Juke Skywalker - The Kemba Walker Thread II

[Joest2003]

I guarantee he does take responsibility for the last 2 seasons but in reality hes the only reason why we even won 20 games last season. Henderson is another case because its obvious he wasnt giving 100% effort until the second half of last year when it was time to get paid. If you cant look at Hendo's stats from the past few years to after the all star break last year (when his contract is conveniently over in a few months) and see theres something fishy there then you need to get your eyes checked.

[fatlever]

If you cant look at Hendo's stats from the past few years to after the all star break last year (when his contract is conveniently over in a few months) and see theres something fishy there then you need to get your eyes checked.

i have been one of hendo's biggest critics. it would incorrect to suggest i am defending his play his last season.

[Joest2003]

I don't mean you I'm just saying in general. It seems like he played so much better when he knew his next contract was coming up which makes me wonder if he was even giving 100% the past few years

[HornetJail]

and hopefully kemba will have the same mentality that hendo has - "i was part of the problem, so i want to be part of the solution"

Not sure I would say he was ever part of the problem. He had the highest PER on the team since he got here and has not had one teammate who can consistently hit a jump shot.

yes, he was the best player on a bad team, but make no mistake, kemba was part of the problem. its a team game. he was the guy running point for a ton of the minutes. he shot 36% as a rookie. he has to take responsibility for the losses just like anyone else.

Kemba was most definitely part of the problem in his rookie season (36% is unacceptable no matter who you are playing with, he was bad on D and wasn't passing very well as a rookie.) Fast forward to this year: while he was the closest thing we had to a star, he wasn't without flaws last year either. He didn't shoot great, and isn't really polished as a floor general yet. He's getting there, but he, along with the rest of the team, was part of the problem in the last two years (and probably this season as well) and like Hendo, he'll want to fix it and be part of the solution.

[Joest2003]

New Bleacher Report article (players who will become stars this season)

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1758 ... son/page/3

[fatlever]

New Bleacher Report article (players who will become stars this season)

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1758 ... son/page/3

nice.

others on the list include:

drummond
jeff green
barnes - disagree with this one. not sure he will get enough minutes to build much on what he did last year. iggy and klay are more deserving of minutes at this point. barnes was a product of heavy minutes in the spotlight. to his credit he didnt wilt. but when you get 40 minutes you should put up some stats. also, he had the benefit of playing some small ball power forward which helped his rebounding numbers. and he was playing next to curry when curry was having the best month of his life, leaving barnes wide open looks.
parsons
t harris
leonard - not sure how much more leonard can do at this level. he'll get a little better but i wouldnt expect a big jump from him.
hayward
wall
cousins - he has probably been on this list 3 years in a row. i will believe it when i see it.

[HornetJail]

New Bleacher Report article (players who will become stars this season)

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1758 ... son/page/3

Saw that this morning, almost created a bleacher report account just to give the author props for giving Kemba some love.

[ball teacher]

kemba is not immune to criticism just because he was the the best player last year. hendo was our best player in 2011-12 and he is not immune either.

as a leader of this team, i would expect kemba to take responsibility for the losing whether he genuinely believed it or not.

the point being made was that when hendo resigned he said he wanted to be in charlotte to be part of the solution since he was part of the problem. whether or not hendo believed what he was saying doesnt matter. as a leader he took ownership of the team's failures while he was a key player. i would expect kemba to do the same.

I still think Hendo was clearly the best player, I think we just had a goal to make the team's style of play cater to Kemba being a productve scorer/player and that's based off of what Dunlap said about coming in bringing the offense to the team that made Kemba a star in college. Kemba being the foundation of the franchise and the point guard of the future while we tanked was pretty much bought by most, but as you said before, the fact still remains that Kemba will have to truly transition to being a real point guard and this is the year we will see if he can cut it. This is Kemba's 3rd year in the league and what he's gonna experience this year shouldve been done year 1, and that's truly learning how to run a NBA offense.

