Twinkie defense wrote:Larry Ellison wrote:I want him to do both. Are the two goals incompatible? A JK trade that returns good value could help win a championship this year. I can envision a scenario where the Warriors are winning and playing at peak level and JK has a consistent 20-25 minute role. JK is the primary backup to both Jimmy and Dray. We need him. We are a better team with him playing and producing. I am still a non-believer in JK long-term, but between the coaching staff and vets on the team, there has got to be a way to get a good half-season out of JK. Then let another team take the long-term risk.
Kerr is trying to find the right combinations where JK can contribute to winning... I just think the goal is to try to get what you can from him to help you win games and not trying to develop or showcase him to maximize his trade value.
His trade value is probably what it is, and there's not much that could happen this season to impact his value much. He has four years of game tape.
Really how much better are we expecting JK to be from what he showed in the Minnesota series? He avg 20+ on good efficiency against a really good defense with a rim protector and his trade value is what it is. The passing and moving the ball will help, but really it's being an impact defender that will make him much more valuable. But even then without a 3 point shot it's really hard for JK to fit around a star, which kind of limits his value. Like it doesn't really matter what Kerr does to showcase JK or up his value in some way. It's on JK to become a better basketball player. He has to be able to process what's going on around him on defense and then be able to react to it. There's no role that Kerr can put JK in to make him seem better than he is and artificially raise his trade value. JK putting up good stats in the playoffs didn't raise his trade value. It's the little things that teams are valuing. Can you be an impact defender, can you fit around our star player, how are you going to make our team better? Sure there are still some bad franchises out there that might be swayed by volume stats (Kings), but they are few and far but even they have a low trade value on him.
Like if JK was an elite defender like Toumani Camara, he'd be instantly more valuable. That's not something Kerr can just put him in a position to do, that's something JK has to do. Like if JK could shoot he'd be instantly more valuable but that's on JK to become a better spot up shooter. Kerr has constantly told him to be Shawn Marion to play defense, run the floor and get easy baskets let the offense flow, if he did that he'd be more valuable to us and he might have even gotten a contract he wanted. There was a 5 game stretch last year where things just clicked for JK on offense and he was thriving but then he got hurt and he reverted back to who he is. It's on JK to make things work or to raise his value as a player. JK is passing the ball well this preseason so he's trying to improve. Kerr is trying to showcase him by allowing him to play without jimmy or steph. So let's just give it a few games to see what it can look like.
wow 200+ pages...
