Leap Year - The Kemba Walker Thread III

[JDR720]

im not getting my hopes up.

that 44% includes games of 31% 33% and 36%

[Roy Tarpley]

Kemba is back down to 39%FG. If you look at his career stats, he is fairly consistent in his percentages. I thought a better system this year might improve his numbers but now I realize why it won't:

All PGs that have good FG% are good at getting easy layups. Steve Nash wasn't knocking down 48%FG all on 15ft jumpers, he got a lot of easy layups to drive his numbers up. Same thing with a player like Lin, he's an okay shooter but he keeps his percentage up by driving and getting layups. Kemba seems to be poor at finishing so his numbers are dragged down by his jumper percentages. I don't have the stats with me but Kemba actually seems, from the eye test, like he's a decent jump shooter.

It's clear that Kemba is not a starting PG on a good playoff team -- even a similar template like Iverson shot 42.5%FG. At what point will management make the tough call and make Kemba a 6th man or trade him? Kemba would be a better 6th man than players like Nick Young or even Jamal Crawford.

I'm not trying to be too critical since I just started following the Hornets this year and I know that Kemba has gained respect as a player of good character. But if I were an outside consultant brought in to turn the franchise around, getting rid of Al and making a change with Kemba would be my first two recommendations, since they're considered the two best players. I know, nothing earth shattering, just wondering why Charlotte fans seem resigned to this current fate, and sometimes even supportive of it like a kidnap victim with Stockholm Syndrome in a state of learned helplessness.

[JDR720]

I have always thought Kemba would be a fantastic Lou Williams type 6th man. he always seems to do better when he is the #1 scorer.

the problem is he takes way too many midrange shots and they're almost always off balance. last season he took more midrange shots than some teams did. this season he is shooting a perfectly fine 38% on shots from 10-14 ft and 15-19 ft, the problem is he has shot 39 of them to just 38 shots at the rim.

he really struggles with his deep 2's though 20-24 feet is just 22%.

at this point he is basically brandon jennings with intangibles or trey burke with athletic ability.

[Liver_Pooty]

I have always thought Kemba would be a fantastic Lou Williams type 6th man. he always seems to do better when he is the #1 scorer.

the problem is he takes way too many midrange shots and they're almost always off balance. last season he took more midrange shots than some teams did. this season he is shooting a perfectly fine 38% on shots from 10-14 ft and 15-19 ft, the problem is he has shot 39 of them to just 38 shots at the rim.

he really struggles with his deep 2's though 20-24 feet is just 22%.

at this point he is basically brandon jennings with intangibles or trey burke with athletic ability.

How dare you insult Jennings like that.

[amcoolio]

Brandon Jennings was really good last season before he got injured. He was putting up 15 point/10 assist games on the regular. Kemba will sadly never come close to Jennings passing ability unfortunately. How many 10+ assist games does Kemba have in his career, like 5? Then you got rookies like Marcus Smart and Mudiay coming in and immediately firing off 10+ assist games and getting their teammates involved. Disheartening.

Lin and Kemba are similar players. We need a distributor. Maybe Rondo can be had. But Al is the biggest problem with the roster right now, not Kemba. We need a Willie Cauley Stein or Myles Turner-type player at C to open up our offense and catch lobs from our point guard. Al clogs the lane on offense with terrible efficiency and gets destroyed on defense, which is really hurting Kemba right now

[JDR720]

Brandon Jennings was really good last season before he got injured. He was putting up 15 point/10 assist games on the regular. Kemba will sadly never come close to Jennings passing ability unfortunately. How many 10+ assist games does Kemba have in his career, like 5? Then you got rookies like Marcus Smart and Mudiay coming in and immediately firing off 10+ assist games and getting their teammates involved. Disheartening.

Lin and Kemba are similar players. We need a distributor. Maybe Rondo can be had. But Al is the biggest problem with the roster right now, not Kemba. We need a Willie Cauley Stein or Myles Turner-type player at C to open up our offense and catch lobs from our point guard.

Vasquez is a free agent, wouldn't be a bad idea to sign him and Lin. Vasquez is 6-6, plenty big enough to play SG and he can shoot threes while having a pass first mentality. draft a guy like Cheick Diallo to play center, he is basically Bismack with some offensive skill and better motor.

Kemba/Lin
Batum/Vasquez(also functions as 3rd PG, so we save a roster spot for something else).
MKG/Lamb
Zeller/Frank
stopgap/Diallo/Hawes

[sidestep]

unless you want to see a statue try to play defense, there is no point to signing Vasquez. he is so slow.

