big nights for irving and knight

[Silk City]

Irving: 26 points on 11-17 shooting. (26 min)
Knight: 20 points on 7-9 shooting. (35 min)

These are of course two guards drafted in front of Kemba. Personally it is kind of frustrating to see these guys putting up these numbers because Kemba has yet to have a game like this (and his best game has kind of diluted stats since it was a 40 point blowout vs. Miami)

However, Detroit and Cleveland are both stuck in bball purgatory right now and look like they're both struggling to find their identities since their huge successes earlier in the decade. While these guys might end up with better individual seasons than Kemba, I don't believe either of them has enough going on around them to build a playoff-caliber team anytime soon.

I think the situation Kemba is in right now will probably benefit him more in the long run, since he can learn from Augustin. But as a selfish fan it kind of sucks that he's not the featured option, in addition to being on a mediocre team. I know it's early but I still thought Kemba would be getting a little more action then he already has. It'll be interesting to see how Charlotte deals with their situation in the trade market, because I'm not sure how much use it is to have two 6-foot promising point guards beyond this season.

 

[Fishy]

I dunno, Kemba scored 19 point about a week ago and near as I can tell, the Miami Heat were not in the building with him. I was never a math major, but I think it's close to the 20 point game that Knight blew your hair back with this evening. His stats for the season are roughly equal to Kemba's.

All three players play for seriously crappy teams that do not have anything close to what they need to be good teams. If they weren't crappy, they would not have been in the position to draft any one of 'em.

 

[UConn990411]

Knight also has a negative assist-to-turnover ratio, which is terrible for a point guard (even a rookie). I have no idea how their careers will turn out, but Kemba is the better player right now.

Irving looks terrific already, though.

 

[Prezidint]

Irving is awesome. Knight is meh. Kemba doesn't have their physical gifts, and it will be interesting to see how his iron will works out in the NBA.

 

[Dogdeacon]

Its really hard to play PG in the NBA at the elite level. I think there's a new unrealistic tendency to assume young PGs will succeed because there is a renaissance at the PG position in the NBA right now with more of the elite players in the league at this position than any other (DRose, CP3, DWill, Rondo, Nash, Westbrook). But even with these guys and the next tier it almost always takes 3yrs+ for PG's to figure out the league and become effective (Lowry, Augustin, Lawson Jrue Holiday etc..).

We know Kemba Walker has the mental makeup to get there, question is do his size and athletic gifts translate well enough. With the two PG's taken in front of him I think the questions are more mental (Knight) and maturity (both but Irving - as a player moreso than personal).

Its very interesting and relevant to this discussion that John Wall seems to be imploding. Yesterday I heard an NBA scout describe Wall as a great athlete but not at all a basketball player. Granted he's in a situation with unheard of selfish teammates (Blatche et all) but he appears unable to make others better and now that the league has caught onto this Wall is forced into increasingly bad offensive plays. Probably just part of the 3-year growth process, but its not unprecedented for a PG that coming into the NBA very young with great expectations to fail (see: Telfair, Sebastian).

Bottom line is don't expect to know exactly what kind of NBA PG Kemba will become until he's played a few seasons. To me coming into the league key was just to see if Kemba is physically able to play with these guys and he seems to have more than proven that he can.

 

[tykurez]

The most worrisome stat for Kemba is his shooting. He really didn't shoot all that well in college, and so far he's been much worse in the NBA (although that would be expected.)

You can succeed in the NBA as a PG without a great shot (see Rondo) but it will be a tough road. Hopefully he just keeps working hard because I think he has it in him. Obviously those two guys (Irving and Knight) were drafted ahead of Kemba for a reason ... they both have better size. Kemba's bread and butter right now is keeping defenses on their heels and getting to the line, but overall hasn't played particularly well yet.

 

[RuffRuff]

Biggest concern with Kemba in evaluating him as a collegiate player is simply the fact that he was a score first guard, pass second. I would never have called Kemba the most amazing passer - and on the NBA level, he is physically limited to continue the offensive dominance that he demonstrated. Physical needs are not nearly as highly required for a passer, where that's more about instincts, vision, touch, etc. I just think if the kid is going to really make an impact on the NBA level, the passer in him really needs to evolve.

 

[tykurez]

Biggest concern with Kemba in evaluating him as a collegiate player is simply the fact that he was a score first guard, pass second. I would never have called Kemba the most amazing passer - and on the NBA level, he is physically limited to continue the offensive dominance that he demonstrated. Physical needs are not nearly as highly required for a passer, where that's more about instincts, vision, touch, etc. I just think if the kid is going to really make an impact on the NBA level, the passer in him really needs to evolve.

