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countryboi wrote:Liver_Pooty wrote:[tweet]https://twitter.com/rick_bonnell/status/517380318907863041[/tweet]
His work ethic may end up being stuff that legends are made of.
man Bonnell just cant say anything nice.
BizGilwalker wrote:LofJ wrote:It's really hard to root against MKG. He's everything you want out of an athlete. Holy crap will we be good if both MKG and Lance are hiting shots consistenly from range to go along with their defense and driving ability.
I'll be right back. I need a paper towel to collect my drool.
After visualizing MKG stroking mid-range jumpers with ease, I need a paper towel to collect something else.
LofJ wrote:It is so annoying that Bonnell has to force himself to say something positive about some of our players. MKG is still just a kid, busting his tail to get better. These guys deserve better than back-handed compliments. It will irk me to the day he retires/quits/GETS FIRED that he covers this team for the Observer.
tranjSAIC wrote:
Still not great, but a billion times better than before. Does anyone else here think his J kind of looks like Rashard Lewis's?
With the help of Hornets assistant Mark Price, Kidd-Gilchrist appears to have made the first noticeable overhaul of his shot. In the past, Gilchrist would rise for a shot, turn his arms and hips in an awkward position, enter into a hitch and release the ball on his way down.
Kidd-Gilchrist started to reconstruct his shot from the ground up in April, first working on shooting with one hand, then moving on from there. A training camp video from the Hornets showed the finished product, with Kidd-Gilchrist shooting in rhythm and knocking down open looks. The hitch is gone and his off hand is straight and away from the ball on the release.
"It's going in a lot more," Kidd-Gilchrist said at Hornets media day. "I can't believe I did it myself, man."
Kidd-Gilchrist's disbelief makes sense considering just how far his shot has come. The process of changing something he has done his entire basketball career is no small feat. Gilchrist didn't look at it as work, because he yearned to improve the look and result of his shot.
"I don't think it was hard," MKG said. "I wanted to do it so bad. I was just working everyday. I would punch in the clock and work. I don't think it was hard at all. It's something I wanted to do, so I'm doing it still."
Any improvement is good for Kidd-Gilchrist, who maintains a career 3-point mark of 16.7 percent and hasn't shot better than 30.3 percent from any distance outside of three feet. In fact, over two years, Kidd-Gilchrist has only hit 28.9 percent of shots between 2-10 feet and 14.6 percent from 10-16 feet. Predictably, the percentage of shots Kidd-Gilchrist took leaned heavily toward the restricted area, with 53.7 percent of his attempts coming from within three feet.
Based on his own observations, Hornets coach Steve Clifford expects that to change.
"Mike has always caught it and said, 'I'm either going to drive it or I'm going to pass it,'" Kidd-Gilchrist said. "Now he has more of an ability to show the ball. You know what, it may be 40 games, it may be two years. But all I know is watching him and seeing him workout, he has the ability to make 18-19 foot shots now. That decision-making process, he's going to have to learn. And we need to let him do it."
Kidd-Gilchrist looked as if he had taken a step toward pushing back his shot of choice at the start of the season. As opponents left him open in the corner to start the 2013-14 season, Gilchrist was determined to make them pay. But, when the shots continued to miss the mark, he backed off.
One of Price's biggest teachings should help Kidd-Gilchrist put this behavior behind him. Price told Kidd-Gilchrist, "Move on to the next play every game. Don't worry about the past play and don't hold my head or none of that."
Clifford did not hold back praise when asked about the developments in Kidd-Gilchrist's improvement.
"He and Mark have done a great job," Clifford said. "I've never seen anybody, and I've coached 31 years now, I've never seen anybody's shooting mechanics change more drastically than his has in the year or so that Mark started working with him."
Clifford later added this caveat: "It's still going to take some time now. He's not Dell Curry. That's important for him to understand and for us to understand."
Teams around the NBA have hired shooting coaches to help their young players mature. Charlotte had one on hand as an assistant, and Price was there for much of Kidd-Gilchrist's process. The extra effort put in by Price is not lost on Kidd-Gilchrist.
"I thank him every day," Kidd-Gilchrist said. "He pushed me, of course he pushed me. I was working out on the weekends, at night. So I was in the gym with him a lot."
But even before Kidd-Gilchrist started this process, he managed to be a solid NBA player, averaging 8.2 points and 5.6 rebounds in two years. This has a ton to do with the fact that Kidd-Gilchrist's game was never based on his ability to shoot. The Hornets relied on Kidd-Gilchrist as a defender and slasher, placing him on players such as LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony.
Few second-year players can be trusted to defend James or Anthony, or do so with any level of success. Kidd-Gilchrist's ability to play such staunch defense is a marketable skill. Clifford is aware of this, and said he does not want Kidd-Gilchrist's other qualities to get lost in his efforts to improve the shot.
"All I know is he can't forget why he's good," Clifford said. "If you look at last year, our team when he was in the game versus when he was out of the game, we normally played better when he was on the floor and our team played much better when he was an option for us to have in there. So, he has a way that he played effectively. This, however, if he finds a way so that he can make more shots, it can give him potentially a much different career."
Regardless of where this new jumpshot could take him, Kidd-Gilchrist can't forget his identity, Clifford said.
"He's an energy, effort guy," Clifford said. "That's his exceptional trait. And he can never forget that. I told him the other day, if you make five 19-footers in a row and you run down and stop defending, you're only OK."
http://www.sportingnews.com/nba/story/2 ... mark-price
Balllin wrote:Zion Williamson is 6-5, with a 6-10 wingspan. I see him as a slightly better Kenneth Faried.
