Why Kevin Seraphin Could Have A Breakout Season

[hands11]

http://wizofawes.com/2014/10/13/kevin-s ... n-wizards/

[Dat2U]

He would have to play and I don't know how much time he's going to be able to get outside of the 1st game of the year behind Gortat & Blair at C.

He looks better physically but his b-ball IQ has always been in question as well.

[tontoz]

This is his 5th year. As far as i am concerned he is "guilty until proven innocent".

When i see him rebounding/taking it to the basket then i might get interested. Not holding my breath for that though.

[nate33]

I know he can score in the post. I know he can hit the midrange jumper. The only thing I'm watching is his rebounding. If he can become a good rebounder, then that changes everything. But so far in his career, he has been an abysmal rebounder.

[nuposse04]

I like his preseason play...but it is the preseason...doesn't really have that much weight from a guy who has repetitively dashed hopes.

[Nivek]

Seraphin can score in the post or from the midrange...if he doesn't turn it over first. And he's been an abysmal rebounder. And he's been a fouling machine, which puts the other team at the FT line for high-efficiency possessions. It's great that his body is apparently in better shape this season -- both in terms of conditioning and being injury free. But there's not much reason to think he's poised for a breakout season other than hope.

Since he's on the roster, I'm completely in favor of hoping he'll play much different than he has throughout his first four seasons. I'm sure hoping he will. I'm even projecting him to be better this season. So...here's to hope.

[Higga]

Doubt he gets many minutes. Seemed like he was already in Witt's doghouse last year and now we have veterans at that spot who are proven players.

[dckingsfan]

I agree with hands on this one... thinking he is going to go from a #295 to #275 ranking by next year.

[FAH1223]

Rebounding, turnovers and fouls

That's all I care about

[hands11]

I know he can score in the post. I know he can hit the midrange jumper. The only thing I'm watching is his rebounding. If he can become a good rebounder, then that changes everything. But so far in his career, he has been an abysmal rebounder.

Rebounding has been the main topic for our Mr Seraphin. And that is what he is he doing better with so far.

I've watched 3 preseason games and he is doing things differently.

He is keeping track of his player and boxing out well.

On offense, he is taking the ball at the elbow and being patient and passing it back instead of trying to make his own move every time.

As for rebounds. Its preseason but ... so far so good.

http://espn.go.com/nba/player/gamelog/_ ... n-seraphin

Still needs to work on those turnovers though.

If he can produce rebounding, he is a better back up option then Blair. That's who he is fighting for minutes over mostly. As I mentioned before. I would prefer they pace Blair if they can. If Kevin shows he can handle some minutes professionally, I would like to see him get some and have Blair fresh and healthy.

Kevin will likely never be more then a back up, but he can become a very solid productive back up. And if he can do that, maybe 2-3 years down the road he might be able to start for someone. Kind of like Gortat did it.

[Kanyewest]

Seraphin played well in the 2011-2012 season. Granted it wasn't great but it was at least serviceable as a backup and he made a lot of progress. He even made it to France's Olympic Team.

Perhaps Seraphin's progression was just a fluke given that it was the 2011-12 season was strike shortened year. His young legs had the advantage of playing in those back to back to back scenarios especially since he didn't play much during the 1st half of the season. Playing with Nene and James Singleton helped as well- I believe Nene hasn't played that well since and Singleton as we all know wasn't re-signed by team.

Could Seraphin take the next step? Nate already touched on this, his rebounding numbers have to improve. Heck, he even has to commit less fouls when he's out there given that he's fouling at over 6 fouls over 36 minutes- although that may be inflated since Seraphin only played last year when he got to go against Dwight Howard.

But the more frustrating thing about Seraphin's game has been his decision making as indicated by flow chart below (which was also written by (wizofawes)
http://cdn.fansided.com/wp-content/blog ... -Flow1.jpg

Seraphin has played well in the preseason which is encouraging- he still needs to do it in the regular season.

[jivelikenice]

I wrote about him as one of my breakout candidates. Isn't this the definition of fool me once shame on you fool me twice shame on me? Anyhow check it out if you have a chance.

http://wizofawes.com/2014/10/15/washing ... -seraphin/

[hands11]

http://www.monumentalnetwork.com/videos ... e-10-15-14

He is maturing.

Some things just take take. Just glad McGee and Nick aren't around to distract him. Instead we have players like Nene, Gortat, Paul and Professor. Big difference.

Slowing downing is important for him. Glad he gets that. He is learning to read the double teams. The more he can learn/think the game instead of just going on his scoring instincts, the better he will be.

Good stuff.

[hands11]

I wrote about him as one of my breakout candidates. Isn't this the definition of fool me once shame on you fool me twice shame on me? Anyhow check it out if you have a chance.

http://wizofawes.com/2014/10/15/washing ... -seraphin/

Thats the same link I posted at the top of the page.

[jivelikenice]

Its a different one. I'm speculating on the 3 potential wild cards on the roster (Seraphin included)

[Nivek]

Seraphin's odds of having a breakout season would be considerably better if he could play in the Israeli league.

[stevemcqueen1]

He's been rebounding and seeing the floor better this preseason. But it's going to be hard for him to get regular minutes when Humphries gets back.

That skip pass to the corner three when the double team came to trap him was so surprising coming from Seraphin. Wall must have taught him something in training camp.

[Nivek]

Just for kicks, I ran some numbers on the preseason thus far. (As an aside, what's up with the NBA's website redesign? Is it their goal to make finding stuff as difficult as possible? Yeesh. I finally found preseason stats in a usable format at Doug Steele's old-fashioned site.)

Anyway, Seraphin's PPA for the preseason is 89 so far (league average is 100 and higher is better). That's significant progress for Seraphin -- his PPA scores by season: 20, 95, 22, 35. He's been good shooting the ball so far, but he's still committing too many turnovers, he's not getting to the FT line, and he's a fouling machine.

If he could produce at the level of a 80-100 PPA, he'd be a very useful reserve.

IF

[DCZards]

When it comes to Seraphin, it all comes down to rebounding, toughness and passing the ball once in a while, rather than shooting it every time he touches it. If Kev can improve in those areas, I'll be thrilled and he will have earned quality PT.

We know Seraphin can score, which is always a plus.

[JWizmentality]

I'd be thrilled to eat crow when it comes to Seraphin. I was p*ssed when Ernie gave him the QO, maybe I'll eat crow about that too.