Officially Waived: The Kai Jones Thread

[JMAC3]

Thoughts on whether or not Kai is a future 4 or 5?
Slam has previously said he views him more as a forward in the future... in the baby Giannis mold.

Maybe we let Jalen walk, fill his mins next yr with either Thor or Kai... let those two battle for mins.

I 100% see him more as a full time PF and part time C.

I don't see him competing with McD for mins, I see him competing with (and taking) PJ's spot.

All of McD's mins as a hybrid SF/PF should be soaked up by Thor IMO.

In my utopian world we'd see:
PG: LaMelo
SG: Legit, well sized, 2 way playing, efficient scoring (on all 3 levels), high BBIQ, high effort, consistent person
SF: Miles
PF: Kai
C: Legit, well sized, switchable, rim protecting, high BBIQ, high effort, consistent person

6-11 dudes don't play forward in todays NBA unless they are crazy skilled.
Basically the list of guys who don't play center at that height are KD, Giannis, Mobley and I guess Jaren Jackson Jr.

Kai also isn't nearly a good enough shooter to play the 4 right now. Our spacing would be horrible.

He is the perfect fit for the springy backup center like Claxton, OO and McGee play now. Start there at like 12-18 mpg and hopefully he improves to the point where he can be a starter in year 3 or 4. That would be my path for him, not put him in a position to fail trying to make him into some skilled 4 which he doesn't have skillset for.

[Liver_Pooty]

https://youtube.com/shorts/oLwE_2GFVPo?feature=share

If he's still not ready next year it won't be due to lack of trying. His body is filling out well and still has 5 more months.

[Liver_Pooty]

Read on Twitter

Digging those 5am workouts as well.

[Diop]

Read on Twitter

Digging those 5am workouts as well.

i feel sick just thinking of 5am workouts. thats some commitment, but also, what else is he doing that he has to get up so early?

did he get a 9-5 job as well.

[KingCat]

I absolutely love this kid. We all know he is a project and will take time, he has a prefect combination of potential, work ethic, and smarts to not end up as atleast a solid rotational guy throughout his career.

[Rays Pompadour]

Morning people are weird.

[KembaWalker]

Good to see Nick Richards is working on his corner 3s

[Snidely FC]

we haven't seen what Kai can do at the NBA level at all I hope whatever the offseason outcomes in terms of coach and roster Kai gets the playing time next season to show what he is capable of

[fatlever]

Morning people are weird.

Working out at 5am tells me one of a few things
1. You are a sociopath
2. You stayed up all night
3. You aren't getting enough quality sleep.

Am I supposed to believe Kai goes to bed at 8pm like a toddler?

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[amcoolio]

Maybe he's on the "nap after work for 2 hours, go to bed at 2, sleep til 7:30" schedule like I am

[yosemiteben]

There was a time in the not too distant past where I would say I was more likely to still be up at 5 AM rather than going to bed and getting up before then.

Now there's just no way I'm going to be up at 5.

[fatlever]

Maybe he's on the "nap after work for 2 hours, go to bed at 2, sleep til 7:30" schedule like I am

That's basically my schedule lol. I don't recommend it for anyone. But I'm too far down the lifelong Night Owl path of staying up till 2 a.m. to all of a sudden learn how to get up at 7:30 a.m. for work. My hours shifted about 2 years ago from starting work at 11 a.m. to now starting work at 8 a.m. I haven't been able to adjust, so now I do the worst possible thing and get 5-6 hours of sleep at night and then later 2 hours of sleep after work. Thank God I work from home.

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[fatlever]

There was a time in the not too distant past where I would say I was more like to still be up at 5 AM rather than going to bed and getting up before then.

Now there's just no way I'm going to be up at 5.

I would have a much easier time of staying up till 5:00 a.m. than waking up at 5:00 a.m.

I was put on this Earth to work third shift apparently

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[JDR720]

I always feel better if I wake up really early. My ideal sleep schedule is somewhere around 9PM - 4AM. Which is a struggle because I often go down the youtube rabbit hole or read articles/message boards before bed and don't notice the time.

No naps either. If I nap during the day I'll stay up all night. I function better on 5 hours of sleep than I do 10.

[KembaWalker]

I've never really bought into the whole nightowl vs morning person thing. I've had periods of my life where I slept till 3pm and periods where I got up at 430am and was pretty much able to adapt to both fine, just all about going to bed on time. The universal constant is that waking up sucks if it's because I have to go to work.

Also Ive found that people who chronically sleep late often try really bad ways to "fix" their schedule like pulling all nighters or trying to go from sleeping till noon to getting up at 5am immediately and doing stuff they don't enjoy like working out, studying etc. Very low chance of success

[HornetJail]

my entire schedule has shifted since moving west but working on east coast time. I still can't fathom being up and alert enough to drive to the gym at 5AM, let alone actually working out at that hour.

Athletes are just wired different.

[JDR720]

I like morning workouts, but I do bodyweight stuff and have my own dumbbells for certain things so I don't need to go to the gym.

I figured out that the later in the day I plan to workout, the least likely odds I'll do it.

[Vanderbilt_Grad]

I used to get up around 5 am all the time. I didn't love it, but once you make it a habit, it's not that bad. It was one reason that I hated late NBA games.

[SWedd523]

I like morning workouts, but I do bodyweight stuff and have my own dumbbells for certain things so I don't need to go to the gym.
I figured out that the later in the day I plan to workout, the least likely odds I'll do it.

I have never been able to sleep much. I probably operate on 5-6 of broken hours a sleep per night, and that's really only because I force myself to go to sleep. My brain just stays too active to shut off all the way.

Generally speaking, folks in my industry do exercise in the morning as part of the daily schedule. Luckily, I have been able to avoid most of that so I generally go lift during lunch and then do my runs after dinner. It's nice because I like to spend some time with the kids in the morning making breakfast and taking them to daycare and whatnot.

[JMAC3]

Kai working out early isn't some alien idea. This is pretty normal for the elite basketball players in the world.

Early Morning Shooting, leave gym, come back lift, leave gym, come back for other skill/agility on court stuff.