[DY_nasty]

Brandon Jennings was really good last season before he got injured. He was putting up 15 point/10 assist games on the regular. Kemba will sadly never come close to Jennings passing ability unfortunately. How many 10+ assist games does Kemba have in his career, like 5? Then you got rookies like Marcus Smart and Mudiay coming in and immediately firing off 10+ assist games and getting their teammates involved. Disheartening.

Lin and Kemba are similar players. We need a distributor. Maybe Rondo can be had. But Al is the biggest problem with the roster right now, not Kemba. We need a Willie Cauley Stein or Myles Turner-type player at C to open up our offense and catch lobs from our point guard.

Vasquez is a free agent, wouldn't be a bad idea to sign him and Lin. Vasquez is 6-6, plenty big enough to play SG and he can shoot threes while having a pass first mentality. draft a guy like Cheick Diallo to play center, he is basically Bismack with some offensive skill and better motor.

Kemba/Lin
Batum/Vasquez(also functions as 3rd PG, so we save a roster spot for something else).
MKG/Lamb
Zeller/Frank
stopgap/Diallo/Hawes

^^hasn't seen vasquez play this year

[Mystical Apples]

unless you want to see a statue try to play defense, there is no point to signing Vasquez. he is so slow.

Very true. At least if he plays in a positionless lineup everything could be switched like a homeless man's Golden State. That's why Milwaukee acquired him and as a backup PG he could make it interesting in Charlotte. Good and bad.

[Elden Payton]

Kemba has fallen off a cliff.

I absolutely hate it on 2k16 in the Kemba interview where he states that he goes out an plays street and the same way he always has etc.

We need a starting calibre PG imo.

[DY_nasty]

Kemba has fallen off a cliff.

I absolutely hate it on 2k16 in the Kemba interview where he states that he goes out an plays street and the same way he always has etc.

We need a starting calibre PG imo.

I completely agree. Dude's gone from inconsistent, to actively holding the team back within the new offense. He has no idea how to be assertive with the new guys and system, and when he does try to make an impact he instinctively plays right into a defense's hands.

After the San Antonio game was when it just became obvious for me. If you want to kill our team, you let Kemba do his thing.

[Diop]

Lawson isn't working out in Houston, I wonder if we could snaffle him

[LamarMatic7]

im not getting my hopes up.

that 44% includes games of 31% 33% and 36%

it's not December yet. it's still November Rain.

[Mystical Apples]

Vasquez with the double OT dagger.

[ChokeFasncists]

Brandon Jennings was really good last season before he got injured. He was putting up 15 point/10 assist games on the regular. Kemba will sadly never come close to Jennings passing ability unfortunately. How many 10+ assist games does Kemba have in his career, like 5? Then you got rookies like Marcus Smart and Mudiay coming in and immediately firing off 10+ assist games and getting their teammates involved. Disheartening.

Lin and Kemba are similar players. We need a distributor. Maybe Rondo can be had.

We need a Willie Cauley Stein or Myles Turner-type player at C to open up our offense and catch lobs from our point guard.

They aren't that similar IMO. With the right personnel/scheme, Lin can dish out 10 assists on any given night. A center to PnR and throw lobs to would be nice, good shooters/slashers and fastbreakers. His problem is he tries too hard to thread the needles, resulting in high TO. Kemba OTOH would be awesome as microwave type, wreaking havoc with his handling. He would best be teamed up with Psycho who can gobble up offensive rebounds in the chaos Kemba creates.

[Braggins]

Brandon Jennings was really good last season before he got injured. He was putting up 15 point/10 assist games on the regular. Kemba will sadly never come close to Jennings passing ability unfortunately. How many 10+ assist games does Kemba have in his career, like 5? Then you got rookies like Marcus Smart and Mudiay coming in and immediately firing off 10+ assist games and getting their teammates involved. Disheartening.

Lin and Kemba are similar players. We need a distributor. Maybe Rondo can be had.

We need a Willie Cauley Stein or Myles Turner-type player at C to open up our offense and catch lobs from our point guard.

They aren't that similar IMO. With the right personnel/scheme, Lin can dish out 10 assists on any given night. A center to PnR and throw lobs to would be nice, good shooters/slashers and fastbreakers.

