In Vegas: Coby Karl Knows the Keys

[pree]

Hey all,

Spoke to Coby Karl after Game 1 in Vegas and asked him some specifics about what he felt he needed to do to improve his game. He thinks there's a chance for him to be a rotational player, but he's got some work to do.

http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=9446
As a coach's son, Coby Karl knows exactly what he needs to do to improve his game and potentially earn meaningful minutes for the Lakers during the season.

Hope you enjoy it!

[hermes]

nice article
hopefully he continues to improve

[DEEP3CL]

Won't matter...................he'll be CUT deal with it "Karl" fans.

[crazyeights]

I love your douchiness. If Karl is on the team next year, I want you to officially apologize to all his supposed fans. Pretty sure they support him because he's in the P&G.

[milesfides]

I like what I've seen with Coby Karl. He's a solid all-around guard. Too many of our players are one-dimensional, with one or more major flaws. But Karl's got the entire package. He's a good shooter but he can also drive. He did suffer from some of the usual rookie mistakes, combined with a lack of consistent playing time, but I thought he demonstrated some clear and tangible skills.

The biggest knock on him seems to be his athleticism - unwarranted, imho. As the predraft stats show. He's 6'5" in shoes and a solid 205 pounds with only 5% body fat. He did fairly well in the strength and agility tests. But what's most interesting about him is that he has a 7 foot wingspan. That gives him a signif. advantage on defense. Karl has the physical tools to succeed.

We haven't seen enough of him last year to say too much about him, but I like his potential - a lot. Sasha came in with PG skills which never materialized. Fisher is one-dimensional. Farmar is inconsistent and can get taken advantage of. Both have certain liabilities on defense because they're small, and on top of that, Fish isn't quick defensively, and Farmar isn't strong enough. Both aren't tall enough to make certain post entry passes. In short, despite their positive attributes, Fish and Farmar have some inherent physical weaknesses.

Karl on the other hand has the height, length, and strength. His quickness will be questioned, but like I pointed out, it's deceptive. His lane agility time was faster than Mike Conley Jr. and Corey Brewer's (and former Laker Javaris Crittenton's).

I like Karl's all-around game. He has all the tools to become a real asset to our team, without any significant weaknesses. He's a sharp, crisp passer too, and makes good decisions, or rather, doesn't make idiotic ones, which makes me feel he's the only candidate on our team that can possibly relieve Kobe of some playmaking duties.

Personally, I would have phased out Radmanovic and integrated Karl earlier in the season. While that's too much to expect from Phil and Mitch, I think Karl has the all-around skills to immediately fill some team needs in the backcourt, whether at the lead or lag guard.

[Verbal]

Hey miles, where did you get your athleticism statistics info on Carl/Brewer/Conley Jr. from?

I'd love to check that out.

[milesfides]

Sure:

http://www.draftexpress.com/nba-pre-dra ... =0&sort=11

[milesfides]

During the Lakers pre-draft workout on youtube, his numbers were even better:

Running vertical: 38.5" as opposed to the 34.5" (this is shocking, Karl has almost a 40" vertical)

Lane Agility: 11.44 instead of 11.57

Even his standing reach was higher, 8' 4.5" instead of 8.35"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRI0RqYdYWE


Also, what I like a lot about Karl is that his threes are effortless, they're set-shots like Brent Barry's. Little wasted motion, quick-release which is important for a spot-up shooter. Jump-shooting three-point shooters can be really streaky. As great as Vujacic shoots, oftentimes he leans left and right which can throw his shot off. The best part about Brent Barry and Coby Karl's set-shot is that it's consistent and reliable, and I expect Karl to do much better next year as he gains confidence and hopefully, more playing time which can do wonders for a shooter's rhythm.

[crazyeights]

Great posts, Miles.

I've noticed in the limited minutes I've seen of Karl how good of an athlete he is. I was actually shocked, assuming he'd be more of a Luke Walton kind of guy. But really he does have some hops.

What I found most striking is his wing-span. 7 foot? That's insane!

And there's always hope he'll be a great shooter. Phil did say last summer camp that he's got the most natural form. It will be interesting to see how he progresses.

[milesfides]

Lastly, although his minutes were limited and he only played in 17 games, Karl's PER was remarkably high, especially for a rookie: 16.33. This was largely due to his passing and rebounding. While some may dismiss his PER on grounds of a small sample size, I'd argue that his true potential for PER is probably higher, since his shooting percentages during his rookie year will undoubtedly rise. Also, I see his passing and rebounding not as anomalies, but as quintessential aspects of his all-around game.

He needs more PT.

[supaflash]

Karl > Walton

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRRNHs3g ... re=related

He needs some work, a little strength would be nice, but he's smart and I liked the interview, he understands that even small defensive lapses can't happen on a championship contender. Kid has a lot of ability and enough athleticism to be successful.

[DEEP3CL]

:lol: I love your douchiness. If Karl is on the team next year, I want you to officially apologize to all his supposed fans. Pretty sure they support him because he's in the P&G.

Ok crazyeights what are you willing to wager that ya boy will be cut in camp or by the December deadline ?

