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As we approach the midway point of the season I will say what I said during the draft and earlier in the season. I think MKG has a pretty good upside but I don't feel like he will ever grow into a player that was worthy of the #2 pick. I believe we would have been better off with Drummond if we were going to take a risk on a project guy. I even think Harrison Barnes would have been a better choice as well.

Fantastic pick. He is going to be a star

You said yourself exactly why it is to early to have this discussion. We are only approaching midway his first season. What were you guys expecting? Did you actually expect him to average 20 pts right away? I don't know why. We all knew he needed to work on his jumper. Drummond? Harrison? Really? The last time I checked Drummond was only averaging 7 and 7 to MKG's 10 and 7. Harrison is only averaging 9 and 4. Oh! and by the way both guys are older than MKG! You guys really need to stop tripping!

Newsflash: MKG is playing better than Harrison Barnes

http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... 02&y2=2013

...and I think it's safe to say that most people (even Cho) wanted Drummond but we couldn't pair 2 raw project bigs when you consider Biyombo was still a major work in progress.

Poll added

I wanted beal draft night but am thrilled with the MKG pick now (and not because I dislike Beal now, it's just that MKG has shown super star potential).

If we played him 20 min per game off the bench vs backups to pump up his per 36s to 18/10 or whatever everyone would suddenly think he's the next LeBron

Yes.

Seriously people, he's 19 and is still developing. I realize internet fan boards are one of the most over-reactive places on earth, but calm down. MKG will be on this team and be a great player for a long time.

_tijo_ wrote:Yes.

Seriously people, he's 19 and is still developing. I realize internet fan boards are one of the most over-reactive places on earth, but calm down. MKG will be on this team and be a great player for a long time.

BUT WE DRAFTED HIM NUMBER TOO AND HE ISN"T A SUPR STAR YET. MIGHT AS WElL trADE HIm for role playErs.

Unlike the DJ Augustin pick a few years ago, which was inexcusably idiotic, I don’t have a problem with MKG as the selection per se; it was a weak draft after #1 and the FO took who they felt at the time was the BPA at that #2 spot (although a case could have been made for trading down and grabbing a Drummond and another player).

MKG is exactly what I expected he would be so its not like I have buyers remorse. He already does a lot of things that don’t show up on the stat sheet (he won that Minny game with his ball save last week) and he is going to get even better.

A realistic, non-cool aid drinking comparison to the type of player MKG may eventually become:

A Young George Lynch – A rugged small forward who was good for 14-16 points and 8 rebounds, a renowned wing defender, master of garbage points (fast breaks, put backs, backdoor cuts), mediocre outside shooter, not a threat to create his own shot. That’s nothing to be ashamed of. Lynch was a highly sought after well-above avg role player during his career and was integral to Philly making it to the Finals one year.

But apart from wishful thinking, I see nothing to hint at MKG being the perennial all-star some people project. Yes, MKG’s had 2-3 good games and I expect we'll see a couple more before season’s end (I can vividly remember a 24/10 game Lynch had against the Hornets his rookie year with the Lakers where he was something like 12 of 14 from the field.). Relative consistency is what matters and he’s got a ways to go there.

You have to consider this with MKG, he plays on a bad team with 3 ball dominant shoot first guards in Kemba, Sessions, and BG. The offense is really predicated on Kemba either getting his shot or kicking out to a shooter, which isn't MKG's game. With this team, Harrison Barnes would have been the better pick maybe initially, but when this team gets a real coach, and starts to really play to win and have real plays instead of give the PG a pick and let him do whatever...then you'll see MKG really show his worth even more than he already has.
MKG should be posting up more to compensate for his lack of an outside shot, we should be running more on breaks and looking to let him finish, this is what he does best, but the coach isn't really doing anything to get him involved offensively, where as had we picked Barnes (who I liked, but I thought MKG would be the better overall player) Barnes would fit in and be able to look like a more polished player because he is a polished system type player whereas MKG is just a great ball player who's style of play is more raw and street like in a way.
So in a nutshell, I'm happy we picked MKG, but I'm really unhappy with the way he's being brought along, this team is so bad, why not let him get his training on the offensive side of things, give him 10-15 shots every game, most of the shots should be from the post or the breaks, what's it going to hurt? It's no reason MKG shouldnt be in the race for rookie of the year, it's no reason he shouldn't be one of this teams leading scorers or at least leaders in shot attempts!

Thank God we didn't draft Harrison Barnes. I don't know why people keep posting like Barnes would've been a better pick. He's struggling more than MKG in a much superior oriented offensive system with GSW. Take off your rose colored glasses of seeing everything that's Bobcats related as worst than other NBA teams.

Here are his current rookie ranks.

PPG- 6th
RPG- 4th
Total Assists- 8th
Free Throws Attempted- 4th
BPG- 5th
Steals- 8th
FG%- 8th

Fantasy Basketball Rating- 3rd
Efficiency Rating- 4th

So yeah, I am glad we still drafted him. Especially since I think he will make the biggest jump of any rookie to his sophomore season statistically and skills wise.

All these people saying I would of taken Drummond, Barnes, Lillard, or Beal need to bring up some proof, because I remember a whole lot of Robinson supporters and I don't see any of you guys bringing him up. I can remember about 5 Drummond supporters and only about three of them were really wanting him. Everybody else was saying he is too much like Biz lets pass or he has character issues.

