Woj: Hornets sign MKG 4yr/$52M extension

[yosemiteben]

Tsherk, bud, you just keep making statements that make me think you don't pay enough attention to Charlotte to justify these opinions.

Marv is not a new addition. We've seen what he'll do last season, and his place in the rotation is not a sure thing with our improved big depth, our improved wing depth, and our FO and coaching staff's talk of playing small with MKG or Batum at PF.

Mark Price was MKG's shooting coach for two off-seasons (not just one), but he is no longer a Hornets coach and has been replaced.

MKG is a project as a shooter that is still very young, is in the third off-season of what was planned to be a three year process to remake his shot, and markedly improved his range after his second off-season. Lumping all of his attempts for his full career together to try to get a picture of the type of offensive player he is does not create an accurate picture.

[junot111]

As a Raptors fan I would gladly take MKG at this rate over Carroll.

I'll get flamed for this but tbh on this deal I might even take him over Valanciunas considering the price difference. Dude's twice the defensive anchor that JV is despite the positional difference, and as mentioned dozens of times in this thread, is only 21. Scorers are easy to find, but a player that can make as much of an impact on defense like MKG is much more valuable to me.

[Swav718]

Didn't Melo drop 65 on this guy? And I think Lebron or kobe did it too lol excellent defender where ?

[Q C]

Didn't Melo drop 65 on this guy? And I think Lebron or kobe did it too lol excellent defender where ?

LeBron and Melo scoring 60+ on the Hornets has nothing to do with MKG being an elite wing defender (which he is, easily) Watch those 2 scoring performances and you'll see MKG playing great defense

says everything about the scoring talent of those 2 hall of famers though. when all time great scorers get hot there isn't much anyone can do. Thats why MKG isn't getting the max

[fatlever]

I keep seeing people talk about the games where Melo and Lebron scored 60 on the Hornets. People that watched those games know that those amazing performances had absolutely nothing to do with MKG playing bad defense.

First, only a fraction of those points were directly scored against MKG. Second, the Hornets, by design, stick MKG on the best wing scorer and NEVER give him any help. The Hornets do not double-team scorers, even when they are red hot. By MKG going solo vs the best offensive wing, it allows the other 4 guys to keep their guys in check, not give up easy buckets and control the defensive rebounds (which the Hornets are 1st in the league). The Hornets want MKGs man to take long contested jumpshots and if they make those shots, then so be it.

If there was a player to blame in those games it was Al Jefferson. In the case vs Miami, the Heat ran pick/pop at MKG using Jefferson's man. Jefferson always plays about 100 feet off his man in a pick and roll, which meant Lebron had wide open jumpers coming off those screens. MKG was still amazing at covering both his man and Jefferson's man (which is typical).

People should watch the game before deciding if MKG was playing bad defense or Lebron just happened to get RED HOT from deep and hit tons of contested long jumpers. Watch how many points are scored against Jefferson (or when Jefferson makes no attempt to rotate or defend the pick and pop). In the 2nd half, watch how many jumpers Lebron hits with MKG right in his face. There is nothing you can do in that situation. Great players occasionally have great scoring nights and there is nothing you can do. In hindsight, in this game, Clifford should have ran defenders at Lebron and made others make shots (which is usually the last thing you want to do with Lebron).

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qmd_vOWQWx4[/youtube]

Lebron doesn't score against MKG until the 2nd half and by then he was red hot, most of the points in the 1st were scored against Jefferson or in transition. He started the 2nd half by hitting about 5-6 long contested jumpers vs MKG, then he hit 3-4 more long jumpers against MKG when MKG was getting screened by Anderson and Jefferson was miles away. The rest of the damage was against Tolliver and CDR.

[Kevin Johnson]

MORE interesting is that about 52% of his shots have come from inside 3 feet.......Given that he's made 672 shots in his career, that leaves about 218 makes outside of the closest zone, or roughly 31% when he isn't at point-blank range... which says much more than his 3PM will ever manage.
...........
Entertainingly, he's pretty clearly a rhythm shooter. He's generally been better on pull-up Js than on catch-and-shoot scenarios. He's not a guy who does well when he has time to think unless it's with a live dribble, and he doesn't finish well when he's contested in close. So we'll see.
..................
What we've got is a guy who basically needs to get to the rim on a dribble attack, or he's in trouble.