Liver_Pooty wrote:Hopefully MKG develops and his head coach can start saying he has another exceptional trait other than "hustle and energy". There are a lot of guys in the league who have that, and they weren't the 2nd pick in the draft.
jdm3 wrote:Liver_Pooty wrote:Hopefully MKG develops and his head coach can start saying he has another exceptional trait other than "hustle and energy". There are a lot of guys in the league who have that, and they weren't the 2nd pick in the draft.
No kidding we have a number 4 pick that has that as his only traits too. He is even older than MKG and not 1/10 the defender.
Balllin wrote:Zion Williamson is 6-5, with a 6-10 wingspan. I see him as a slightly better Kenneth Faried.
Liver_Pooty wrote:jdm3 wrote:Liver_Pooty wrote:Hopefully MKG develops and his head coach can start saying he has another exceptional trait other than "hustle and energy". There are a lot of guys in the league who have that, and they weren't the 2nd pick in the draft.
No kidding we have a number 4 pick that has that as his only traits too. He is even older than MKG and not 1/10 the defender.
Lol do you include Cody Zeller in everything that you reply to me? Its annoying.
But yeah, its a trend that we tend to only draft guys with energy and hustle as their main traits.
MKG and Zeller are poised for great years, though.
jdm3 wrote:Liver_Pooty wrote:jdm3 wrote:No kidding we have a number 4 pick that has that as his only traits too. He is even older than MKG and not 1/10 the defender.
Lol do you include Cody Zeller in everything that you reply to me? Its annoying.
But yeah, its a trend that we tend to only draft guys with energy and hustle as their main traits.
MKG and Zeller are poised for great years, though.
Only when you put down the players we have that are better by a long shot over the player you love to hype. If you are negative about better players and positive about worse ones somebody should counter that.
Balllin wrote:Zion Williamson is 6-5, with a 6-10 wingspan. I see him as a slightly better Kenneth Faried.
Liver_Pooty wrote:jdm3 wrote:Liver_Pooty wrote:
Lol do you include Cody Zeller in everything that you reply to me? Its annoying.
But yeah, its a trend that we tend to only draft guys with energy and hustle as their main traits.
MKG and Zeller are poised for great years, though.
Only when you put down the players we have that are better by a long shot over the player you love to hype. If you are negative about better players and positive about worse ones somebody should counter that.
I wasn't being negative about MKG. Mainly stating that its annoying how Clifford says thats his main trait, when I believe his defense is.
jdm3 wrote:Liver_Pooty wrote:jdm3 wrote:Only when you put down the players we have that are better by a long shot over the player you love to hype. If you are negative about better players and positive about worse ones somebody should counter that.
I wasn't being negative about MKG. Mainly stating that its annoying how Clifford says thats his main trait, when I believe his defense is.
Your original comment sounded like a backhanded compliment. This so soon after you talk about not wanting Williams because Zeller is ready to start looked suspicious. I think coming off reading that post into this one may have colored my impression of what you were saying but I was just bringing up a point.
Balllin wrote:Zion Williamson is 6-5, with a 6-10 wingspan. I see him as a slightly better Kenneth Faried.
Liver_Pooty wrote:jdm3 wrote:Liver_Pooty wrote:
I wasn't being negative about MKG. Mainly stating that its annoying how Clifford says thats his main trait, when I believe his defense is.
Your original comment sounded like a backhanded compliment. This so soon after you talk about not wanting Williams because Zeller is ready to start looked suspicious. I think coming off reading that post into this one may have colored my impression of what you were saying but I was just bringing up a point.
I have no idea what Zeller has to do with anything. I think its ridiculous how Clifford continuously states that MKG's main trait is hustle and energy, when he offers so much more. If anything its Clifford giving a backhanded compliment to his own player. My original post probably did come off a little odd, but it wasn't intended that way.
Edit: And so what if I think Zeller is ready to start? What does it have to do with MKG or this topic in general? Im confused.
jdm3 wrote:Liver_Pooty wrote:jdm3 wrote:Your original comment sounded like a backhanded compliment. This so soon after you talk about not wanting Williams because Zeller is ready to start looked suspicious. I think coming off reading that post into this one may have colored my impression of what you were saying but I was just bringing up a point.
I have no idea what Zeller has to do with anything. I think its ridiculous how Clifford continuously states that MKG's main trait is hustle and energy, when he offers so much more. If anything its Clifford giving a backhanded compliment to his own player. My original post probably did come off a little odd, but it wasn't intended that way.
Edit: And so what if I think Zeller is ready to start? What does it have to do with MKG or this topic in general? Im confused.
It sounded like you were saying all MKG was was hustle and energy. It read likey you thought that yet thought Zeller should be a starter when he isn't even as good at those aspects of the game much less defense and others. I was questioning why you thought that way about MKG yet differently about the much worse player. If you meant it another way then fine but it read for me at least like your comment which would have contradicted your earlier comment in a different thread.
Balllin wrote:Zion Williamson is 6-5, with a 6-10 wingspan. I see him as a slightly better Kenneth Faried.
Liver_Pooty wrote:Hopefully MKG develops and his head coach can start saying he has another exceptional trait other than "hustle and energy". There are a lot of guys in the league who have that, and they weren't the 2nd pick in the draft.
