(07-05-2021, 01:31 PM)KillerLeft Wrote: Serious question, not intended with any snark, whatsoever:
If KP is not a star, which by definition means that he is not great at creating offense for himself or others, and he has massive "defensive issues," then what makes you so confident he's a "great starter?"
It's not even that I disagree with this take. In order to disagree I'd have to understand where this take is coming from. I just can't see it at all, and I'm starting to feel like I'm crazy or something.
Well put it this way... There are 150 starters in the NBA. Where do you rank KP overall as a player?
He's still a top 50 player IMO even with defensive issues. That doesn't factor in any value with his contract.
I keep bring up the stat that only 20 guys in the league put up KP's ppg and shooting #s in the NBA this year. And 18 of them are all stars.
KP definitely has defensive issues but he's a fantastic offensive player even with the issues he has. Also his defense wasn't as nearly as bad as made out to be. It was at the beginning of the year for sure and it was pretty bad in the playoffs. But it has since been shown that alot of those defensive issues in the playoffs wasn't because he was playing bad defensively and more of what the Clips were doing. Frankly he never looked as bad as Gobert did in game 6. Gobert looked like a horrible defender against LAC most of the series too. I'm optimistic tho against most teams KP has a decent chance to at least be an ok defender again.
All that being said the issue with the KP trade now is not the value that was sent during the trade but the inability to accumulate assets since then or add a legit star to the team. Doesn't matter if the rest of the starters are all pretty good if you don't have a true #2. KP is clearly not that and no reason to think he will suddenly get a ton better to become that guy.