Leap Year - The Kemba Walker Thread III

[yosemiteben]

Kemba is like the President, maybe you didn't vote for him and maybe you imagine he's not your president, but...

4 more years.

That's actually kind of where I am. Some nights I love him. Some nights I hate him. If he can play consistent defense then I'm ok with him.

[MasterIchiro]

Kemba is like the President, maybe you didn't vote for him and maybe you imagine he's not your president, but...

4 more years.

That's actually kind of where I am. Some nights I love him. Some nights I hate him. If he can play consistent defense then I'm ok with him.

I was ready to give up on his shooting range but he's up to 37%. That's the number I'm watching more than anything. He is surrounded by offensive weapons now so he should be getting better looks than in the past when teams smothered him and forced him into bad shots late in the shot clock. He has more time and space to work with, so he just needs to relax and play within himself. If he can shoot even 35% he's a huge asset given his ballhandling and quickness. He's not a great PG but he's a winner and he's clutch. I'll always believe that but I am definitely biased as a UConn fan who watched him win a National Championship.

[yosemiteben]

Kemba has me wondering if the clutch gene is fading with his late game FT misses lately though. He needs to fix those stat.

[MasterIchiro]

I've noticed he's not whining about no calls as much. Also noticed his teammates are setting him up for catch-and-shoot opportunities. I can get used to that. Dell said (Stephanie Ready agreed) Kemba is better catch-and-shoot beyond 3 but better off the dribble inside the stripe. He has to learn to play to those strengths and we have the offense to support his game. If defenses have to respect his range out there he can really do some damage with dribble penetration. The floor would really open up. Batum, Lamb, Lin, Marvin and eventually hopefully Kaminsky can feed off that. Kemba needs to work on getting the ball deeper to Al but Cliff's push to do that hopefully will rub off on Kemba.

Love our offense.

[gafun]

I swear there isn't a more legitimate reason on why I stopped posting and being as avid with coming onto this forum than some of the arguments I've been reading recently on this Kemba thread

Last 6 games?!? but ignore 'catch20two' rebuttal that Kemba has been better overall the entire season

I'll refute 'Mystical Apples' "last 6 games" debate with what happened the first 6 games (half the season):

Kemba On - 109.5 offensive rating, 103.5 defensive rating

Kemba Off - 96.3 offensive rating, 103.0 defensive rating

__________________________________________________________

Lin On - 101.3 offensive rating, 106.0 defensive rating

Lin Off - 107.5 offensive rating, 101.0 defensive rating

http://stats.nba.com/team/#!/1610612766/onoffcourt/advanced/?Season=2015-16&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&DateFrom=10%2F27%2F2015&DateTo=11%2F08%2F2015&GroupQuantity=2

Now, do you see what I just did there?

I use your chart link, but only to count the games which Lin and Kemba both played 25+ mins/game. It shows Lin's NetRtg (OFF minus DEF rating) is 16.8, #1 on the team for players with 25+mins/game. Walker is -8.3 on the bottom 2 with AL -18.9. On OFF COURT data, the team NetRtg is the worst (-19.0) without Lin. Do you see what I got here?? Lin needs to play at least 25 mins for helping the team to win. It explains why Cliff benched Walker and AL in 4th quarter at some close games.

[MasterIchiro]

Says more about Al.

[DY_nasty]

Kemba is like the President, maybe you didn't vote for him and maybe you imagine he's not your president, but...

4 more years.

That's actually kind of where I am. Some nights I love him. Some nights I hate him. If he can play consistent defense then I'm ok with him.

I was ready to give up on his shooting range but he's up to 37%. That's the number I'm watching more than anything. He is surrounded by offensive weapons now so he should be getting better looks than in the past when teams smothered him and forced him into bad shots late in the shot clock. He has more time and space to work with, so he just needs to relax and play within himself. If he can shoot even 35% he's a huge asset given his ballhandling and quickness. He's not a great PG but he's a winner and he's clutch. I'll always believe that but I am definitely biased as a UConn fan who watched him win a National Championship.

wow

and btw, al's got nothing to do with kemba getting beat off the dribble by jose f'n calderon

[BigSlam]

Kemba is like the President, maybe you didn't vote for him and maybe you imagine he's not your president, but...

4 more years.

That's actually kind of where I am. Some nights I love him. Some nights I hate him. If he can play consistent defense then I'm ok with him.

He's not a great PG but he's a winner and he's clutch. I'll always believe that but I am definitely biased as a UConn fan who watched him win a National Championship.

I applaud you for at least being honest MI.


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[BigSlam]

That's actually kind of where I am. Some nights I love him. Some nights I hate him. If he can play consistent defense then I'm ok with him.