We've always had super shoddy PnR bigs here. Last year our frontcourt was Al and a sh*tty version of Marv, the year before it was Al and McBob (aka the best PnR big Kemba has played with...), and the year before that it was Byron Mullens and rookie Bismack Biyombo. This is also the first year we've had any kind of shooting since Kemba has been here. Its never exactly been a PG friendly environment. Lin is shooting less than 2% better than Kemba from the floor and about 1% better from deep. Lin plays with better shooters and PnR options than Kemba does in our rotation and plays most of his minutes against backups and, not counting the Portland game, his per36 assists are only .2 higher, while Kemba has a 5.3% advantage in ast%, averages 1.8 assists per 100 possessions, and has a much higher ast/to ratio. Those numbers aren't counting the Portland game, but that doesn't have much effect.

I thought Kemba played the way we need him to against Portland tonight. 5/12 - 2/5 shooting, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, 2 steel, 2 turnovers. He honestly had an off shooting night but still shot over 40%. His off shooting nights when he spazzes out end up being like 5/16. Lin is spazzy in his own way, but he gets out of control and racks up TO's instead of missed field goals. If we can get a non-spaz version of one of them every night then our PG situation is fine imo. I honestly expect both of them to get more consistent as the team starts to gel more and hopefully Lin gets some more minutes.

[catsfan]

Brandon Jennings was really good last season before he got injured. He was putting up 15 point/10 assist games on the regular. Kemba will sadly never come close to Jennings passing ability unfortunately. How many 10+ assist games does Kemba have in his career, like 5? Then you got rookies like Marcus Smart and Mudiay coming in and immediately firing off 10+ assist games and getting their teammates involved. Disheartening.

Lin and Kemba are similar players. We need a distributor. Maybe Rondo can be had.

We need a Willie Cauley Stein or Myles Turner-type player at C to open up our offense and catch lobs from our point guard.

They aren't that similar IMO. With the right personnel/scheme, Lin can dish out 10 assists on any given night. A center to PnR and throw lobs to would be nice, good shooters/slashers and fastbreakers.

We've always had super shoddy PnR bigs here. Last year our frontcourt was Al and a sh*tty version of Marv, the year before it was Al and McBob (aka the best PnR big Kemba has played with...), and the year before that it was Byron Mullens and rookie Bismack Biyombo. This is also the first year we've had any kind of shooting since Kemba has been here. Its never exactly been a PG friendly environment. Lin is shooting less than 2% better than Kemba from the floor and about 1% better from deep. Lin plays with better shooters and PnR options than Kemba does in our rotation and plays most of his minutes against backups and, not counting the Portland game, his per36 assists are only .2 higher, while Kemba has a 5.3% advantage in ast%, averages 1.8 assists per 100 possessions, and has a much higher ast/to ratio. Those numbers aren't counting the Portland game, but that doesn't have much effect.

I thought Kemba played the way we need him to against Portland tonight. 5/12 - 2/5 shooting, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, 2 steel, 2 turnovers. He honestly had an off shooting night but still shot over 40%. His off shooting nights when he spazzes out end up being like 5/16. Lin is spazzy in his own way, but he gets out of control and racks up TO's instead of missed field goals. If we can get a non-spaz version of one of them every night then our PG situation is fine imo. I honestly expect both of them to get more consistent as the team starts to gel more and hopefully Lin gets some more minutes.

his inconsistency has been noted and agreed upon (look at the thread title!). the second biggest issue is that for a pg he is an atrocious"floor general" several times last night, batum either took the ball up or made it a point to hand it to him in the back court, tell him to settle down and run a play. the problem with kemba is that when push comes to shove and you absolutely need a solid play and basket on a possession or series of possessions, he can't get the offense going. if it isn't a shot for him or a drive off a pick he can't get the team into a good shot when the defense is locked in and/or the game is in a critical time.

[Braggins]

They aren't that similar IMO. With the right personnel/scheme, Lin can dish out 10 assists on any given night. A center to PnR and throw lobs to would be nice, good shooters/slashers and fastbreakers.

We've always had super shoddy PnR bigs here. Last year our frontcourt was Al and a sh*tty version of Marv, the year before it was Al and McBob (aka the best PnR big Kemba has played with...), and the year before that it was Byron Mullens and rookie Bismack Biyombo. This is also the first year we've had any kind of shooting since Kemba has been here. Its never exactly been a PG friendly environment. Lin is shooting less than 2% better than Kemba from the floor and about 1% better from deep. Lin plays with better shooters and PnR options than Kemba does in our rotation and plays most of his minutes against backups and, not counting the Portland game, his per36 assists are only .2 higher, while Kemba has a 5.3% advantage in ast%, averages 1.8 assists per 100 possessions, and has a much higher ast/to ratio. Those numbers aren't counting the Portland game, but that doesn't have much effect.

