Officially Waived: The Kai Jones Thread

[Liver_Pooty]

I'd never trade away a player with Kais measurements and athleticism this early. If he pans out he pans out. No one thought Richards would be one of the best offensive rebounder in the entire league and that's miraculously occurred. If it clicks it clicks. If not I doubt anyone is going to give anything worth substance to make it worthwhile. Let's just see what happens.

The problem is he isn't playing. That is before Mark Williams starts to get minutes, which he will soon. So where does this miraculous click happen? He simply isn't good enough to play 20+ mpg at PF. Unless you plan on just force feeding him minutes for the next 2 years and being awful.

You have to think Hornets will sign a rotation player or two this summer after having time to plan around Bridges shock, we probably add 2 rookies in draft this year. It is not hard to see Kai getting squeezed out.

Plus, what player is Kai like in the NBA if he does work out? He just seems like an energy player at best as long as we keep trying to play him at the 4. Even a guy like Derrick Jones Jr is significantly more skilled than Kai is right now.

If all he pans out to be is an energy big off the bench with stupid athleticism I'm fine with that. Bench depth wins titles. I think a lot of us are too focused on who starts or gets minutes, etc, which I get. He may never be a starter, and that is okay.

[amcoolio]

Its pretty simple, Kupchak saw some Giannis in Kai and swung for the fences. He swung and missed. I like Kai Jones, but there is no evidence so far that he won't be on a trajectory similar to Alexis Ajinca or Ryan Hollins in terms of NBA impact.

That said, I would still take him over Bouknight, who has actually been the worst player in the NBA and also has terrible body language.

[SWedd523]

Kai and Bouknight both suck right now.

Difference is one (Kai) doesn't know how to play basketball and the other does.

Not a good look for Bouknight.

[JMAC3]

Its pretty simple, Kupchak saw some Giannis in Kai and swung for the fences. He swung and missed. I like Kai Jones, but there is no evidence so far that he won't be on a trajectory similar to Alexis Ajinca or Ryan Hollins in terms of NBA impact.

That said, I would still take him over Bouknight, who has actually been the worst player in the NBA and also has terrible body language.

I refuse to think Mitch thought Kai was Greek... if that was the case he should probably be let go.

I liked Kai as a prospect, but I also viewed him strictly as an athletic 5 who LaMelo could throw lobs to and run the court. The plan seems to have changed since we invested our only pick this year in a 7-2 lottery center. Then a 2nd round pick developed into a rotation center.

If Kai develops into a backup energy big on someone else's team, good for him. I don't think he is going to turn into some top 100 player.

In all honestly, happy for Monk. Does having him on our team change this teams trajectory at this point? IMO no, he would be fine backup guard but we aren't above even .500.

[JMAC3]

Kai and Bouknight both suck right now.

Difference is one (Kai) doesn't know how to play basketball and the other does.

Not a good look for Bouknight.

Bouknight is significantly better player IMO right now. I just don't think Bouk understands how to carve out a role in the NBA after being the guy in college. Kai is tall and can run around and grab a few rebounds, but for the most part he is a non-contributor when in the game. If playing Kai 20 mpg, but you barely notice him in the game because he isn't asked to do anything then I don't really see any value added.

If you put Bouk and Kai both in college basketball right now this year. Bouk probably averages 20+ ppg while Kai is probably still a role player. Kai just doesn't have the skill to be significant contributor.

[Diop]

the perimeter defense is part of the reason I wanted Sims that year, but i got told that Kai is just as good but with more offensive upside.

Watch on YouTube

Yeah except one is 24 years old and sucks, and the other is 21 and just sucks right now.

i didnt realise he'd sucked, i thought knicks were getting some role player use out of him

[amcoolio]

Its pretty simple, Kupchak saw some Giannis in Kai and swung for the fences. He swung and missed. I like Kai Jones, but there is no evidence so far that he won't be on a trajectory similar to Alexis Ajinca or Ryan Hollins in terms of NBA impact.

That said, I would still take him over Bouknight, who has actually been the worst player in the NBA and also has terrible body language.

I refuse to think Mitch thought Kai was Greek... if that was the case he should probably be let go.