[JDR720]

I think he will stay, why would he leave if he recruited Al and he seems like a loyal player so i dont really see a reason for him to leave...and if Charlotte finds another PG that is better or has more potential than Kemba he will probably become the 6th man or be traded...... besides trading him i cant see him leaving

when his rookie contract is over he'll probably get a 3-4 year 35million dollar deal that would be 8.75million a year for 4yr 35mill which is a fair deal i would think for a 18ppg 8ast 2stl PG which i think he could easily do

[JDR720]

this year i think his averages will be around

17ppg (down slightly because of Al)
7.5ast (he has a legit scoring big finally)
2.2stls
45%shooting (Al will draw the defense so he will get better shots)
81% FT

team averages

98PPG offense
101PPG allowed
43 rebounds per game

31-51 gets the 8th pick in draft to go along with Portland and Detroit's pick which will be around 13-16

[Joest2003]

I still think Hendo was clearly the best player, I think we just had a goal to make the team's style of play cater to Kemba being a productve scorer/player and that's based off of what Dunlap said about coming in bringing the offense to the team that made Kemba a star in college. Kemba being the foundation of the franchise and the point guard of the future while we tanked was pretty much bought by most, but as you said before, the fact still remains that Kemba will have to truly transition to being a real point guard and this is the year we will see if he can cut it. This is Kemba's 3rd year in the league and what he's gonna experience this year shouldve been done year 1, and that's truly learning how to run a NBA offense.

Hendo clearly the best player? common now if that was true he would at least lead the team in one category. Hendo has never averaged 18 PPG before or after Dunlaps system of having Kemba be the main scorer.

[PDXKnight]

this year i think his averages will be around

17ppg (down slightly because of Al)
7.5ast (he has a legit scoring big finally)
2.2stls
45%shooting (Al will draw the defense so he will get better shots)
81% FT

team averages

98PPG offense
101PPG allowed
43 rebounds per game

31-51 gets the 8th pick in draft to go along with Portland and Detroit's pick which will be around 13-16

I wouldn't count on Portland's pick being that high. Now that we have a bench if the Blazers stay healthy there's a good shot we wind up as a 6 or 7 seed in the west which is generally a pick in the 17-22 range. Not saying it couldn't be 13-16 but my money goes on it being lower than that.

[Liver_Pooty]

My moneys on not getting Portlands pick at all. I don't think they make the playoffs.

[fatlever]

lets take another look at the west, something i am sure we will do 100 times in various threads this year.

locks for playoffs barring serious injury to a superstar
spurs
thunder
clippers

near locks for playoffs barring serious injury to a superstar
rockets
grizzlies
warriors

teams with virtually no chance at playoffs
suns
kings
jazz

that leaves two spots for the following teams to fight over
blazers
wolves
pelicans
mavs
lakers
nuggets

i figure the blazers have as good of a chance at those other 5 teams to make the playoffs, but it surely wouldnt be a shock to see them finish at the bottom of that group either.

[HornetJail]

lets take another look at the west, something i am sure we will do 100 times in various threads this year.

locks for playoffs barring serious injury to a superstar
spurs
thunder
clippers

near locks for playoffs barring serious injury to a superstar
rockets
grizzlies
warriors

teams with virtually no chance at playoffs
suns
kings
jazz

that leaves two spots for the following teams to fight over
blazers
wolves
pelicans
mavs
lakers
nuggets

i figure the blazers have as good of a chance at those other 5 teams to make the playoffs, but it surely wouldnt be a shock to see them finish at the bottom of that group either.

My money would be on the Nuggets and Lakers for the last two slots if I had to choose.

7) DEN
8) LA
9) DAL
10) NO
11) MIN
12) POR

[ball teacher]

I still think Hendo was clearly the best player, I think we just had a goal to make the team's style of play cater to Kemba being a productve scorer/player and that's based off of what Dunlap said about coming in bringing the offense to the team that made Kemba a star in college. Kemba being the foundation of the franchise and the point guard of the future while we tanked was pretty much bought by most, but as you said before, the fact still remains that Kemba will have to truly transition to being a real point guard and this is the year we will see if he can cut it. This is Kemba's 3rd year in the league and what he's gonna experience this year shouldve been done year 1, and that's truly learning how to run a NBA offense.

