WolvesFan21 wrote:I do think it makes more sense to start and feature him more though too in the final couple minutes, just looking at the long term, who is most likely to be here in 3-5 years out of any current player? I would say KAT is. Continuing to develop him in all situations can only help us down the line. He has a solid handle and can quite easily shoot over smaller guys if they get the mismatch. Is he as clutch as say Rose right now? The stats say no, but if you are going to improve you need the experience.
Well said. I'll add that KAT's a much better 3-point shooter than Jokic. I'll also add that KAT has all the makings of a really good passer. He was considered a good passer coming out of college and went on to win the NBA allstar skills competition a couple years ago. His assist numbers have been ramping up this season.
The key is a coach who takes advantage of KAT's full skill set and gives him the opportunity to develop that full array of skills.
Q12543 wrote:Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic beg to differ. Both are inarguably the best players and one has his team at #4 in the East and the other is #2 in the West. Heck, I think LaMarcus Aldridge is San Antonio's best player and look at how they've been reeling off wins over the last few weeks.
I do agree you need a dynamic perimeter threat that can draw in extra defenders and create shots for himself and others (although Jokic may beg to differ on this point too). All of our perimeter guys come up short. But it doesn't HAVE to be your best player.
By the way, who is our 2nd best player? If we were winning a bunch of games, I bet that would be a relatively easy question to answer.
KAT needs help.....Just like Love needed help.....just like KG needed help.
Q, Mike Malone seems to agree with you with his quotes in this morning's Strib. Somehow Denver has gone from missing the playoffs to leading the division, despite some key injuries and not really adding any big names in the off-season. Malone attributes the team's success to finding a closer, and that closer is their center. He is both being used more, and is making a higher percentage of his shots at the end of games than he was last year. I love Jokic, but I also love Towns and see him as being as good or nearly as good as Jokic. I think the biggest difference between Denver and Minnesota is coaching. Malone runs his offense (throughout the game and at crunch time) through their center and best player, and Thibs and Saunders don't.
LST, Unlike the Wolves though, they have had bunch of organic development from players inside the organization and its led to phenomenal depth. After KAT, we probably have two or three "second tier" players before another talent dropoff. They have like 6 or 7 guys in that second tier and it makes a big difference for them. I'm sure some of that is coaching, but I also think a lot of it is organizational prowess in how they drafted and then work with players during the offseason.
WolvesFan21 wrote:I do think it makes more sense to start and feature him more though too in the final couple minutes, just looking at the long term, who is most likely to be here in 3-5 years out of any current player? I would say KAT is. Continuing to develop him in all situations can only help us down the line. He has a solid handle and can quite easily shoot over smaller guys if they get the mismatch. Is he as clutch as say Rose right now? The stats say no, but if you are going to improve you need the experience.
Well said. I'll add that KAT's a much better 3-point shooter than Jokic. I'll also add that KAT has all the makings of a really good passer. He was considered a good passer coming out of college and went on to win the NBA allstar skills competition a couple years ago. His assist numbers have been ramping up this season.
The key is a coach who takes advantage of KAT's full skill set and gives him the opportunity to develop that full array of skills.
Yeah, I'm not sure he'll ever be the passer that Jokic is, but there is no reason he shouldn't be averaging at least 4-5 assists per game. Also, given KAT's scoring ability, we need him to take more shots than Jokic. Denver has a bunch of skilled shooters and cutters that are great targets for Jokic....KAT doesn't have that and needs to take on more of the scoring load for us.
