you make statements like this, it makes it clear you are deliberately ignoring facts and trying to muddy the waters. Green isn't shooting "slightly" better, he is nearly 4 TS% more efficient than KPJ, whilst scoring more points, and also getting the toughest defender on him every game. There is a post on reddit that looked at the least efficient players in the league averaging 15 ppg, KPJ is literally at the bottom of the barrel. I highly doubt the Rockets went to KPJ and said "chuck 15 shots a game". I can believe it when the Rockets tell KPJ that they want him to be the primary facilitator and PG on the court, and that they are empowering him to do so. However, the fact of the matter is KPJ is the only one who decides to take 15 shots a game, and he is the one who decides what quality shots to take. He perpetually has at least 2-3 other guys on the court that he can defer to that score better than him (Sengun, Gordon and Green) at practically every level, he isn't asked to take shots over them.
He's really not our best defensive player, no statistics back that up by any stretch of the imagination.
There has been no increase in Green's playmaking, other than he is passing more - but he is not responsible for bringing the ball up and setting the offense, this is a disengious take. KPJ is doing fine, the org is happy with him, and I am happy that he is getting time to learn a difficult position, if you don't like that he is getting this opportunity from Stone and the org feel free to write and let them know.....me, I don't care. No doubt, I hope you say that when Green bounces it off his foot, or Sengun passes it between his legs to the other team, just to be consistent. There is a hyper focus on KPJ because he is bringing the ball up and is making too many mistakes, but if he were finishing a bit better and his teamates were on some passes, I don't think this would be a real issue. This is all part of the process, but I get that some have made up their mind.....everyone can do whatever they want.....some of us will enjoy the growth, others will micromanage every possession and whine for a little more confirmation bias..... DD
While he's improving, the obvious moments that he feels it's time for him to score are the problem. Dribble up, step back 3. Wave off a player, step back 3. Call for a screen, floater in the lane. (I actually really like his floater game) In the middle of a run that he wasn't a part of, he will force himself into a shot. That's not just low bball iq, that's a delusion that he's the focal point and the team's best player no matter what is happening. We don't know if this is part of his learning curve, as we don't know if these moments are addressed with him after the game in film study, but that's the biggest issue I see with KPJ. Additionally, he's so much better off ball in catch and shoot or dribble drive off passes situations. Someone in another thread I believe mentioning a PG that isn't ball dominant and gave examples. This team has a few players that can be the playmakers/offense facilitators while KPJ brings up the ball. Sengun, Tate*, Green time to time. Bruno and Usman have shown the ability to make nice passes within an offensive set. If KPJ can manage his ego, and learn when and how to play PG off ball, he can be more then a 6th man.
Don’t have much to add to this conversation but wanted to say I’m enjoying reading it and I’m enjoying this “ping” bit from DD.
This is categorically false. Jalen Green averaged 34 passes per game, averaging 2.3 assists, in his first 11 games. In his last 8 games, he is averaging 41 passes per game, averaging 6 assists. Is he passing more? Sure, but the rate at which his assists increased significantly exceeds the increase number of passes.
Irrefutable evidence that Green has had a big uptick in playmaking duties over roughly the last ten games exists. DD : There’s been no increase in Greens playmaking, just that he is passing more….and it’s disingenuous to suggest otherwise. You can’t make this stuff up.
The team is running some PnR with him and Sengun, this is true, I guess that could be considered PG play. I will concede that point, I like Green - I want him and KPJ to share duties.... We just had 2 wins, KPJ had 10 assists one game, Green 9 the next .....Good stuff. PING ! DD
9 assist but green isn't play making at all he's only passing more. Like how bias are u for kpj to type that sht
At some point (very soon), it's going to become fairly obvious that Jalen, in just his second season, is a much better playmaker than KPJ, who is in his 4th. Can only imagine the excuses that will be rolling in then after all the **** we've been hearing up til now... "KPJ never got a fair chance. All his teammates were playing like crap and now with Jalen they are suddenly good." (never mind the fact that Jalen is much more decisive, attacks the defense at good angles, and finds his teammates in rhythm and in good spots) "KPJ is still the best 1v1 player on the team" (no he's not, not even close, and all the data and eye tests show that Jalen, Alpi, and EG are far better) "KPJ is the best defender on the team, so he has to spend all his energy there" (again he's not and never was - he's basically a traffic cone on the perimeter letting his man go by him every time like it was nothing. His man is a shooter? Lol, KPJ will just go under the screen and give his guy a wide open 3. Jalen or EG's man has the ball? KPJ will leave his man wide open to go triple team for no reason without actually committing himself to the triple team and then give up another wide open 3 or wide open cut to the basket) "KPJ is still on a great contract! There are so many teams that will be willing to trade for him, what's the matter really" (no he is not on a great contract if he's getting a guaranteed 20M next season while being bottom-tier efficiency in pretty much every meaningful stat. Nobody is going to trade for him as he currently is and he'll just be dead weight until we can cut our losses in 2023)
30. Houston Rockets 2022-23 record: 3-14 Previous ranking: 30 The Rockets are competitive late in games much more often than last season -- a sign of progress -- but closing them has been a big problem. Houston ranks last in the league by a wide margin in clutch offensive rating (71.9 points per 100 possessions). Best of best elite guard Kevin Porter Jr. is 4-of-14 from the floor (1-of-7 on 3s) with only one assist in 24 clutch minutes. -- MacMahon https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id...week-6-luka-steph-carry-their-teams-only-high
And if next years comes and KPJ is still the lead guard, then what? Why would you pay a guy 8 mill per to sabotage a season when you can do it much cheaper? Why the hell would you want FVV at the money he will get with a team this young, and why do you think he would want to come here? Man a lot you are just in a rush to get to mediocrity, its like you think Charlotte and Sac town have been contenders all these years.
Anyone with half a brain could see that coming after he hit that game winner last year. Wish Silas would save him from himself. We're not getting a Murray type of haul for this kid. Get a real PG and put him into the Gerald Green role he deserves.
I stopped debating with the KPJ fan club a long time ago. I think some of them were so anti Jalen Green that they latched onto KPJ and they just haven’t let go. No reasonable person looks at the games and stats and thinks KPJ is the pg this team needs and will be the guy leading this team in deep playoff runs in the future.
