NBA ChoK16 - the Rich Cho Thread

[MasterIchiro]

Also (and sorry to invade your board if I'm not welcome), a question I've had for Hornets fans for a while.. why does MKG not get more minutes/touches? There's this vibe I've gotten that Charlotte is treating him with kid gloves or something, the dude was a #2 overall pick.

Like am I crazy for thinking he couldn't be averaging like 12-14ppg right now just off of slashing, transition, backdoor cuts, mismatches on smaller guys etc? And he could be drawing a lot of fouls too just off of being more aggressive + physical than opponents, that's how the league is calling fouls these days. Look at Harden and now Jimmy Butler, they get foul calls off pure strength and forcing guys to hack them. MKG should study Jimmy Butler's game exactly this summer and copy it. He could be better than Butler actually if he elevates his game at an earlier age.

That's a good question. By any chance would the Wiz be interested in giving MKG more touches in exchange for Beal?

[HornetJail]

Also (and sorry to invade your board if I'm not welcome), a question I've had for Hornets fans for a while.. why does MKG not get more minutes/touches? There's this vibe I've gotten that Charlotte is treating him with kid gloves or something, the dude was a #2 overall pick.

Like am I crazy for thinking he couldn't be averaging like 12-14ppg right now just off of slashing, transition, backdoor cuts, mismatches on smaller guys etc? And he could be drawing a lot of fouls too just off of being more aggressive + physical than opponents, that's how the league is calling fouls these days. Look at Harden and now Jimmy Butler, they get foul calls off pure strength and forcing guys to hack them. MKG should study Jimmy Butler's game exactly this summer and copy it. He could be better than Butler actually if he elevates his game at an earlier age.

Neither coach he's played for utilized him correctly. MKG has gotten more playing time recently, and he's making the most of it. Per 36, he's averaging nearly 14/9, and his playing time is creeping up into the low 30s as of late. As he gets more comfortable, his playing time should continue to grow. His jumper has come a long way, and as long as that falls, he'll stay on the court. He's scored at least 9 points in each of his last 7 games (which has to be a career-best) and is averaging 11.8/7.3 in those games. In all but one, his minutes average hovers around 30mpg. He picks up cheap fouls pretty easily, and Clifford keeps our young defenders off the floor too long when they have early foul trouble. MKG never has plays called for him either, so he rarely gets nice backdoor cuts. You're right- he'd probably score 12-14ppg in about 30 minutes if we bothered to run plays for him.

The biggest problem he has right now is lack of a three-ball and he tends to lose the ball when trying to finish in traffic. The mid-range shot is there and it's pretty good- he shoots 39.5% from 16-23 feet, and 57% from 10-16. He's a half-decent 3-point shot away from being a very complete player.

[BobsBuddy]

Rich...You Listening...It's me BB..Remember me...Please check out my latest trade of the day on the fake trade thread...I know you or your assistants are reading it.. It's about time to pull the trigger on some trades? PS Bob sends his best..

[Illmatic12]

Also (and sorry to invade your board if I'm not welcome), a question I've had for Hornets fans for a while.. why does MKG not get more minutes/touches? There's this vibe I've gotten that Charlotte is treating him with kid gloves or something, the dude was a #2 overall pick.

Like am I crazy for thinking he couldn't be averaging like 12-14ppg right now just off of slashing, transition, backdoor cuts, mismatches on smaller guys etc? And he could be drawing a lot of fouls too just off of being more aggressive + physical than opponents, that's how the league is calling fouls these days. Look at Harden and now Jimmy Butler, they get foul calls off pure strength and forcing guys to hack them. MKG should study Jimmy Butler's game exactly this summer and copy it. He could be better than Butler actually if he elevates his game at an earlier age.

That's a good question. By any chance would the Wiz be interested in giving MKG more touches in exchange for Beal?

Beal is going to be in a Wiz jersey for the next decade. However if Charlotte is interested in an SF for SF swap, I would trade Otto Porter Jr for MKG though

[Illmatic12]

Also (and sorry to invade your board if I'm not welcome), a question I've had for Hornets fans for a while.. why does MKG not get more minutes/touches? There's this vibe I've gotten that Charlotte is treating him with kid gloves or something, the dude was a #2 overall pick.

Like am I crazy for thinking he couldn't be averaging like 12-14ppg right now just off of slashing, transition, backdoor cuts, mismatches on smaller guys etc? And he could be drawing a lot of fouls too just off of being more aggressive + physical than opponents, that's how the league is calling fouls these days. Look at Harden and now Jimmy Butler, they get foul calls off pure strength and forcing guys to hack them. MKG should study Jimmy Butler's game exactly this summer and copy it. He could be better than Butler actually if he elevates his game at an earlier age.