I was ready to give up on his shooting range but he's up to 37%. That's the number I'm watching more than anything. He is surrounded by offensive weapons now so he should be getting better looks than in the past when teams smothered him and forced him into bad shots late in the shot clock. He has more time and space to work with, so he just needs to relax and play within himself. If he can shoot even 35% he's a huge asset given his ballhandling and quickness. He's not a great PG but he's a winner and he's clutch. I'll always believe that but I am definitely biased as a UConn fan who watched him win a National Championship.

wow

and btw, al's got nothing to do with kemba getting beat off the dribble by jose f'n calderon

Not wanting to speak for MI but I'm pretty sure he's referring to from 3, not total fg%.


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[Mystical Apples]

Net rating stats say as much (or more) about the quality of your teammates and specific lineup combinations as they do individual players. It' shouldn't come as a surprise the incumbent players have inferior ratings to years past considering when they leave the floor there isn't a huge dip in performance - which make Marvin's season very remarkable.

In the context of Kemba it's important to also remember what really sucked last year - Lance on the floor with another ball dominant player (Kemba) and non-floor spacers (Cody, MKG, Al, Biz, etc..). I actually think Clifford was dealt a bad hand with that roster and now has the weapons to help Kemba find his niche which is going to be with guys like Hawes/Frank/Nic, not Al/Cody/Lamb. Like I've said I don't think Kemba is great shakes as a starting point guard, but the franchise is doing him 0 favors by starting him with Al and especially with Al + Cody.

For what it's worth, that's why I was sure when the season began the starting 5 would not be the assumed Kemba, Batum, MKG, Cody and Al - it's unworkable and why I'm perplexed Cody is starting with PJ out. Whether or not PJ is better or worse than Lamb or Cody is immaterial.

[yosemiteben]

If he can shoot even 35% he's a huge asset given his ballhandling and quickness.

wow

and btw, al's got nothing to do with kemba getting beat off the dribble by jose f'n calderon

Not wanting to speak for MI but I'm pretty sure he's referring to from 3, not total fg%.

Yeah, seemed clear to me based on context that he was talking about 3PT% since he had just mentioned him shooting 37%. Given that context, I agree with MI's point.

[MasterIchiro]

One of these PG is Kemba.

Who is the other?

.429 .375
.434 .373

[MasterIchiro]

One of these PG is Kemba.

Who is the other?

.429 .375
.434 .373

Hint: A max player and all-star

[HornetJail]

One of these PG is Kemba.

Who is the other?

.429 .375
.434 .373

Hint: A max player and all-star

Was just talking about Lillard in the other thread, yes, that's Lillard, but Lillard also averages 26ppg.

[Dancingpanda]

One of these PG is Kemba.

Who is the other?

.429 .375
.434 .373

Hint: A max player and all-star

Jeff teauge? (Idk if he got the max tho)

[BlackOutBuzz]

One of these PG is Kemba.

Who is the other?

.429 .375
.434 .373

Hint: A max player and all-star

I agree with the sentiment, I've never viewed the mystery player as being that much better than Kemba. Probably a bit better, but to be making literally DOUBLE Kemba is absurd to me. Same age too.

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[Braggins]

One thing that I think has really been helping Kemba's efficiency is that we now regularly have 3-4 players on the court who can be used as bailout options at the end of the shot clock. It got kind of silly last season how people would immediately pass the ball back to Kemba when he would try to reverse the ball as the shot clock was winding down. No one had the ability or the balls to try to make something happen and they would constantly force Kemba to have to be the unlucky one to try to bail us out. We referred to it as the game of shot clock hot potato. This almost never happens anymore. We actually have multiple players who actually want the ball in those situations. When Kemba swings it to Batum or Lamb with the clock winding down their eyes light up and they make a damn play. Hendo would pretty much sh*t his pants 100% of the time and give it back to Kemba without even considering another option. He seems to be doing a good job of cutting down the number of bad shots he takes for no reason, but the team also isn't forcing him into hardly any bad shots, which has not been the case in the past. I think little things like that have contributed more to his inefficiency than people realize. His shot has always looked nice and hes had stretches where hes shown that he can make a decent amount of his shots when he gets good looks. I really hope he keeps this up.

[Braggins]

One of these PG is Kemba.

Who is the other?

.429 .375
.434 .373

Hint: A max player and all-star

Jeff teauge? (Idk if he got the max tho)

Kemba's game has reminded me quite a bit of Jeff Teague this season. Our team in general kind of reminds me of Atlanta.

[yosemiteben]

Yes that game is giving his %'s a huge bump and it's probably unfair to run the stats through tonight, but we are 14 games into the 2015-16 season and on the season Kemba Walker is shooting 46.4% FG and 40.4% 3PT with 57% TS.

[HornetJail]

Kemba has me wondering if the clutch gene is fading with his late game FT misses lately though. He needs to fix those stat.

He heard you.