I liked Kai as a prospect, but I also viewed him strictly as an athletic 5 who LaMelo could throw lobs to and run the court. The plan seems to have changed since we invested our only pick this year in a 7-2 lottery center. Then a 2nd round pick developed into a rotation center.

If Kai develops into a backup energy big on someone else's team, good for him. I don't think he is going to turn into some top 100 player.

In all honestly, happy for Monk. Does having him on our team change this teams trajectory at this point? IMO no, he would be fine backup guard but we aren't above even .500.

Kai was hitting 3's and taking people off the dribble at Texas, it was pretty clearly a swing for the fences "unicorn" type pick. I just don't like taking players that hesitate so much when they get the ball. Giannis, Siakam, etc. never did that even when they were raw coming into the league.

[JMAC3]

Just glancing around the league at NBA teams that don't have a developmental big.

Portland- If they offered Keon or Nas for Kai. Smash accept.
Philly - Kai and 2nd for Thybulle... in a heartbeat. At least Thybulle does something really good and I know why I am playing him.
Clippers- Kai Jones for Brandon Boston or Tre Mann... Yes to either

[fatlever]

Kai and Bouknight both suck right now.

Difference is one (Kai) doesn't know how to play basketball and the other does.

Not a good look for Bouknight.

Bouknight is significantly better player IMO right now. I just don't think Bouk understands how to carve out a role in the NBA after being the guy in college. Kai is tall and can run around and grab a few rebounds, but for the most part he is a non-contributor when in the game. If playing Kai 20 mpg, but you barely notice him in the game because he isn't asked to do anything then I don't really see any value added.

If you put Bouk and Kai both in college basketball right now this year. Bouk probably averages 20+ ppg while Kai is probably still a role player. Kai just doesn't have the skill to be significant contributor.

you kinda made our point though. no doubt if bouk was back in college where he could be the man and iso every other time down the floor vs lesser athletes, he'd be more valuable than kai, who is clueless.

but this aint college, and bouk is so far away from ever being the man on offense at this level. he has no clue how to be a role player, because he has no other valuable skills and his ego cant seem to comprehend that he might need to reinvent his game to find a role.

kai, unlike bouk, is a blank slate. a nba team, can at least coach kai into a role player.

thats why i give kai a 5% over bouks 1% of becoming a roleplayer on a good team eventually.

trade both. sunks costs. try again. mitch **** up royally.

[JMAC3]

you kinda made our point though. no doubt if bouk was back in college where he could be the man and iso every other time down the floor vs lesser athletes, he'd be more valuable than kai, who is clueless.

but this aint college, and bouk is so far away from ever being the man on offense at this level. he has no clue how to be a role player, because he has no other valuable skills and his ego cant seem to comprehend that he might need to reinvent his game to find a role.

kai, unlike bouk, is a blank slate. a nba team, can at least coach kai into a role player.

thats why i give kai a 5% over bouks 1% of becoming a roleplayer on a good team eventually.

trade both. sunks costs. try again. mitch **** up royally.

I think we will just have to agree to disagree on this one.

Like 70% of NBA role players were the man in college. It is not like Bouknight is the first ever player to struggle to figure things out transitioning from scoring a ton to being not the guy and relatively bad....

Austin Rivers, Spencer Dinwiddie, Alec Burks, Jeremy Lamb, Cam Payne, Malik Monk... I could find more. but all those guys were slow starters in their NBA before turning into pretty good rotation guards.

Kai literally is starting from ground zero trying to become good enough to become a role player.

The more time goes on the more it looks like both are bad picks. I just can more easily see a world where Bouk learns to pick his spots and become a 10ppg scorer than Kai to figure out and improve in nearly every aspect of basketball to become a role player.

Legit if Bouknight can be Jeremy Lamb, that wouldn't be worst pick ever.

[fatlever]

1. if it takes bouk 3-4 more yrs to figure out how to be a role player and contribute to winning, he'll be doing it for a different team. hornets have to make some decisions with bouk soon. he'll either be traded, cut, or hit rfa long before then. if he does figure it out after, good for him, does nothing for hornets.

