Kevin Seraphin Thread - Part II

[Sebzor]

would you trade seraphin & vesely + 2nd rounder for D. Williams + 2nd rounder?

[tontoz]

He did make a nice spin move last night and got to the rim but missed the dunk. The previous game he drove all the way from the 3 point line left handed for a layup. Baby steps i guess.

[tontoz]

Take last week for example. An old NBA-TV special came on television featuring a behind the scenes look at none-other-than former Wizard Gilbert Arenas. Seraphin became infatuated with the way Arenas "sleeps at the gym." Immediately following the television piece, Seraphin drove to the Verizon Center and took 1,020 shots, leaving the facility around midnight.

Back on December 7th, Seraphin refused to celebrate his 23rd birthday out on the town, even with his roommate Taylor and girlfriend Allison pestering him that he deserved to have some fun. "We keep losing. I feel guilty to celebrate. Not this year," said Seraphin in a frustrated tone.

http://www.wusa9.com/sports/article/234 ... est-Player

Great quote, dubious title to the article lol.

[closg00]

Lots of great quotes from ML new article, here is the obvious stuff that somehow never seems to translate into actual practice for Kevin so-far.

Teams are gearing up to slow down Seraphin, who finished strongly after the Wizards dealt JaVale McGee to Denver — he scored at least 10 points in 22 of the final 25 games last season. Seraphin said that when he got the ball inside against Cleveland, he received a triple team.

Wittman has urged Seraphin to use his imposing, 6-foot-9, 275-pound frame to attack the opposition inside, rather than only taking floaters and hook shots. Seraphin has attempted just 19 free throws this season and missed his only two attempts in the past six games.

In contrast, Nene has attempted 87 free throws in 14 games — an average of 6.2 per game. Seraphin has not attempted more than four free throws in a game this season.

“With a body like that and his quickness and strength,” Wittman said, shaking his head. “I mean, Nene’s played, I think, 400 less minutes and has taken a million more free throws than him.

“Kevin right now is just content with avoiding contact and we’re trying to teach him, especially in a crowd, to pump fake, pump fake, and get a guy in the air and try to score. If not, you get two free throws.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/wi ... story.html

[dobrojim]

Nene doesn't have to make it complicated

just tell him to stop playing like a sissy
(and while you're at it, grab some freakin rebounds will ya?)

I do wonder what happened to his touch. For a while his
jump hook and face up jumper were falling regularly.
Recently not so much at all(understatement). One wonders what's changed?

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Sissy is probably good enough. I had a couple more words in mind that a professed Christian should not think to utter which would describe Seraphin avoiding contact.

jim, what he said in the article might be part of the problem. "We keep losing. I feel guilty to celebrate."

Seems to me Seraphin is simply trying too hard and he's not at all confident any more. He is a young guy who is in a hurry. Instead of being in a good groove and the ball just coming out freely I think he is tight. Relaxed muscles respond differently than tight ones. Kevin was relaxed and confident the last 25 games of last season.

Now, he feels guilty--which could mean he feels extra obligated and is trying too hard to do too much too soon. Everything is forced about his game right now. He's pressing. That's my theory, jim, as to why the jump hook and the face up aren't falling.

When I shoot around, if I try too hard I tend to aim my shots and my arm gets tight. My shot gets a little strong and I tend to recoil my hand and arm too much on the release. I think Seraphin is pressing and I bet Wittman isn't helping his confidence a bit. I believe Kevin Seraphin might be like my 12-yr old, he presses and rushes at times when he really just needs to be relaxed and to let the game come to him.

As for getting in the paint and drawing fouls, dude needs to do Mikan drills. Kevin would really benefit by working with Hakeem on ball fakes and up and under moves, basically the Dream Shake moves. Seraphin needs to be comfortable adding finishing moves near the basket and not just his hook and face up shots.

[dobrojim]

I used another word in front of my daughters that begins with P and
originally referred to cats. She gave me a dirty look for that so I'm cleaning
up my act. Whichever word we're using, everyone understands.

I believe there MAY be something to what you're saying. He's pressing.
My fastest ever 10K I remember being tense at one point before reminding
myself to loosen up and run easy. This resulted in an immediate increase
in speed with less effort. Kevin oughta be havin fun out there banging smaller
players around. Problem is when he does that he gets whistled up and ends
up sitting with fouls. He's gotta learn to be aggressive and in so doing, put the
defenders off balance so HE'll get the call. Pump fakes, up and under...he stated
long ago Dream was his model. He could add McHale. Either way, he's got work
to do. First step is to relax and flow.

