mattg wrote:CunningLinguist wrote:How has he struggled to adapt? He was asked to play point guard for UCLA because he was the best player for the job, with his team being the better for it.
He struggled when he was asked to play off ball as a frosh. Obviously he doesn't struggle to adapt when he gets to run the point like this past year, that's what he's done his entire life and is his comfort zone. He won't be that type of player in the nba though hence he will need to adapt and learn to play without the ball.
his frosh year has long past. basically he was considered slow back in high school and then as a frosh he's asked to player speedier older taller players in college. so the question of adapting should be measured as he has adapted since then and until now, not before.
jrue holiday, coming out of high school as gpoy, didn't adapt playing sg to collison. howland built that '13 team around an inexplicable hard-on for the wear twins, bazz, and drew2. then adams banged out an amazing first 1/3 of a season, so an extremely conservative coach ben never made use of kyle's skillset. then, kyle was asked to wear three hats, scorer(which people question in his frosh year), rebounder, and facilitator. he wore all three hats well, so why the concern about adapting. because of his lack of athleticism, ADAPTING has become his strength, if you ask me - it is what he is. there's no masking of weaknesses with raw physical power. it's always been about changing his game. he adapts because he has the MINDSET for it. you should worry about players who have dominated with physicality and who only deal with change in a physical way.
kyle has grown, improved, and adapted enough to go from people thinking he won't make it to being a possible late first/early second to mid 20's to now possibly being 14>19. what are the fruits of adaptation if not moving up the draft in that manner. in fact kyle is being grossly underestimated for his ability TO adapt