Hendo clearly the best player? common now if that was true he would at least lead the team in one category. Hendo has never averaged 18 PPG before or after Dunlaps system of having Kemba be the main scorer.

Henderson was on point to really have a breakout season before Dunlap came. Dunlap used a system that was based off catering to Kemba's game, this is what was printed in the Charlotte Observer in February.

Following the worst season in NBA history (7-59), Bobcats management chose a new coach whose primary sales pitch was making Kemba Kemba again. A colleague of Hicks’ at St. John’s, Dunlap promoted an offense full of the drag screens that freed Walker all the way back at Rice High.

It was an easy sell, and Walker thrived, averaging 17.3 points, 5.6 assists and 1.9 steals. As president of basketball operations Rod Higgins said at midseason, Walker has the keys to the car.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/0 ... ih_P8ZwrEU#storylink=cpy

The point of posting that was to show you that last season was really about helping Walker to improve his statistics and give the fanbase a glimpse of hope while we tanked. Henderson was in a free agent year and could have signed anywhere, Im not sure we were confiednt he'was gonna resign so we seemed to have decided to just prop up Kemba, on top of that, we had Ramon Sessions and Ben Gordon cutting into Hendersons shots. I fully expect a regular offense this year, with traditional lays instead of 37 picks to allow Kemba to get a easy mid range shot.

Kemba will have to play as a true point guard so we can see what he's about, and also, if you remember, by the end of last season Sessions got hurt and when he did Henderson was back to being the man. Henderson also struggled earlier in the season with injuries too.

[catch20two]

MKG hashtagged #MyPGbetterthanyours on his latest Instagram post referring to Kemba. It's crazy how something that small can boost my excitement for this upcoming season whether MKG has seen Kemba's improvement in the offseason firsthand or the two of them just are growing great chemistry together as the core future of the franchise.

[mrknowitall215]

MKG hashtagged #MyPGbetterthanyours on his latest Instagram post referring to Kemba. It's crazy how something that small can boost my excitement for this upcoming season whether MKG has seen Kemba's improvement in the offseason firsthand or the two of them just are growing great chemistry together as the core future of the franchise.

I saw that earlier too. Kemba & MKG (as well as Jeff Adrien) have been hanging out with each other a lot this offseason

[AttitudeAjusta]

I have a very bad feeling that he will leave here if we don't get sh*t boomin' pretty soon. In all respect to him, he is too much of a winner/star-type to stay in a bad situation forever without any hope in sight. I like the Al Jefferson move even more now that I have to consider keeping Kemba happy. He deserves it so bad.

However, If we do get things rolling and we're a solid, respectable team, I FIRMLY believe that he will strongly prefer to stay here because of all the work and effort he put into this team over the years. I also believe that will go for Gerald Henderson as well and maybe any other player that had to endure the horrible seasons we had.

Personally, I've loved Kemba since he got here. Always hustles hard, plays hard every single game. He is also All-Star talent-level IMO and I hope so bad that he stays. I would love for him to sign with us for next few years

[Joest2003]

I have a very bad feeling that he will leave here if we don't get sh*t boomin' pretty soon. In all respect to him, he is too much of a winner/star-type to stay in a bad situation forever without any hope in sight. I like the Al Jefferson move even more now that I have to consider keeping Kemba happy. He deserves it so bad.

However, If we do get things rolling and we're a solid, respectable team, I FIRMLY believe that he will strongly prefer to stay here because of all the work and effort he put into this team over the years. I also believe that will go for Gerald Henderson as well and maybe any other player that had to endure the horrible seasons we had.

Personally, I've loved Kemba since he got here. Always hustles hard, plays hard every single game. He is also All-Star talent-level IMO and I hope so bad that he stays. I would love for him to sign with us for next few years

I couldn't have said it bettee myself