Leap Year - The Kemba Walker Thread III

[yosemiteben]

So would people take 42.5/34/79 as a slash line and thing it was good?

I think that's a good question. If we could put up that line in a vacuum and we win more games, I'd probably be happy with him. Depending on the volume of threes, that would move him into the territory of a decently efficient scorer. He's only had one season where he had a TS% above 50%, which is pretty bad.

Al gets called an inefficient scorer all the time, but he's never had a TS% below 50%. His lowest before last season was 52%.

While Kemba has issues the TS% for Al is not that great. He is something like 45th in the NBA in centers at that last season. A lot is about usage and all that but he is a long way from top tier is efficiency and that is rough for a guy who is completely useless on the other end of the court. Biz was at 57.8% this year and again it was a usage thing but just as a reference.

Oh I agree, wasn't arguing that Al is particularly efficient, just pointing out that Kemba's efficiency so far has been significantly worse.

[Mystical Apples]

I think his efficiency is bound to go up this year. In years past Kemba has always had to take difficult shots which included many difficult shots at the end of the shot clock. I think we've got to give him a chance this year because this is the first season we will actually have players that can compliment him well.

This is a really fair point. But I don't think we'd find many, if any, examples of high usage/low efficiency pg's at his age who suddenly became efficient. At least not smallish PG's who aren't elite elsewhere. I do give him credit for being careful with the ball so hopefully that's something to build on.

[nickforthreee]

I think this is a make or break season for him, he's got shooters around him now. give him this season & see what he can do

[Mystical Apples]

The other issue(s) with Kemba is roster fit and the way he's valued in today's game. Hornets did themselves (and Kemba) no favors with previous roster construction. Long term Kemba / MKG / Cody / Al something has to change. Maybe Cody improves his shot but having 3-4 non shooters on the floor at once is bad resource allocation.

[yosemiteben]

I really think the goal has to be to start Frank as soon as he can get up to speed, assuming he can handle himself on defense. Frank + Al as a pairing with Cody + Hawes as a second unit makes a lot more sense on the offensive end.

I like Cody, but agree that we need an upgrade in shooting and MKG needs to stay in the starting lineup IMO. Long term you have to think they'll tinker with running Cody at center. I mean Cliff said he thought Frank might spend some time there. If Frank can do it, Cody can. I honestly wonder if the reason he doesn't want to do that is because our scheme is to have the center sag into the point, and it would nullify some of Cody's excellent lateral quickness and perimeter defense to have him anchored to the paint.

[BeesWax]

I think that's a good question. If we could put up that line in a vacuum and we win more games, I'd probably be happy with him. Depending on the volume of threes, that would move him into the territory of a decently efficient scorer. He's only had one season where he had a TS% above 50%, which is pretty bad.

Al gets called an inefficient scorer all the time, but he's never had a TS% below 50%. His lowest before last season was 52%.

While Kemba has issues the TS% for Al is not that great. He is something like 45th in the NBA in centers at that last season. A lot is about usage and all that but he is a long way from top tier is efficiency and that is rough for a guy who is completely useless on the other end of the court. Biz was at 57.8% this year and again it was a usage thing but just as a reference.

Oh I agree, wasn't arguing that Al is particularly efficient, just pointing out that Kemba's efficiency so far has been significantly worse.

Kemba needs to improve no doubt but he is helped a lot less in this offense than Al is. Al always gets the ball where he wants it and takes his sweet time to decide if he wants to shoot or not. Just looking some things up and 19% of Al's shots came in the last 10 seconds of the shot clock while 38% of Kemba's did. In the clutch 41% of Kemba's shots come from last ten and 21% of Al's did. Hopefully with those numbers spread out more both can improve since it will be harder for teams to defend more options.

[JDR720]

Kembas biggest shooting problem is his shot selection, if he cant fix that then his best case is a Lou Williams/Jamal Crawford type off the bench.

[nickforthreee]

Kembas biggest shooting problem is his shot selection, if he cant fix that then his best case is a Lou Williams/Jamal Crawford type off the bench.

best case Lou Williams? cmon now kemba is a much better player than Lou Williams right now

[mrknowitall215]

If Kemba is bench material then what kind of material is the guys in the starting lineup that struggle to score double figures on a team lacking of offensive options?

[JDR720]

Kembas biggest shooting problem is his shot selection, if he cant fix that then his best case is a Lou Williams/Jamal Crawford type off the bench.

best case Lou Williams? cmon now kemba is a much better player than Lou Williams right now

well he did just win 6th man of the year. the Lou Williams comp was more in terms of play style than quality of player.

