Leap Year - The Kemba Walker Thread III

phillycheese · Post #1401 » by **phillycheese** » Tue Mar 8, 2016 8:22 am

and having Lin around probably lit a fire under his ass.

BlackOutBuzz · Post #1402 » by **BlackOutBuzz** » Tue Mar 8, 2016 2:18 pm

euphorbus wrote:Long, feature article on Kemba Walker and the Hornets:

http://www.nba.com/2016/news/features/david_aldridge/03/07/morning-tip-rise-of-kemba-walkers-game-for-charlotte-hornets-baron-davis-gives-nba-d-league-a-try-paul-george-qa/index.html?ls=iref:nbahpt6e

Cho borrows a Gettleman-ism:

"Somebody says, 'okay, I'm going to give you three or four coins for your quarter, and you don't know if it's going to be four quarters or four pennies, or two nickels and two pennies.' We chose to keep the quarter. We'll see what happens, but we're very happy with Frank."

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Liver_Pooty · Post #1403 » by **Liver_Pooty** » Tue Mar 8, 2016 5:08 pm

Ha. Thats not a bad line.

Post #1404 » by **fatlever** » Tue Mar 8, 2016 5:26 pm

Since Christmas Kemba is averaging 24.2 ppg, which is 7th best in the league behind only Curry, Harden, Cousins, Durant, Lillard and Davis.

MasterIchiro · Post #1405 » by **MasterIchiro** » Tue Mar 8, 2016 6:31 pm

Marc Gasol All-Stars by Zach Lowe

Kemba Walker, G, Hornets (team captain): Walker's filthy, mean-spirited handle is even filthier now that he can shoot; fancy jitterbugging doesn't get you far if defenders duck under every screen. They can't do that as often with Walker hitting a career-best 37 percent from deep, and when opposing point guards chase him over picks, Walker is pulling up for Lillardian triples.

Walker might have the league's nastiest crossover, a low-to-the-ground left-to-right job that leaves saps lurching the wrong way on broken ankles. He'll fake toward a pick, coax his man that direction, and then zoom the other way into open water. Trap him on the pick-and-roll, and he'll scrunch down like a sprinter at the starting block before jetting through the crevice in between defenders.

Walker manages three direction changes in the time it takes most dudes to pull one, but when he sees a clear lane to pay dirt, he can hit the turbo button for a straight ahead bum-rush. The threat of that drive spooks defenders into backpedaling, and Walker exploits that with a deadly step-back jumper that covers so much ground that it's really more of a lunge-back shot.

He's shooting 60 percent near the basket, by far his career best, and he appears more comfortable kissing floaters off the glass. Walker has been a delight to watch for the scorching Hornets, and he might be the league's most fearless clutch shooter; no one has jacked more shots within the last three minutes of close games, per NBA.com, and Walker has canned a tidy 44 percent of those high-leverage looks.

MasterIchiro · Post #1406 » by **MasterIchiro** » Tue Mar 8, 2016 6:50 pm

Kemba is answering the question of whether you can build around him as a centerpiece and yes, that has always been a relevant question.

Snidely FC · Post #1407 » by **Snidely FC** » Tue Mar 8, 2016 6:53 pm

so we have the Captain of the Marc Gasol All Stars (Kemba) & the Captain of the Luke Walton All Stars (Marv); now all we need is a real NBA All Star. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say Kemba is a shoe-in for the '17 game in CHA.

Post #1408 » by **fatlever** » Wed Mar 9, 2016 4:52 pm

nice breakdown of Kemba's play since ASB from the guys at ATH

http://www.atthehive.com/2016/3/9/11179248/did-the-all-star-snub-help-motivate-kemba-walker-to-his-current

ChokeFasncists · Post #1409 » by **ChokeFasncists** » Wed Mar 9, 2016 11:09 pm

Lamar forgot to mention Walker sitting out that one game. It might have a bigger effect on him playing better. It's not like he has never been an all star snub or he was playing that well before the break.

OTOH, he mentioned Bruce Kreutzer, how about Mark Price?

MasterIchiro · Post #1410 » by **MasterIchiro** » Thu Mar 10, 2016 2:45 am

Kemba making a late push for top 15 in scoring,

Post #1411 » by **yosemiteben** » Thu Mar 10, 2016 5:14 am

In his post game interview with Stephanie right after the game, Kemba said lately sometimes he surprises himself when his shots go in. Love that he gets to experience his newfound efficiency and his confidence should be sky high.

bws94 · Post #1412 » by **bws94** » Thu Mar 10, 2016 6:34 pm

There are few players that I think in the PG position that have been more clutch than Kemba. I think Lillard is still very clutch as well as Curry. That's great company. And honestly, for most of the season, Kemba's been as clutch as they've been.

bws94 · Post #1413 » by **bws94** » Thu Mar 10, 2016 6:38 pm

fatlever wrote:Since Christmas Kemba is averaging 24.2 ppg, which is 7th best in the league behind only Curry, Harden, Cousins, Durant, Lillard and Davis.

And he's doing great PG stuff as well. The guy is what, 6 foot tall yet look at last night's stats.

35/7/7 with 2 steals and 0 TOs.

