DB23 wrote:vvoland wrote:DB23 wrote:
Just more squinting to see the positives.
The sample size is large enough to show he hasn’t been a good shooter at all so far. For you to insinuate that if only Kerr played him more minutes, he would show he is a better shooter is pretty ridiculous IMO. That’s not to say he can’t improve if he puts in a ton of work. But to put it on Kerr that he sucked as a shooter in 25 mins per game BUT only if he was playing 35 we would see the real kuminga. Wild.
Great basketball players don’t need the ideal conditions to show their talent. They just impact winning on the court. Again, I don’t get why people absolve him of trying on defense and rebounding effort.
Your bias is showing. I'm not insinuating a damn thing - I have a thesis and am looking for data to prove/disprove it. I'm also disputing the assertion that it's a chicken/egg thing in that he doesn't play more when he shoots/scores well as most of the rotation minutes are set prior to the game.
I tend to think that shooting is more mental than physical, with a few notable exceptions (mostly for centers, ben simmons, markelle fultz, etc.). I also think that a player that shot 37% from 3 for a full season and 75% from the line isn't the lost cause some are making him out to be in that department.
Not sure why you switched to rebounding or defense but while i agree he really needs to work on the latter, I'm guessing his defense is not an issue with effort. On ball, he's about average league wide, and, probably, slightly above average for his age (22). Off ball, he's not good. Is that due to effort or bball iq or something else? Not sure. He had some great rotations as the low man and is one of the few players we have that can actually challenge at the rim. He is also often lost navigating screens, especially off ball, and does not look like he communicates well out there.
You seem to confuse my search for understanding the data better with a preconceived notion that JK is a good shooter or is great or whatever. Instead, I'm trying to figure out why someone as talented as he seems to be is having such and up and down career. For most posters here, it's almost all down, but that is where i disagree.
Fair enough.
But why is he considered talented? Just athletic ability? I’m obviously really down on him because it’s like I’m watching a different game to some posters and pundits half the time. I don’t see it or understand it so would love to know in what ways kuminga is talented.
talent and production are different things but I'll share what I first saw in JK that made me hope we would pick him with the Wolves pick we had.
Size & Speed. I thought it was a rare combination of size and speed that is as good a foundation to build on as anything else that isn't skill
Great leaper off 2 feet, very good leaper of 1 foot, either one. Again, that's not as common as some might assume.
Power to go through defenders and quickness to go around them.
Good form on the J. I was often confused why he shot so poorly from the line. He's had a career high 75% FT season last year and that was after starting the season in the low 60s. He had long stretches when he shot the ball well from FT and from 3. If he ever gets consistent in those two areas, sky's the limit.
Handle and agility. I thought he had a very strong handle in the g-league, for an 18 yo. Unfortunately, haven't seen a ton of improvement in that until this season. It's still not super tight and he isn't deliberate enough with the dribble (or any of this offensive moves, tbh) but the potential was there.
In essence, I was hoping for a kawhi leonard or jalen brown type of growth/development. I still think the biggest issues he's had are the number of different roles he's been asked to fill in his first 4 years, the lack of rope to make mistakes, and the fact that no one on this coaching staff has any confidence in him.
I really wouldn't be shocked if he became a knockdown shooter on his next team, especially as the weight of expectations and the looking over his shoulder after very mistake are both gone. That's why I'm trying to find his shooting splits based on minutes per game.