Kevin Seraphin Thread - Part II

[pancakes3]

I'm still not fully convinced that Kevin has turned a corner. The same old bad habits are still there:

No counter moves. Bad passing. Mediocre defense. Now he's added jump-shooting to it.

[jeffsays]

I hope that Kevin gets more playing time. He's been playing really well and has been a reliable scorer. If he gets hot keep him in there. If not, just pull him for Booker or Ves. He's big enough to hold his own against PFs and Cs. Sure his defense is mediocre, but it's improving.

[jivelikenice]

Lately he has been trying to take it to the basket more than he has in the past. Hopefully it continues.

I've noticed that also. There was one play either in the 3rd or 4th where he faced up, made a quick move left and got fouled (he finished it with a dunk but it was on the ground).

This role suits him. An instant offense big off the bench. If he has it, great....If he doesn't, pull him quick.

[tontoz]

Lately he has been trying to take it to the basket more than he has in the past. Hopefully it continues.

I've noticed that also. There was one play either in the 3rd or 4th where he faced up, made a quick move left and got fouled (he finished it with a dunk but it was on the ground).
This role suits him. An instant offense big off the bench. If he has it, great....If he doesn't, pull him quick.

That is exactly the type of play he never used to try. When you face up the defender can't put his hands on you. I was bugging him on twitter last year about needing to face up. He ended up blocking me lol.

Small sample size qualifier here but on the season Seraphin is averaging 20 pts per 40 minutes, by far the best of his career. His TS of 55.7% is also a career best.

Turnover rate, rebounding rate and assist rate are all still horrible though.

[go'stags]

Early in the season his only move was that little half hook. He is adding some variance to his scoring these days. I'd like to see him play some more, see if he can keep improving.

[veji1]

interesting to see the last developments. He could become a quality scoring big, à la what Blatche is doing in Brooklyn (see what I did), while still having lots of horrible limitations.

What is a bit sad is that I still think he could be so much better a player if he could learn more the game by playing more in a central role, having to face being double teamed regularly and learning through experience how to get out of it.

He would have been a prime candidate for a few more years in Europe in a central role, just like what Ajinca did in Strasbourg for 2 seasons, going from being a massive bust to an actual baskeball player.

[hands11]

Early in the season his only move was that little half hook. He is adding some variance to his scoring these days. I'd like to see him play some more, see if he can keep improving.

Don't know that I agree. This is the Kevin arsonel I am used to seeing.

Left and Right hook, sweep to the middle and top of the key mid range and a dunk here and there.

He had a good game last game. Needs to focus on not fading back on that mid range and passing out sometimes to reset the play or move it inside out. And above all, defense and don't get trapped.

Kevin has always had a lot of offensive skills. Just needs to have the game slow down, not foul to much and have a coach that knows how to use him.

Worst for Kevin is knowing when to slow down and pass it around, not getting trapped.

He was my wild card for the year. When Kevin is going, he is a BEAST.

[veji1]

Early in the season his only move was that little half hook. He is adding some variance to his scoring these days. I'd like to see him play some more, see if he can keep improving.

Don't know that I agree. This is the Kevin arsonel I am used to seeing.

Left and Right hook, sweep to the middle and top of the key mid range and a dunk here and there.

He had a good game last game. Needs to focus on not fading back on that mid range and passing out sometimes to reset the play or move it inside out. And above all, defense and don't get trapped.

Kevin has always had a lot of offensive skills. Just needs to have the game slow down, not foul to much and have a coach that knows how to use him.

Worst for Kevin is knowing when to slow down and pass it around, not getting trapped.

He was my wild card for the year. When Kevin is going, he is a BEAST.

Agree wholeheartedly, the problem though is that this is typically a skill you aquire through experience. Not necessarily after 10 years, but you need to play and keep playing, face the same situation 1, 10, 100 times so that you learn how to make the right decision...

Fundamentaly this is the conundrum with KS. He needs regular play time to turn the corner, but his play doesn't warrant regular play time when you are gunning for a playoff spot... What to do ?

[Ruzious]

As long as he shoots 61% (which he's done over the last 11 games) and doesn't turn the ball over too much, I don't mind if he doesn't rack up assists. If he's scoring the way he has been lately, don't fix what's not broken.

[Hidden Eye]

Almost every possesion he makes always lose the ball gotta keep the turnovers down.

[dckingsfan]

Almost every possesion he makes always lose the ball gotta keep the turnovers down.

I am not a Kevin fan but... in his last 5 games he is averaging 1 TO per 23.5 min. Not unreasonable.

[Nivek]

Turnovers per 23.5 minutes.

Can't say I've seen that stat before.

[MJG]

Minutes per stat is the new hotness.

[hands11]

Early in the season his only move was that little half hook. He is adding some variance to his scoring these days. I'd like to see him play some more, see if he can keep improving.

Don't know that I agree. This is the Kevin arsonel I am used to seeing.

Left and Right hook, sweep to the middle and top of the key mid range and a dunk here and there.

He had a good game last game. Needs to focus on not fading back on that mid range and passing out sometimes to reset the play or move it inside out. And above all, defense and don't get trapped.

Kevin has always had a lot of offensive skills. Just needs to have the game slow down, not foul to much and have a coach that knows how to use him.

Worst for Kevin is knowing when to slow down and pass it around, not getting trapped.

He was my wild card for the year. When Kevin is going, he is a BEAST.

Agree wholeheartedly, the problem though is that this is typically a skill you aquire through experience. Not necessarily after 10 years, but you need to play and keep playing, face the same situation 1, 10, 100 times so that you learn how to make the right decision...

Fundamentaly this is the conundrum with KS. He needs regular play time to turn the corner, but his play doesn't warrant regular play time when you are gunning for a playoff spot... What to do ?