Lou is a small inefficient scoring guard
Kemba is a small inefficient scoring guard

[JDR720]

If Kemba is bench material then what kind of material is the guys in the starting lineup that struggle to score double figures on a team lacking of offensive options?

we probably only have 3 "real starters" on the team. healthy Batum and Al, and MKG. Kemba would be too, but i dont think your starting PG should be shooting below 40% unless he has other skills to make up for it like passing or defense.

[BlackOutBuzz]

The other issue(s) with Kemba is roster fit and the way he's valued in today's game. Hornets did themselves (and Kemba) no favors with previous roster construction. Long term Kemba / MKG / Cody / Al something has to change. Maybe Cody improves his shot but having 3-4 non shooters on the floor at once is bad resource allocation.

I don't think (or hope) Al is a part of the future here, and that we may experiment with Zeller and Kaminsky as the bigs going forward. Kemba/Batum/MKG/Kaminsky/Zeller has a good amount of #spacing even if Zeller never gets comfortable beyond 3 (think he will though).

Also, a lot of people are now underrating Kemba, he puts up inefficient numbers because there haven't been many other options around him (until now). This year is an exception, but typically championship teams aren't built around elite PGs. Kemba is more than capable of being a "franchise point guard," I think he's just been expected to do too much to this point.

[Vanderbilt_Grad]

I actually don't think that "shot selection" is Kemba's issue. I think that "heat check" is.

[Mystical Apples]

If Kemba is bench material then what kind of material is the guys in the starting lineup that struggle to score double figures on a team lacking of offensive options?

In totality not very good. I think the question is how does his skill set work if/when the team improves with better shooters/playmakers. My guess is we'll know more this year

[mrknowitall215]

If Kemba is bench material then what kind of material is the guys in the starting lineup that struggle to score double figures on a team lacking of offensive options?

we probably only have 3 "real starters" on the team. healthy Batum and Al, and MKG. Kemba would be too, but i dont think your starting PG should be shooting below 40% unless he has other skills to make up for it like passing or defense.

A product of Kemba shooting below 40% is the lack of offensive talent and responsibility from his teammates, particularly the wings. Kemba would & should generally shoot between 42-45% like most point guards if he didn't have the burden of playing with starting wings that attempt less 3-pointers combined than Kemba has to individually. At least Mike Conley Jr. has/had Courtney Lee to help him blossom over the past couple years

It's easy to pigeonhole Kemba since there's so much parity and skilled players at the point guard position, but trust & believe that perception would be a lot brighter for Kemba if Henderson was James Harden-esque or MKG was Paul George-esque the way some of you don't appreciate Kemba because he's not on Stephen Curry/Chris Paul tier. It's a team game, and a player can only be as good as the sum of his parts unless he's a superstar. Kemba has had some lackluster sum of parts over the years

[Mystical Apples]

Some really good starter quality players come off the bench and it's often tactical: Crawford, Ginobli, Ray Allen, Mike Miller, Iggy. It just means they bring something off the bench and work better with second units.

[Mystical Apples]

If Kemba is bench material then what kind of material is the guys in the starting lineup that struggle to score double figures on a team lacking of offensive options?

we probably only have 3 "real starters" on the team. healthy Batum and Al, and MKG. Kemba would be too, but i dont think your starting PG should be shooting below 40% unless he has other skills to make up for it like passing or defense.

I think Cody is too. His current age/skillset is a 6th-7th man on a really good team. But he's a plus defender and at 22 can still develop a 3 point shot. I think he's a valuable piece esp given his athleticism and potential 4/5 versatility.

[LofJ]

Kemba is going to have Batum on the wings this year, so things should be easier for him. I really just wanted an excuse to post this video because the title is so corny it's hilarious - the French Knight Rises:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXO_I9Yg7K8[/youtube]

[yosemiteben]

If Kemba is bench material then what kind of material is the guys in the starting lineup that struggle to score double figures on a team lacking of offensive options?

No one thinks our offensive output was acceptable, so you're making an argument that most would agree with. Hendo needed to and did go. MKG needs to continue to add to his offensive repertoire and efficiency. Cody needs to add range and be able to shoulder more offensively. Al needs to be more efficient.

I think it's possible that for a top tier team Kemba might be best suited for a sixth man role. If a miracle happens and we somehow manage to get Curry I actually expect that to happen. With that said, I'm certainly not saying he shouldn't be our starter this season or that there is a better option.

[Mystical Apples]

I'm higher on MKG without Kemba, and higher on Kemba without MKG. That's a dilemma that may never go away.