I'll do your apology to you and fans of his if he makes it.

And if he don't you gotta use my name saying "DEEP3CL told me so" as a sig !

[Rox_Nix_Nox]

I'm a big Coby Karl supporter but

deep why you hating coby man? the guy can play, he fits the triangle. He's better than joey crawford.

[wireonfire]

During the Lakers pre-draft workout on youtube, his numbers were even better:

Running vertical: 38.5" as opposed to the 34.5" (this is shocking, Karl has almost a 40" vertical)

Lane Agility: 11.44 instead of 11.57

Even his standing reach was higher, 8' 4.5" instead of 8.35"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRI0RqYdYWE


Also, what I like a lot about Karl is that his threes are effortless, they're set-shots like Brent Barry's. Little wasted motion, quick-release which is important for a spot-up shooter. Jump-shooting three-point shooters can be really streaky. As great as Vujacic shoots, oftentimes he leans left and right which can throw his shot off. The best part about Brent Barry and Coby Karl's set-shot is that it's consistent and reliable, and I expect Karl to do much better next year as he gains confidence and hopefully, more playing time which can do wonders for a shooter's rhythm.

Sun Yue's lane agility is 10.50.

[DEEP3CL]

I'm a big Coby Karl supporter but

deep why you hating coby man? the guy can play, he fits the triangle. He's better than joey crawford.

Face it Rox he made the roster last fall by default. No other competition in camp. The thing you and others are missing on Crawford is the fact he's much more athletic, drives to the basket and gets contact to get to the line and has the frame to be a solid defender.

Besides Kobe nobody else is or will be a consistent threat to drive to the rack. We need somebody else to do that off the bench. Now if Joe makes the team we know Phil won't play him right off but by circumstances next season he might have to.

Beside shooting what else does Coby Karl does ?
Give me 3 other things he does well ?

I challenge anybody to tell me what he does well besides shooting, give me something and I'll lay off CK.

[milesfides]

Sun Yue's lane agility is 10.50.

...beating his draftexpress time, which was already third best in his entire draft class. That's an insanely fast time. This probably explains to some extent Yue's uncanny ability to quickly get in position to block shots in transition.

[milesfides]

Although due to sample size, we have to take the numbers with a grain of salt, Coby Karl is an excellent rebounder for his position. Actually, the second best rate among all shooting guards in the entire league. The guy who beats him is a guy named Keith Langford of the Spurs, who played an average of 5 minutes in 2 games. Coby Karl at least played 17 games. Again, grain of salt, but it's still a sign of something Karl does very well.

Also, passing. He's a good passer. According to ESPN, 18th among all shooting guards in percentage of possessions that lead to an assist. And many of the guys in front of him play an awful amount of PG.

Lastly, defense. According to 82games.com, the majority of his minutes were played at shooting guard, and he boasted a PER of 24 while holding down his opponents to a PER of 9. Those are insane numbers, but then again, he's played mostly against reserves, and this isn't an exact science, especially due to small sample size.

But those are the three things that he does well, aside from shooting: he's an terrific rebounder for his position, an excellent passer, and he plays defense.

These are observations that aren't debunked by stats - in fact, the stats back it up. And everything makes logical sense. Why is he such a good rebounder? Because he has great length, a nice vertical, good agility, and he hustles. Why is he such a good passer? Because he has the height and length to make certain passes, and he has good court vision. He led his team at Boise state in assists. Why is he a good defender? Because of his physical attributes and hustle. He has a blue-collar, hard-nosed attitude about him.

[Slava]

It'd be awesome if he throws up a Sasha kind of break out season. He has the tools to do it, spent a lot of time playing college ball so is pretty mature for his age and should start getting spot minutes as soon as next season.

[MikeyMike]

I've seen him play a very limited amount of time.

However, I got a positive impression of him and he seemed very athletic. I was actually very surprised he was so athletic because for a guy who was coming off cancer and is white, he looked really damn good.

[magicfan4life05]

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/bask ... 8950.story

Rookie free-agent forward Pat Calathes left the Heat on Thursday to work with the Lakers' summer team.

He has not done well in with the Heat summer league, he recorded 2 DNPs and a 3 pts game in 3 games, but he didnt get much playing time.

Here are some college highlights of him

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/ ... src=sports


I'm very familiar with Calathes going back to him in HS, this guy was expected to go in the middle of the second round, but obviously went undrafted.

I think he will surprise you guys with his shooting and passing. He's very skilled for a bigman with his height. He was underrated when he got to St. Joe's (right after jameer nelson left) and his underrated now, he's a 6'10"-6'11" player who can shoot and handle the ball like a pg, he used to play that position before he had a growth spurt.

Most mock drafts had him early to mid 2nd round, if he gets in the right system, I think he'll be very nice role player in the league.

I think his bro will be a better prospect than him, but pat's skills are so unique for his size and what he can do.


If you guys wanna see an interview with him in the Pre Draft Camp in Orlando:

http://www.truveo.com/NBA-PreDraft-Camp ... 1779224764