07-25-2021, 12:44 PM
(07-25-2021, 12:22 PM)ItsGoTime Wrote: So, I haven't tried to wade into this muck that people keep heaping on to KP for a while now, but the gall of people to watch the NBA for years on end and not see what I said and just write him off as a 25 year old who "is what he is" player is really triggering for me. I don't know for sure that he won't come back and suck, but I think the odds of that are so very slim that it's worth typing what I typed.
My 2 hesitancies with KP is the seeming inevitability that he will get hurt again and that he is a great start to the season player (like Parsons was) but as the season wears on, he gets less and less effective. If he figures those two things out, he is for sure a superstar in my mind.
I am not on sell KP at all costs island, at all.
But I think the biggest thing that reduced his productivity was when teams realized that you just have to go small against him. He can't punish smaller guys on offense and (of course) can't guard a guard or wing on the other side and can't afford to stay near the paint protecting the rim because that guy will shoot it (same thing happened to Gobert). I don't think Clippers were the only ones who successfuly implemented that strategy. From the top of my head I remember Boston game where RC chose to rather sit KP because Boston went small ball. I am sure there was more. I am not sure it was only RC inability to utilize KP and that Kidd will dance in with a magic stick making everything different. I think it is more on KP.
That's why I think his defense is not the biggest issue - he will be just fine when his task will be to guard a non shooting big. But he must be able to force the opponent to put such a guy on the floor.