You look for opportunities to play him. Not turn to him as a last resort.

Duncan is a Nene killer. Look over the games they have played. Nene was shut down to start this game. And then again to start the 2nd half when Duncan went on a tear. I would have turned to Kevin or Ves to trough something different at him. Ves with length and fouls. Kevin with bulk and scoring.

This is where Randy falls short.

Our bench sucked early in the year mostly because of who Randy started and who he turned to on the bench.

Then he adjusted. Nene was off the bench and the bench looked good.

Maynor got benched and they adjusted again. Bench looked last night as well as other night.

Rotations. Rotations. Rotations.

I've said it all year. And that is on Randy. Sure you can always add better players to your team. But things didn't have to suck the way they did. Randy did a poor job with what he had.

What would our record be with Pops as HC ? A bet we would have min 6 more wins. 30-18 minimum.

[dckingsfan]

Turnovers per 23.5 minutes.

Can't say I've seen that stat before.

new standard

[dckingsfan]

Don't know that I agree. This is the Kevin arsonel I am used to seeing.

Left and Right hook, sweep to the middle and top of the key mid range and a dunk here and there.

He had a good game last game. Needs to focus on not fading back on that mid range and passing out sometimes to reset the play or move it inside out. And above all, defense and don't get trapped.

Kevin has always had a lot of offensive skills. Just needs to have the game slow down, not foul to much and have a coach that knows how to use him.

Worst for Kevin is knowing when to slow down and pass it around, not getting trapped.

He was my wild card for the year. When Kevin is going, he is a BEAST.

Agree wholeheartedly, the problem though is that this is typically a skill you aquire through experience. Not necessarily after 10 years, but you need to play and keep playing, face the same situation 1, 10, 100 times so that you learn how to make the right decision...

Fundamentaly this is the conundrum with KS. He needs regular play time to turn the corner, but his play doesn't warrant regular play time when you are gunning for a playoff spot... What to do ?

You look for opportunities to play him. Not turn to him as a last resort.

Duncan is a Nene killer. Look over the games they have played. Nene was shut down to start this game. And then again to start the 2nd half when Duncan went on a tear. I would have turned to Kevin or Ves to trough something different at him. Ves with length and fouls. Kevin with bulk and scoring.

This is where Randy falls short.

Our bench sucked early in the year mostly because of who Randy started and who he turned to on the bench.

Then he adjusted. Nene was off the bench and the bench looked good.

Maynor got benched and they adjusted again. Bench looked last night as well as other night.

Rotations. Rotations. Rotations.

I've said it all year. And that is on Randy. Sure you can always add better players to your team. But things didn't have to suck the way they did. Randy did a poor job with what he had.

What would our record be with Pops as HC ? A bet we would have min 6 more wins. 30-18 minimum.

But doesn't Veji1's point stand? He needs regular rotation minutes to develop which is very difficult to do as we chase a playoff spot. Interesting that he gives Beal regular minutes even when he isn't performing. Hence the dilemma, conundrum and puzzle...

Other than Pops and Thibs, I don't think any other coach would have appreciably more wins that Witt. And we don't have Thibs and that brings us back to EG

[Hypnotizer]

How serious is KeSera's injury?

[payitforward]

As with Nene, we are 5-1 since Kevin Seraphin went down. And this is why I repeatedly question statements like the following from Hands:

You look for opportunities to play him. Not turn to him as a last resort....

This is where Randy falls short. ...

Rotations. Rotations. Rotations.... I've said it all year. And that is on Randy. ... What would our record be with Pops as HC ? A bet we would have min 6 more wins.

When you have a player who doesn't produce (Kevin Seraphin), you look for opportunities NOT to play him! There's no evidence that playing a bad player more makes the player better, but there's plenty of evidence that playing a bad player more makes the team worse.

That's why coaches -- who don't have the luxury we have of remembering only when we are right, and who unlike us pay for being wrong (with their jobs!) -- try to give their best players at each position the most minutes.

And that is all there is to the subject of "rotations." Period. That and the ex post facto error (i.e. hindsight -- maybe we should rename it "Handsight"?? when we use it here? )

Of course, Hands is right that we'd have a little better record if Pops were our coach. Pops is the best coach in the league. Emphasis on "a little" -- because the players are the big reason for a team's record. The coach is secondary.

We are 8-1 in our last 9 games. How much better would that record be if Pops had coached those games? In the one loss, we were dominated by Memphis, a much better team than the Wizards. Then they coasted the 4th quarter making it look closer than it was.

[nate33]

Kevin Serapin in his last 21 games:

PTS/36 - 15.5
REB/36 - 7.8
AST/36 - 1.0
BLK/36 - 1.5
TO/36 - 1.5
PF/36 - 5.5

TS% - .586
ORtg - 111
DRtg - 107

Why isn't he playing again? His rebounding still stinks, but he's doing everything else well. He is scoring with efficiency and getting the job done defensively, although he's a bit foul prone. I don't understand why Harrington plays ahead of him.

[Ruzious]

Kevin Serapin in his last 21 games:

PTS/36 - 15.5
REB/36 - 7.8
AST/36 - 1.0
BLK/36 - 1.5
TO/36 - 1.5
PF/36 - 5.5

TS% - .586
ORtg - 111
DRtg - 107

Why isn't he playing again? His rebounding still stinks, but he's doing everything else well. He is scoring with efficiency and getting the job done defensively, although he's a bit foul prone. I don't understand why Harrington plays ahead of him.

Yeah, I was hoping/expecting he'd play more when Nene went down, but it hasn't happened. I guess they feel like Harrington helps with floor spacing.