90sgoat wrote:magnumt wrote:Side beard wrote:He can be the best player on this team, but for that to happen he needs to develop some killer mentality. He has all the tools to dominate his position, but sometimes it seems something is holding him back.
His teammates not always passing him the ball? A lack of a real PG his Rookie Season?
But, he has shown plenty of toughness in a short NBA time span. Including not backing down from Lebron, Dwight, KAT, or others as a Rookie. As well as CONSTANTLY swatting shots away with ferociousness, and WANTING to take game winning there's.
--Mags
Yeah, I agree, Kristraps has fire and nothing shows it like his rim protection AND he has been taking the ball hard to the hoop plenty of times. He just needs to add 20lbs in muscle, which so far it looks like he hasn't dipped into the pot of Magic Muscle juice.
The training staff didn't want him to bulk up so fast and not have his body ready, its how injuries tend to occur (like what happened to Ben Simmons).
So instead, they had him work all Summer on strengthening his core as well as his legs to support the future weight.
Its worked well so far, in that he hasn't been pushed off for positioning as much as he was last year. He's been able to hold his ground better, while still maintaining his agility on the dribble.
Something that's pretty remarkable (like his crossover), for a guy his 7'3 size.
--Mags