That's a great point ... which is why a guy like Rondo can thrive (even though he does have some impressive physical traits.)

And really, it will make him a more complete player. He's so good at breaking down a defender that it often creates a mismatch. He should use that breakdown and mismatch to his advantage to draw other defenders and find the open man.

Of course, this is all very early and we know how hard Kemba works. I'm still confident in his ability to become a steady piece in the NBA.

 

[HeGotGame]

Knight and Irving are logging a lot more minuets than Kemba so one would assume their score more than him, but both of their shooting %s are a lot higher than Kemba's too. Shooting 34% and 30% fr0m 3 is not going to cut it for a score first PG.

But assist to TO ratio Kemba has them both beat.

Long term I honestly think Knight and Irving have better careers than Kemba, hope I am wrong though.

 

[DogMania]

I dunno, Kemba scored 19 point about a week ago and near as I can tell, the Miami Heat were not in the building with him. I was never a math major, but I think it's close to the 20 point game that Knight blew your hair back with this evening. His stats for the season are roughly equal to Kemba's.

All three players play for seriously crappy teams that do not have anything close to what they need to be good teams. If they weren't crappy, they would not have been in the position to draft any one of 'em.

Well put. PGs and PG-Combos look a whole lot better when surrounded by good players. I think if you put any of these 3 on a very good team that needed a PG and were willing to play them through the learning curve, they'd all put up very good numbers.

I don't know anything about the rosters of the other 2, but Kemba is playing behind Augustine and most games is not getting the amount of minutes that would allow him to put up big numbers. But even then, the worse the team is around them the less assists the PG is going to get and the more his shots will be contested because the tendency to try to do too much plus the defensive attention they'll get.

 

[champs99and04]

Kemba's just a rookie. Normally you'd expect rookies picked in the lottery to show flashes of brilliance (he has) and then major inconsistency. Keep in mind, Kemba is averaging 17 points, 5 assists, 5 rebounds per 36 minutes, that's pretty good. His biggest problem going forward will be his shooting percentages. Then again, most D-League rosters are probably more talented than Charlotte's second team, so he is forced into a lot of bad shots, and many of his nice feeds are not cashed in. If he can keep his shooting percentages at a respectable level, he will be a very good NBA player because of his ability to get to the free throw line.

Irving has been better than I expected thus far, I think he'll be a very good player, possibly even an all-star. Here's the thing with Knight: He's not a point guard. He's a shooting guard trapped in a point guards body, and he's always been that way. He only averaged four assists per game at Kentucky last year, and he turns the ball over an awful lot. As a previous poster mentioned, his assist to turnover ratio is under one this year. Every time I check the box score he's turned the ball over 4-5 times. It's not as if he's lighting things up from a scoring persepctive either, scoring 12 points per game on 45% shooting, while getting to the line about a half a time per game. I've never really seen the hype with Knight. I don't see him being much more than a spot up shooter off the bench.

 

[UConn990411]

Well, it took Kemba all the way till January 14, but he finally got his 20+ point game.

 

[hollywoodhusky]

Well, it took Kemba all the way till January 14, but he finally got his 20+ point game.

Kemba finished with 23 pts 4 rebs 5 dimes 2 steals a block and 2 3's tonight andddd..... got his first start tonight...Knight and Irving have been starting- so...apples and oranges

WAY TO GO KEMBA !

 

[DieHardHusky]

Kemba finished with 23 pts 4 rebs 5 dimes 2 steals a block and 2 3's tonight andddd..... got his first start tonight...Knight and Irving have been starting- so...apples and oranges

WAY TO GO KEMBA !

He started and what do ya know! He went OFF! Good for Kemba, and I hope he stays in the lineup from here on out.

 

[Silk City]

He started and what do ya know! He went OFF! Good for Kemba, and I hope he stays in the lineup from here on out.

Silas said Kemba will continue to start.

Glad to see Kemba get going! I was frustrated seeing those Knight/Irving lines the other night and started this thread; didn't see this turnaround coming so fast but I love it.

I have no doubt that as long as Kemba gets the minutes, he can have a good a rookie season as anyone this year. Tonight played a big role in that regard

 

[orangehomer]

with the lockout they didn't get to have the summer camps like they do usually right? he might need an offseason to work with the coaches and really nail down what his role should be. it just seems hard to project college guards in the NBA. for instance i would have thought flynn would be better by now but he has struggled, and there really isn't much time to develop guards.