You've got a better assessment of MKG than most Hornets fans. I don't know how fans extrapolate that MKG will ever become a respectable shooter. The only thing they can point to is age. An area he might actually improve and would pay dividends is his ball handling. If he could tighten his handle, break down defenders and finish, he'd be less of a liability of having to play 4 vs 5 on offense. Also, the fact that nobody guards him on offense helps inflates his rebounding numbers because he gets almost 2 offensive rebounds a game.

[kodo]

Great deal in this environment.

Obviously not a great shooter but he can get to the rim and draw fouls as well.
Overall his TS is 52%, Draymond Green has a TS of 54%.

He's a 37% long 2 shooter, I wonder if like Iguodala (37% long 2 shooter) he can eventually extend his range. May take years though.

[Eoghan]

It's a pretty good deal. The sad thing is that the Hornets are more likely to shoot themselves in the foot with the cap savings than build something meaningful around MKG.

[doogled]

Hornets should have paid MKG more, so he can actually get calls at the rim.

[shangrila]

Reasonable deal given the new cap. MKG is far from the perfect player but even if he never improves I think he's a decent starter.

[Q C]

I think its funny that you look at Brad Beal and MKG

the best part of Brad beals game is scoring
the worst part of MKGs game is scoring

Brad Beal averages all of what..2 ppg more per 36 at the exact same efficiency?

but to RealGM giving Beal a max is a no brainer but MKG at 13 per is some huge overpay

[Kevin Johnson]

I think its funny that you look at Brad Beal and MKG

the best part of Brad beals game is scoring
the worst part of MKGs game is scoring

Brad Beal averages all of what..2 ppg more per 36 at the exact same efficiency?

but to RealGM giving Beal a max is a no brainer but MKG at 13 per is some huge overpay

Beal seemed like he was off to a slow start recovering last season. He did average 17ppg his 2nd season. He's a 40% 3-PT shooter for his career. All this with people actually guarding him.

MKG hits double figures because nobody is guarding him most the time. He can't shoot to save his life. He's wing who didn't hit ONE 3-pointer last season in an era when even PFs are expected to stretch the floor.

Hornets fans get too carried away with MKG. So far, he's a poor man's Tony Allen.

[Q C]

I think its funny that you look at Brad Beal and MKG

the best part of Brad beals game is scoring
the worst part of MKGs game is scoring

Brad Beal averages all of what..2 ppg more per 36 at the exact same efficiency?

but to RealGM giving Beal a max is a no brainer but MKG at 13 per is some huge overpay

Beal seemed like he was off to a slow start recovering last season. He did average 17ppg his 2nd season. He's a 40% 3-PT shooter for his career. All this with people actually guarding him.

MKG hits double figures because nobody is guarding him most the time. He can't shoot to save his life. He's wing who didn't hit ONE 3-pointer last season in an era when even PFs are expected to stretch the floor.

Hornets fans get too carried away with MKG. So far, he's a poor man's Tony Allen.

yeah Beal averaged more pts his 2nd year on even worse efficiency than last year..not exactly impressive. at all. and thats his STRENGTH

[Kevin Johnson]

yeah Beal averaged more pts his 2nd year on even worse efficiency than last year..not exactly impressive. at all. and thats his STRENGTH

Modern NBA. You want intelligent players, who play good defense, can pass, and can spread the floor with their shooting.

Top contenders like the Spurs, Warriors, Cavs would ALL prefer Beal over MKG. Hell, they'd prefer Demarre Caroll over MKG. MKG would not get over 10 minutes per game on these contenders. He would hurt those teams more than help with his defense.

Nobody except the Hornets value a player whose only strength is defense and hustle but who kills your team's offensive spacing and flow. Even Tony Allen will occasionally hit some open shots and a three for you. And Tony Allen lost his minutes to Jeff Green and Courtney Lee.

[Q C]

yeah Beal averaged more pts his 2nd year on even worse efficiency than last year..not exactly impressive. at all. and thats his STRENGTH

Modern NBA. You want intelligent players, who play good defense, can pass, and can spread the floor with their shooting.