[pancakes3]

KISS approach. Instead of name-calling and long-winded diatribes, just Keep It Simple, Seraphin.

Some coaches have a "no dunking" policy in practice. Just reverse that. Tell Seraphin that the only buckets he's allowed to score are dunks or layups. No hooks, no floaters, no jumpshots.

Tangentially, Okafor has better form on his jumper than I had thought. Too bad the outcome is still pretty bad.

[dobrojim]

Or how about Don't Settle?

He can shoot Js and jump hooks and he never really forces the
issue much by doing it. He needs to drive, ball fake, do whatever
it takes to make the defender do more than the most rudimentary of
defensive moves. Then he should at least have the chance to
draw a foul.

[hands11]

How much longer to do you give Kevin S

http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... pke01.html

Per 36
His rebounding rate is going down
Blks down
FT% down
FTA down
Steals down

eFG down
TS% down
ORTG down

USG% up
AST% up

He is getting worse, not better.

[hands11]

Lots of great quotes from ML new article, here is the obvious stuff that somehow never seems to translate into actual practice for Kevin so-far.

Teams are gearing up to slow down Seraphin, who finished strongly after the Wizards dealt JaVale McGee to Denver — he scored at least 10 points in 22 of the final 25 games last season. Seraphin said that when he got the ball inside against Cleveland, he received a triple team.

Wittman has urged Seraphin to use his imposing, 6-foot-9, 275-pound frame to attack the opposition inside, rather than only taking floaters and hook shots. Seraphin has attempted just 19 free throws this season and missed his only two attempts in the past six games.

In contrast, Nene has attempted 87 free throws in 14 games — an average of 6.2 per game. Seraphin has not attempted more than four free throws in a game this season.

“With a body like that and his quickness and strength,” Wittman said, shaking his head. “I mean, Nene’s played, I think, 400 less minutes and has taken a million more free throws than him.

“Kevin right now is just content with avoiding contact and we’re trying to teach him, especially in a crowd, to pump fake, pump fake, and get a guy in the air and try to score. If not, you get two free throws.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/wi ... story.html

And now that he clearly is not listening to you. Bench him and let C Singleton give it a try. You don't get chances forever in this league. I think Kevin was one of the targets of Nene speaking out.

To bad Big Baby is already taken because that would be perfect for Kevin. Big P maybe. Charmion ?. I don't won't to do the French thing because that offended some.

This kid has a lot to learn. For starters, Randy should forbid him to take that mid range anymore until he grabs some rebounds and get to the line. No shots outside of 5 feet. Just make it not an option and force him to do these other things until he adds them. Then he can add them back again later. Or sit his big behind.

[gambitx777]

Yeah, they need to rip the euro play out of him! He seem to not want to give it up, last night he played a little bit tougher but still he needs to just get in there and bang, not more fade a ways.

[hands11]

Indy game 1/2/12

Props to Kevin for grabbing 9 boards tonight. But still had zero FTAs. Made a nice drive.

16 pts in 31 minutes.

Much better.

Do it again but lets get a few more FTAs.

Mostly improved play except for 19 turnovers for the team.

Trevor A and Wall would have helped what they were missing tonight.

Temple with 7 assists but 0-3 no pts. Still short on PG skills.

Nice to see C Singleton back out there. He game them some production in his minutes. Not monster stats but something solid.

[AFM]

Hands I actually thought this was one of his weakest games to date. Definitely his softest, I was screaming at the TV he played so soft.
He never gets an aggressive rebound. Being one of the tallest players on the court and playing 31 minutes is going to net you 5 or 6 rebounds that just fall into your lap. He definitely wasn't battling on the boards.

[hands11]

Hands I actually thought this was one of his weakest games to date. Definitely his softest, I was screaming at the TV he played so soft.
He never gets an aggressive rebound. Being one of the tallest players on the court and playing 31 minutes is going to net you 5 or 6 rebounds that just fall into your lap. He definitely wasn't battling on the boards.

6-9 is only an inch taller then C Singleton. Its not that tall for an NBA forward.

9 rebounds in 31 mins in a lot better then what he did last game. Its his best rebounding game since 12/4

[Mr. Grundle]

I don't think Kevin is soft at all. He's not afraid to throw his body around on defense and certainly not afraid to foul someone hard. I just think his offensive mindset is to "get a clean shot off" without getting it blocked. He now has confidence in his jump shot and hook shot so he'll try and get it off cleanly whenever he can which means avoiding contact. The guy hasn't played basketball for very long. It is a veteran skill to be able to pump fake, get the defender in a compromised position, draw contact, and give yourself a chance to make the basket or go to the stripe, or hopefully both. Kevin is still figuring out the more basic elements of the game. But he does continue to improve year after year, which is encouraging. I think this one piece of the game is something that will take him a while longer to figure out. He'll eventually have an "AH-HA" moment where it clicks for him, but he's not there yet.