Neither coach he's played for utilized him correctly. MKG has gotten more playing time recently, and he's making the most of it. Per 36, he's averaging nearly 14/9, and his playing time is creeping up into the low 30s as of late. As he gets more comfortable, his playing time should continue to grow. His jumper has come a long way, and as long as that falls, he'll stay on the court. He's scored at least 9 points in each of his last 7 games (which has to be a career-best) and is averaging 11.8/7.3 in those games. In all but one, his minutes average hovers around 30mpg. He picks up cheap fouls pretty easily, and Clifford keeps our young defenders off the floor too long when they have early foul trouble. MKG never has plays called for him either, so he rarely gets nice backdoor cuts. You're right- he'd probably score 12-14ppg in about 30 minutes if we bothered to run plays for him.

The biggest problem he has right now is lack of a three-ball and he tends to lose the ball when trying to finish in traffic. The mid-range shot is there and it's pretty good- he shoots 39.5% from 16-23 feet, and 57% from 10-16. He's a half-decent 3-point shot away from being a very complete player.

Thanks for the info. I forget who it was, but I remember a player on one of our past teams talking about how they couldn't gain confidence because they knew if they picked up quick fouls they'd get pulled. That's not a good way to develop players imo. And there's a large amount of evidence showing that high lottery picks who get a lot of minutes early on will develop faster. A lot of other organizations by now would have sent down a front office mandate that MKG gets force-fed heavy minutes, regardless of game situation. Particularly with where Charlotte is in the standings right now, Al is sitting out, Kemba already got his contract. Developing MKG should be a #1 priority.


MKG is a pretty sick athlete, he just has to realize that when he's aggressive no one in the league can stop him from getting to the cup, at least not without fouling him. And when you look at how he plays defense for a 21yo, there's a lot of potential there to be one of the more valuable two-way SFs in the league.

From watching John Wall's up an downs as he developed over the years (there were post game threads early in his third year where some Wiz fans were saying we should trade him for picks - they would never admit to it now).. I can tell you that player improvement is hardly linear so what you look for is gradual growth in confidence, knowing what to do within the offense, etc. At some point it just 'clicks' and they're able to put it all together, but before then you might only see the intermittent bits and pieces.

[MasterIchiro]

Also (and sorry to invade your board if I'm not welcome), a question I've had for Hornets fans for a while.. why does MKG not get more minutes/touches? There's this vibe I've gotten that Charlotte is treating him with kid gloves or something, the dude was a #2 overall pick.

Like am I crazy for thinking he couldn't be averaging like 12-14ppg right now just off of slashing, transition, backdoor cuts, mismatches on smaller guys etc? And he could be drawing a lot of fouls too just off of being more aggressive + physical than opponents, that's how the league is calling fouls these days. Look at Harden and now Jimmy Butler, they get foul calls off pure strength and forcing guys to hack them. MKG should study Jimmy Butler's game exactly this summer and copy it. He could be better than Butler actually if he elevates his game at an earlier age.

That's a good question. By any chance would the Wiz be interested in giving MKG more touches in exchange for Beal?

Beal is going to be in a Wiz jersey for the next decade. However if Charlotte is interested in an SF for SF swap, I would trade Otto Porter Jr for MKG though

I would do that but I'm likely the only poster on this entire board who would do that deal.

[HornetJail]

That's a good question. By any chance would the Wiz be interested in giving MKG more touches in exchange for Beal?

Beal is going to be in a Wiz jersey for the next decade. However if Charlotte is interested in an SF for SF swap, I would trade Otto Porter Jr for MKG though

I would do that but I'm likely the only poster on this entire board who would do that deal.

You would trade MKG for Glen Rice Jr, so that doesn't mean much

[MasterIchiro]

Haters hate us cuz they ain't us?

[HornetJail]

Also (and sorry to invade your board if I'm not welcome), a question I've had for Hornets fans for a while.. why does MKG not get more minutes/touches? There's this vibe I've gotten that Charlotte is treating him with kid gloves or something, the dude was a #2 overall pick.

Like am I crazy for thinking he couldn't be averaging like 12-14ppg right now just off of slashing, transition, backdoor cuts, mismatches on smaller guys etc? And he could be drawing a lot of fouls too just off of being more aggressive + physical than opponents, that's how the league is calling fouls these days. Look at Harden and now Jimmy Butler, they get foul calls off pure strength and forcing guys to hack them. MKG should study Jimmy Butler's game exactly this summer and copy it. He could be better than Butler actually if he elevates his game at an earlier age.