Nobody really wanted to draft Lillard, mostly because we had Kemba, but I don't remember anybody proclaiming Lillard was gonna be this good or they thought he would win rookie of the year. And Barnes is what we thought he would be, outside of a couple nice dunks and a few double digit rebound games, he is a role player who lives by his outside shot. He hasn't even shot the three that well this season and has been living on deep twos.

I was in on MKG and Beal. I thought Beal would be a good player to pair with Kemba, but after we got Ben Gordon, I knew it was unlikely we would draft him just based off need. MKG was my 1b choice, but I still have faith that he will be a top 3 player from this draft class.

James Gatz wrote:

_tijo_ wrote:Yes.

Seriously people, he's 19 and is still developing. I realize internet fan boards are one of the most over-reactive places on earth, but calm down. MKG will be on this team and be a great player for a long time.

BUT WE DRAFTED HIM NUMBER TOO AND HE ISN"T A SUPR STAR YET. MIGHT AS WElL trADE HIm for role playErs.

YA MAN WE SHUD TRADE HMI 4 A NUM 1 PICK LIKE ANDREA bARNGANI




Drummond was my number 1 choice but MKG is a close second. That really hasn't changed at all since then. I am very glad we didn't pick Bustley Beal, Dion WaitForHimToMakeAShotAnydayNow-ers, Terrible Robinson or Harrison Bums.

Im have no problem with MKG, and he's doing exactly what i thought he would but my dilemma comes in that i didnt want us to draft him to begin with because i thought he would be a career role player. I dont hate the kid, and wasnt really expecting more than what he is doing. But for the fact that im willing to bet my left testicle in 5 years their will be atleast 3 players drafted after him who are better players i had to vote no.

misterglover wrote:Im have no problem with MKG, and he's doing exactly what i thought he would but my dilemma comes in that i didnt want us to draft him to begin with because i thought he would be a career role player. I dont hate the kid, and wasnt really expecting more than what he is doing. But for the fact that im willing to be my left testicle in 5 years their will be atleast 3 players drafted after him who are better players i had to vote no.

So he is doing exactly what you thought in his rookie season, 10 and 6. So since he is a role player right now, at age 18, that is what he is going be at age 22. Also, you do not think those averages will go up at all or he will improve in anyway throughout his career. You do know he is only playing roughly 25 minutes a game and even that is sporadic minutes?

I honestly do not believe it will be that difficult for him to bump his average up to 18 points and 8.5 rebounds by his third season, but then again those are just role player numbers from the Small Forward position.

Especially since his per 40 numbers are already 14.5 and 9.

well obviously JMac i dont...why is there a problem becuz I dont agree with you guys assessment of the guy?? is this now a board where we are allowed to call someone the next Pippen, or Kobe or whoever and there is to be no debate or devil advocates...all you guys are saying the same thang "he should jump...", "he can grow...", "by time he's 28...." all that is speculation when and if he does I will be more than happy to come back and sing his praises i just dont believe he will. There are still people somewhere who are still waiting for Kwame Brown, Anthony Randolph, Tyrus Thomas, Korleone Young and a bunch of players to develop too and the god's fact is they are exactly who they were when they came in the league. Just cuz he's only 19 doesnt make it a proven fact he's gonna ever develop to more than anything but what he is now. If you look back at draft express predraft outlook for MKG his worst case scenario is Crash, his best case is Iguodala. I HAVE NO PROBLEMS with that, but i see people on here saying he's a superstar and that i have a problem with.

I'm satisfied with MKG, for sure. Even though I was hardcore on the trade down and draft Drummond wagon we made MKG the pick and I think it will work out just fine as long as we don't screw the pooch on the upcoming drafts.

snaltonj wrote:As we approach the midway point of the season I will say what I said during the draft and earlier in the season. I think MKG has a pretty good upside but I don't feel like he will ever grow into a player that was worthy of the #2 pick. I believe we would have been better off with Drummond if we were going to take a risk on a project guy. I even think Harrison Barnes would have been a better choice as well.

As a Warrior fan I would trade you anything not nailed down to make that happen.

In all seriousness though there is no aspect outside of 3pt shot that Barnes is better than MKG at. Barnes has a chance to be a decent starter, but MKG's potential far exceeds Barnes. MKG is already a much better and more useful ball handler than Barnes. I think a part of that is due to MKG's style and physical makeup. His first step is nasty and can throw his body into a defender usually getting the defender off balance or getting a trip to the line.

This is one aspect that is a flaw in Barnes' game. He's NOT a good ballhandler at all. He should be used as a finisher and catch and shoot outlet. Barnes is our 4th option on offense outside of Curry, Lee, Thompson. Now that Bogut is back he may even be the 5th option. His game doesn't really suit our starting lineup but that's more due to Rush blowing out his knee in like the 3rd game of the season.

Barnes seems to get lost for stretches of the game especially when he's not getting the ball. He's not aggressive at all times which is something I really admire about MKG. He's always hustling. Barnes you need to motivate to get him going. Defensively I like Barnes but he's no MKG. If Barnes would dive on the floor, hustle, get more rebounds I wouldn't nearly have issue with him disappearing offensively. But right now I think HB thinks too much. I've seen him hesitate a few times when he could've attacked the basket or at least get fouled.

So don't worry Bobcats fans, at least in this instance you took the best SF on the board. I would not regret the pick at all.

Thank you 510TWSS. All of this losing make some of us Bobcats' fans a little more pessimistic than we should be.