[hands11]

I don't think Kevin is soft at all. He's not afraid to throw his body around on defense and certainly not afraid to foul someone hard. I just think his offensive mindset is to "get a clean shot off" without getting it blocked. He now has confidence in his jump shot and hook shot so he'll try and get it off cleanly whenever he can which means avoiding contact. The guy hasn't played basketball for very long. It is a veteran skill to be able to pump fake, get the defender in a compromised position, draw contact, and give yourself a chance to make the basket or go to the stripe, or hopefully both. Kevin is still figuring out the more basic elements of the game. But he does continue to improve year after year, which is encouraging. I think this one piece of the game is something that will take him a while longer to figure out. He'll eventually have an "AH-HA" moment where it clicks for him, but he's not there yet.

Where yeah been Mr Grundle

It does appear that he is making some progress when watching him. At least in some areas. But it's not showing in the numbers. Check the link I posted on the previous page. He is down in lots of categories.

It just kind of frustrating because there are so many things we really need that he is capable of doing that he isn't. Maybe slipping the pick is helping him stay out of foul trouble but we need him to set some. Specially when Wall gets back. We also need him rebounding. The pump fact would be awesome because he needs to get to the line. I think many of us agree that he is focused on getting off that clean shot. It will be a process to teach him to do different. I see small signs that he is learning. He did it once the other game.

Talented young man physically. His offense seem to have gotten better. But there is so much more he is capable of. I would settle for just seeing more consistent effort of him trying to do these things we read the coaches, Nene and Okafor are trying to teach him. I can live with the mistakes while he gets there.

[dobrojim]

nice to see his jumper falling with some frequency (vs IND) ...
hopefully that will allow him to shot fake, dribble drive. The
problem then will be how well he reacts to the defensive rotation
if he's stopped short of his hook shot range. He needs to drive
to either side like Nene does and make defenders work to defend him.
And see double teams before they arrive so he can avoid TOs.

also in addition to shot fake, dribble drive he should get comfy
with shot fake, one dribble (get closer) pull up.

[Nivek]

It's interesting to see the marked change in Seraphin's game. Basically, he's gone from getting the majority of his shots inside 9 feet to...well...a guy whose shot selection reminds me of Blatche's.

So far this season, he's at a career low (per 40 minutes) in at-rim FGA. His percentage on those shots is solid. He's at a career high on shots from 3-9 feet and from 10-15 feet. His percentages from those ranges are significantly lower than his at-rim attempts, but are okay for the Wizards (.444 efg). His conversion rate on those shots would not be acceptable for a decent team since he's below the league average on efg, and he's not drawing fouls on those shots.

The biggest change is on the sh*t shot -- 16-23 feet. Last season, he averaged 1.4 long 2pt attempts per 40 minutes -- and he hit .460. This year, he's attempting 5.1 long 2pters per 40 -- shooting just .360. It's kinda amazing to see that big a change, especially considering the franchise's experience with Blatche's preposterous shot selection.

Blatche went to Brooklyn where his shot selection radically improved. Seraphin has apparently slid into the Blatche slot -- a big man who takes crappy perimeter shots. And why should Seraphin do it differently? He's averaging a career high in minutes.

[tontoz]

It's interesting to see the marked change in Seraphin's game. Basically, he's gone from getting the majority of his shots inside 9 feet to...well...a guy whose shot selection reminds me of Blatche's.

So far this season, he's at a career low (per 40 minutes) in at-rim FGA. His percentage on those shots is solid. He's at a career high on shots from 3-9 feet and from 10-15 feet. His percentages from those ranges are significantly lower than his at-rim attempts, but are okay for the Wizards (.444 efg). His conversion rate on those shots would not be acceptable for a decent team since he's below the league average on efg, and he's not drawing fouls on those shots.

The biggest change is on the sh*t shot -- 16-23 feet. Last season, he averaged 1.4 long 2pt attempts per 40 minutes -- and he hit .460. This year, he's attempting 5.1 long 2pters per 40 -- shooting just .360. It's kinda amazing to see that big a change, especially considering the franchise's experience with Blatche's preposterous shot selection.

Blatche went to Brooklyn where his shot selection radically improved. Seraphin has apparently slid into the Blatche slot -- a big man who takes crappy perimeter shots. And why should Seraphin do it differently? He's averaging a career high in minutes.

I think i may have to tweet him about that. I have been bugging him about going to the basket for awhile.