Neither coach he's played for utilized him correctly. MKG has gotten more playing time recently, and he's making the most of it. Per 36, he's averaging nearly 14/9, and his playing time is creeping up into the low 30s as of late. As he gets more comfortable, his playing time should continue to grow. His jumper has come a long way, and as long as that falls, he'll stay on the court. He's scored at least 9 points in each of his last 7 games (which has to be a career-best) and is averaging 11.8/7.3 in those games. In all but one, his minutes average hovers around 30mpg. He picks up cheap fouls pretty easily, and Clifford keeps our young defenders off the floor too long when they have early foul trouble. MKG never has plays called for him either, so he rarely gets nice backdoor cuts. You're right- he'd probably score 12-14ppg in about 30 minutes if we bothered to run plays for him.

The biggest problem he has right now is lack of a three-ball and he tends to lose the ball when trying to finish in traffic. The mid-range shot is there and it's pretty good- he shoots 39.5% from 16-23 feet, and 57% from 10-16. He's a half-decent 3-point shot away from being a very complete player.

Thanks for the info. I forget who it was, but I remember a player on one of our past teams talking about how they couldn't gain confidence because they knew if they picked up quick fouls they'd get pulled. That's not a good way to develop players imo. And there's a large amount of evidence showing that high lottery picks who get a lot of minutes early on will develop faster. A lot of other organizations by now would have sent down a front office mandate that MKG gets force-fed heavy minutes, regardless of game situation. Particularly with where Charlotte is in the standings right now, Al is sitting out, Kemba already got his contract. Developing MKG should be a #1 priority.


MKG is a pretty sick athlete, he just has to realize that when he's aggressive no one in the league can stop him from getting to the cup, at least not without fouling him. And when you look at how he plays defense for a 21yo, there's a lot of potential there to be one of the more valuable two-way SFs in the league.

From watching John Wall's up an downs as he developed over the years (there were post game threads early in his third year where some Wiz fans were saying we should trade him for picks - they would never admit to it now).. I can tell you that player improvement is hardly linear so what you look for is gradual growth in confidence, knowing what to do within the offense, etc. At some point it just 'clicks' and they're able to put it all together, but before then you might only see the intermittent bits and pieces.

It's always been about confidence with MKG. His first 1-2 months in the NBA had most of this board convinced that he was going to be better than Anthony Davis (me included) because his confidence was at an all-time high and he was rolling. Then he took a knee to the eye, sat a couple of games or something, his rhythm got destroyed, he lost playing time, and shot like 35% for the next two months. Dunlap sat him way too much, and then Steve Clifford used him mainly as a 24mpg energy guy last year, and he rarely played 4th quarters. If I had one fault with Clifford last year, it was how he handled MKG. Never ran plays for him, sat him way too much, and gave him too short of a leash, while the likes of Gary Neal were given green lights to brick everything in sight.

MKG appears to be turning a corner and he certainly appears to be more confident. It affects his offense a lot more than his defense. His defensive intensity didn't even waver after allowing 60+ points to white-hot shooting performances by LeBron and Melo, and promptly shut down Paul George a couple nights later. But his offense runs on his confidence more than any player I've ever seen. When he's locked in, he gets to the rim at will. He has trouble holding onto the ball in traffic sometimes and gets called for quite a few charges (some are legit, some are very questionable), but a confident MKG is good for at least 10ppg even without his jumper.

[Illmatic12]

Glad that he's starting to playing with confidence more consistently, as I've liked his game since he was in college. I will be watching a lot of Charlotte games moving forward to see his development.

Hopefully Lance coming back doesn't screw things up, or make MKG feel like he has to fall back in the pecking order.

[gamer4Life]

The Mo Williams trade was pretty good.

[-Ian-]

Just imagine if Mo has been with the Hornets since the start of the season...

[-Ian-]

Rich Cho interview with Ramona Shelburne

Cho talked briefly about analytics, what is it like working for MJ, his background (how he got into basketball and the NBA), and where does he see this team going this season.

[Elden Payton]

The Mo Williams trade was pretty good.

Cheers, yes it has worked great.

Cho is not flashy but he has a habit of making these moves which are hardly groundbreaking but always make sense.

We're on a roll right now and we could climb as high as the fifth seed, not bad for Gary Neal and a second.

[TheKingofSting]

The Mo Williams trade was Great.

[MasterIchiro]

Yes but he should have dealt Kaminsky for the 6th seed.

[yosemiteben]

:lol: Beal is going to be in a Wiz jersey for the next decade. However if Charlotte is interested in an SF for SF swap, I would trade Otto Porter Jr for MKG though

I would do that but I'm likely the only poster on this entire board who would do that deal.

Wow somehow I missed this. Would you still trade MKG for Otto or was that a fleeting thing?

[-Ian-]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/ESPNNBA/status/580405160398209024[/tweet]

Philadelphia and Sacramento are higher than us. How sad is that?

[BuzzKing60]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/ESPNNBA/status/580405160398209024[/tweet]

Philadelphia and Sacramento are higher than us. How sad is that?

Sad but I'm not surprised.

[yosemiteben]

Anyone have insider and want to post the blurb on the Hornets?