2. monk showed waaaay more nba skills by this point. monk is quicker, equal bounce, better shooter, better handle, better passer, maybe even better defender. monks problem was maturity and off court. my guess is if the drug suspension didnt happen, monk is still here.

3. spencer was a 3 year player, avg 14ppg as junior, drafted in 2nd round. was on 2nd team by yr 3. how does that compare? and again, it might take bouk 2-3 teams before he gets it. unless we get value for him in a trade (highly doubtful), its a crap deal for hornets.

4. even by lamb's 2nd season he was playing 20mpg on a team that won 59 games. still took him 6 yrs to avg double figures as a bench scorer, of course, not for team that drafted him.

bouk has talent. hopefully, he will mature, fix off court stuff, get a better attitude, find a role... but odds of it happening here are slim. we arent going to pick up his next option at this rate. bouk is now behind both theo and bryce in terms of young guards to invest our $ and development minutes for. we will probably draft another guard next yr as well, with one of our picks.

[SWedd523]

I can't fault the team for drafting a guy like Kai. It seems like every year some random raw big gets drafted and becomes a stud. You'll never find him if you don't try. That draft was exactly the time to swing for the fences since they already drafted a guy who was expected to not be a complete turd in the punch bowl.

If Kai doesn't pan out, rinse, repeat until you strike gold.

That draft being **** lands squarely upon Bouknight's sheer inability to provide anything of positive value at this point. He's almost unplayable, and i say that as someone who was high on him on draft night and has defended him ever since.

He's just... bad. Defensively, he's a nightmare. I don't think he's lazy as much as as he's just dumb/clueless.

Offensively, he has one move: dribble dribble dribble side step back bricked three with little separation. If that doesn't work he falls apart. It doesn't seem like he's improved anything over the off-season and actually seems to have regressed.

Even Monk production would've been a boon this season when everyone else went down. Instead he got beat out by an end-of-the-bench second rounder for PT, and that guy already looks like an NBA player. Bouk currently looks destined to dominate the Taiwan or Lebanon league.

[Bassman]

Yes I was a Bouk booster, was thrilled when he was available and we took him, but understand how bad a move that was. He fell in the draft because other teams with quality scouts and evaluators recognized how difficult his skill set would translate to NBA play. Maybe they did some background work that discovered he was a loose cannon outside the gym. Suspect Mitch and company didn’t expect him to be there, reached for the falling knife, and now we bleed out for a wasted pick. My other highly desired player was Sengun, who ultimately would have been a much better pick, and a better trade target for an extra draftee than Kai.

Kai was a reach. It seemed like an OK move, since we needed a big, but all knew he was really raw. I’m for trading either or both if it makes sense. Agree with Fats that Bouk will not contribute here…Kai also likely to suffer the same fate.

[JDR720]

Read on Twitter

[Robot Rock]

Kai and Bouknight both suck right now.

Difference is one (Kai) doesn't know how to play basketball and the other does.

Not a good look for Bouknight.

Bouknight is significantly better player IMO right now. I just don't think Bouk understands how to carve out a role in the NBA after being the guy in college. Kai is tall and can run around and grab a few rebounds, but for the most part he is a non-contributor when in the game. If playing Kai 20 mpg, but you barely notice him in the game because he isn't asked to do anything then I don't really see any value added.

If you put Bouk and Kai both in college basketball right now this year. Bouk probably averages 20+ ppg while Kai is probably still a role player. Kai just doesn't have the skill to be significant contributor.

There's not a single thing -- not one thing -- that Bouknight can do better than Kai Jones. Unless you're considering intoxication and belligerence.

[wilson115]

Read on Twitter

[Diop]

With how high he jumps on those mid range shots, if he can get consistent at hitting it, that shot would be tough to stop

[bubowskee]

Read on Twitter

To counter the biggest Kai Jones fan on twitter, Kai has made a grand total of 9 shots from midrange or 3 this season. His hype is pretty much all athleticism and dunks, yeah.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/j/joneska01/shooting/2023

[JMAC3]

The double jab step and drive and dunk when he saw Kyrie on him was pretty funny lol.

Then later Durant was leaving him open by 15 feet and didn't bother to close out at all on him on the three.

[wilson115]

Read on Twitter