I thought Kemba played the way we need him to against Portland tonight. 5/12 - 2/5 shooting, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, 2 steel, 2 turnovers. He honestly had an off shooting night but still shot over 40%. His off shooting nights when he spazzes out end up being like 5/16. Lin is spazzy in his own way, but he gets out of control and racks up TO's instead of missed field goals. If we can get a non-spaz version of one of them every night then our PG situation is fine imo. I honestly expect both of them to get more consistent as the team starts to gel more and hopefully Lin gets some more minutes.

several times last night, batum either took the ball up or made it a point to hand it to him in the back court, tell him to settle down and run a play.

I think you are reading too into things. We have like 4 people on this team who regularly bring the ball up and initiate the offense throughout the game. We aren't making a point to let people other than Kemba bring the ball up because Kemba is incapable of initiating the offense. It is just good offense. Batum is our best passer so we are obviously going to want him handling the ball a lot, and him giving the ball to Kemba to reset the offense when we aren't organize is just standard protocol. If someone has the ball and the offense isn't organized and they aren't in a position to either make a play or initiate the offense they should get the ball to someone who is in a position to do so. Often times that person is going to be our PG. I'm not sure what your point is here. Kemba did a good job helping run the offense last night. He has had some games this season where he didn't do a good job, but tonight was not one of them.

[catsfan]

We've always had super shoddy PnR bigs here. Last year our frontcourt was Al and a sh*tty version of Marv, the year before it was Al and McBob (aka the best PnR big Kemba has played with...), and the year before that it was Byron Mullens and rookie Bismack Biyombo. This is also the first year we've had any kind of shooting since Kemba has been here. Its never exactly been a PG friendly environment. Lin is shooting less than 2% better than Kemba from the floor and about 1% better from deep. Lin plays with better shooters and PnR options than Kemba does in our rotation and plays most of his minutes against backups and, not counting the Portland game, his per36 assists are only .2 higher, while Kemba has a 5.3% advantage in ast%, averages 1.8 assists per 100 possessions, and has a much higher ast/to ratio. Those numbers aren't counting the Portland game, but that doesn't have much effect.

I thought Kemba played the way we need him to against Portland tonight. 5/12 - 2/5 shooting, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, 2 steel, 2 turnovers. He honestly had an off shooting night but still shot over 40%. His off shooting nights when he spazzes out end up being like 5/16. Lin is spazzy in his own way, but he gets out of control and racks up TO's instead of missed field goals. If we can get a non-spaz version of one of them every night then our PG situation is fine imo. I honestly expect both of them to get more consistent as the team starts to gel more and hopefully Lin gets some more minutes.

several times last night, batum either took the ball up or made it a point to hand it to him in the back court, tell him to settle down and run a play.

I think you are reading too into things. We have like 4 people on this team who regularly bring the ball up and initiate the offense throughout the game. We aren't making a point to let people other than Kemba bring the ball up because Kemba is incapable of initiating the offense. It is just good offense. Batum is our best passer so we are obviously going to want him handling the ball a lot, and him giving the ball to Kemba to reset the offense when we aren't organize is just standard protocol. If someone has the ball and the offense isn't organized and they aren't in a position to either make a play or initiate the offense they should get the ball to someone who is in a position to do so. Often times that person is going to be our PG. I'm not sure what your point is here. Kemba did a good job helping run the offense last night. He has had some games this season where he didn't do a good job, but tonight was not one of them.

i recognize that there are more than one or two primary ball handlers. the issue i was trying to highlight is that (often) kemba does not do a good job with in-game flow and situation recognition. this is what batum had to talk to him about as portland was coming back. i feel like kemba does really well when the team is cooking and the game flow is good, it is when things bog down, shots aren't falling, etc. i feel like he (often) fails to recognize that the offense absolutely needs to get off a good shot and needs him (pg) to get that going. i feel in his mind, his thinking is "i have to make something happen" and that is usually running high P&R for a contested drive or failed pull up jumper ie "heroish" ball.

[BigSlam]

Pretty interesting to think that Kamba and Lin have so many similarities (statistically) yet one is getting paid $2mil a year and the other $12mil a year.

So in the interest of equality, should Lin be getting $12mil..........or Kemba $2mil?

Perhaps they should both be earning more around $4-$6mil each?


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