Who is going to be surprised if he has 2 or less TOs next game, 30 points, and over 5 assists? Very few if any I think. And hits clutch shots. He is absolutely playing on an all-star level post-ASB and did most of pre-ASB.

catch20two · Post #1414 » by **catch20two** » Thu Mar 10, 2016 11:50 pm

Nothing to be surprised about. At least I'm not that surprised because I've been preaching this result for the past 4 years. Kemba is playing better because Cho has FINALLY surrounded him with NBA level talent and wing players that can make and willingly take 3s.

HornetJail · Post #1415 » by **HornetJail** » Sun Mar 13, 2016 4:32 am

We're at the point where a 26/6 game is actually bringing his average for the month down... unreal

MasterIchiro · Post #1416 » by **MasterIchiro** » Sun Mar 13, 2016 12:19 pm

Kemba is becoming a player fans of other teams will get excited to see play live if they have tickets.

MasterIchiro · Post #1417 » by **MasterIchiro** » Sun Mar 13, 2016 12:21 pm

Last year somebody, don't remember who, wanted to trade him for Tony Wroten and others said the Sixers would never do it and then everybody got all depressed. True story. Wroten got cut, and Kemba is on the NBA's best bargain contract.

Post #1418 » by **BigSlam** » Sun Mar 13, 2016 1:21 pm

MasterIchiro wrote:It's funny how redemption for all the Kemba bashing sometimes illicits warnings. That should be the price to pay for clogging this board for years with such bullcrap. You should be called out on it and your credibility, rattled. But it seems the mods are dishing out get-out-of-jail-free cards. Could be because one of them was an active participant and ring leader of the bashing.

Moved this to the Kemba thread because, well, it's where it belongs.

Nothing has changed. Kemba's level of play at every stage of his career up to this point warranted bashing . It wasn't "years old bullcrap". It was years of impartial fans speaking factually about his glaring weaknesses and the impact they were having on the team.

There's no denying that, after 5 years in the league, Kemba is finally having his breakout season. It's extremely easy to be happy for him because as fans of the team (not just the player) we have been waiting for a long time (since Wallace) to have a guy who plays at a high level like this. Plus Kemba is obviously such an easy guy to root for because he is so likeable.

But like I said, nothing about this season changes his play in the past. History is set in stone after all and historically Kemba had been average to below average. Nothing is going to change that. Obviously that's not the case this season - he's been wonderful.

The key for Kemba will be what he does moving forward. Does he have the ability to make his play this season the norm and not the exception? How is he going to respond to a potentially very different roster next season?

And while we are talking about credibility - how about the job Cho has done creating this "poo-poo platter". Seems Kemba would t be playing the way he has this season without the masterful job Cho has done working on this roster over the years and tailoring it to Kemba in a way that allows him to break out.

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MasterIchiro · Post #1419 » by **MasterIchiro** » Sun Mar 13, 2016 1:34 pm

BigSlam wrote:
MasterIchiro wrote:It's funny how redemption for all the Kemba bashing sometimes illicits warnings. That should be the price to pay for clogging this board for years with such bullcrap. You should be called out on it and your credibility, rattled. But it seems the mods are dishing out get-out-of-jail-free cards. Could be because one of them was an active participant and ring leader of the bashing.

Moved this to the Kemba thread because, well, it's where it belongs.

Nothing has changed. Kemba's level of play at every stage of his career up to this point warranted bashing . It wasn't "years old bullcrap". It was years of impartial fans speaking factually about his glaring weaknesses and the impact they were having on the team.

There's no denying that, after 5 years in the league, Kemba is finally having his breakout season. It's extremely easy to be happy for him because as fans of the team (not just the player) we have been waiting for a long time (since Wallace) to have a guy who plays at a high level like this. Plus Kemba is obviously such an easy guy to root for because he is so likeable.

But like I said, nothing about this season changes his play on the past. History is set in stone after all and historically Kemba had been average to below average. Nothing is going to change that. Obviously that's not the case this season - he's been wonderful.

The key for Kemba will be what he does moving forward. Does he have the ability to make his play this season the norm and not the exception? How is he going to respond to a potentially very different roster next season?

And while we are talking about credibility - how about the job Cho has done creating this "poo-poo platter". Seems Kemba would t be playing the way he has this season without the masterful job Cho has done working on this roster over the years and tailoring it to Kemba in a way that allows him to break out.

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That's some story. You made the bashing a daily thing. Even if the player had individual weaknesses, the hyperfocus on them and the exaggeration of them and the outright DENIAL of his potential as anything more than a 6th man, and making him the scapegoat for the failures of the poo poo platter was anything but factual. It was easy for you to dogpile on the individual while glazing over the flawed roster, you know, the majority of the action on the court. "We will never get anywhere with Kemba" was the theme you helped craft, but it wasn't until spacing was addressed by the GM that the truth has come out, the factual truth.

Post #1420 » by **yosemiteben** » Sun Mar 13, 2016 4:45 pm

No one on here wants to read back and forth defenses of old debates that don't reflect anyone's current opinions. Substantive discussion of Kemba's game and historic performance is fair game, but if this devolves into attacking other's opinions from previous seasons, that will be considered derailing and the policy Howard posted will provide guidance as to how the situation will be handled.