Top contenders like the Spurs, Warriors, Cavs would ALL prefer Beal over MKG. Hell, they'd prefer Demarre Caroll over MKG.

Nobody except the Hornets value a player whose only strength is defense and hustle but who kills your team's offensive spacing and flow. Even Tony Allen will occasionally hit some open shots and a three for you. And Tony Allen lost his position to Jeff Green and Tony Allen.

MKG has a higher ORTG, lower DRTG than Beal, higher RPM, higher PER..what more do you need? you're talking absolutely crazy.

I agree you want intelligent players. Thats why you take MKG over a weak spacer like Brad Beal all day. MKG is an anchor that improves everyone around him. And it shows in all the numbers

[Kevin Johnson]

yeah Beal averaged more pts his 2nd year on even worse efficiency than last year..not exactly impressive. at all. and thats his STRENGTH

Modern NBA. You want intelligent players, who play good defense, can pass, and can spread the floor with their shooting.

Top contenders like the Spurs, Warriors, Cavs would ALL prefer Beal over MKG. Hell, they'd prefer Demarre Caroll over MKG.

Nobody except the Hornets value a player whose only strength is defense and hustle but who kills your team's offensive spacing and flow. Even Tony Allen will occasionally hit some open shots and a three for you. And Tony Allen lost his position to Jeff Green and Tony Allen.

MKG has a higher ORTG, lower DRTG than Beal, higher RPM, higher PER..what more do you need? you're talking absolutely crazy.

I agree you want intelligent players. Thats why you take MKG over a weak spacer like Brad Beal all day. MKG is an anchor that improves everyone around him. And it shows in all the numbers

THIS is why the Hornets suck. Our front office's talent evaluation level is on par with Hornets fans. I am cringing at the thought of Kemba running the offense and MKG on the wings for the next 10 years

[Q C]

Modern NBA. You want intelligent players, who play good defense, can pass, and can spread the floor with their shooting.

Top contenders like the Spurs, Warriors, Cavs would ALL prefer Beal over MKG. Hell, they'd prefer Demarre Caroll over MKG.

Nobody except the Hornets value a player whose only strength is defense and hustle but who kills your team's offensive spacing and flow. Even Tony Allen will occasionally hit some open shots and a three for you. And Tony Allen lost his position to Jeff Green and Tony Allen.

MKG has a higher ORTG, lower DRTG than Beal, higher RPM, higher PER..what more do you need? you're talking absolutely crazy.

I agree you want intelligent players. Thats why you take MKG over a weak spacer like Brad Beal all day. MKG is an anchor that improves everyone around him. And it shows in all the numbers

THIS is why the Hornets suck. Our front office's talent evaluation level is on par with Hornets fans. I am cringing at the thought of Kemba running the offense and MKG on the wings for the next 10 years

I guess this is your way of admitting you're position is indefensible and you give up. You could just say as much and admit you don't really understand what MKG has already brought to the table as an NBA player.

[LofJ]

Modern NBA. You want intelligent players, who play good defense, can pass, and can spread the floor with their shooting.

Top contenders like the Spurs, Warriors, Cavs would ALL prefer Beal over MKG. Hell, they'd prefer Demarre Caroll over MKG.

Nobody except the Hornets value a player whose only strength is defense and hustle but who kills your team's offensive spacing and flow. Even Tony Allen will occasionally hit some open shots and a three for you. And Tony Allen lost his position to Jeff Green and Tony Allen.

MKG has a higher ORTG, lower DRTG than Beal, higher RPM, higher PER..what more do you need? you're talking absolutely crazy.

I agree you want intelligent players. Thats why you take MKG over a weak spacer like Brad Beal all day. MKG is an anchor that improves everyone around him. And it shows in all the numbers

THIS is why the Hornets suck. Our front office's talent evaluation level is on par with Hornets fans. I am cringing at the thought of Kemba running the offense and MKG on the wings for the next 10 years

You're a Hornets fan? How come I've never seen you on our board? And it's the next 4 years with Kemba and MKG, but given your level of analysis it's not surprising that you resort to hyperbole to make your argument seem more cogent.