Your current thoughts on MKG

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Originally Posted by spectre

Who in the hell was that?

Adam Morrison could just "score". Beyond that dubious distinction he was subpar in almost every category and esp. in regards to Crash. MKG is almost the exact opposite; except for his struggles with an outside shot he does almost everything at or above average. He's the one that should end up being a better Crash...the guy who made all star once. Morrison was also 22 when he came into the league...MKG is 19.

Hendo is a slightly above average defender who can't create his own shot AND he can't shoot from 3. His greatest strength is shooting the least valuable shot that others have to create for him. He's also inconsistent as hell. His handles are weak which also puts pressure on the other guys.

Kemba is a fast, pesky defender at the 1 in a league where most PGs can't defend their position. He can get to the rim at will and he can create his own shot. The more options put around him the more he's shown that he can get others involved. This is Hendo's 4th season, and before you point to his first year in not getting played because of Brown (I'd put it more on him not being able to stay healthy) you can also look at Kemba's first having to play under Silas' train wreck.

Most importantly, we have Kemba on a rook deal thru 2015...Hendo hits RFA next offseason.

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Time will tell. I'm not a big fan of undersized guys, even at PG. I like guys who can defend more than one position if they have to. Yeah, Kemba can hound a ball-handler as he crosses halfcourt, but I see no evidence he can do much else defensively once the play develops, except for maybe track down a loose ball.

He can get to the rim, but it will be tough for a guy with a 7'9ish" standing reach to finish consistently among the trees, especially as his athleticism fades.

As far as your question "Who the hell was that?", it was a lot of people over at the Observer Bobcats forum. I finally had to leave that group and come over here to better threads. If memory serves, we were weak at shooting guard in Adam's rookie year. A lot of folks wanted to move Wallace to fill another position and clear space for Adam's development as a "3", thinking he was going to be a 20-25 point guy someday, due to his high draft position. Then the next year we grabbed J-Rich.

Lately, Rick Bonnell has described MKG as a better form of David Wingate, or something to that effect, on twitter posts. It's not quite a ringing endorsement for a number 2 pick so far, but at least he will guard multiple positions. Obviously he is young, and we will see. I hope MKG and Kemba prove my doubts wrong.

MKG's first priority is defense this season and he will show everyone why we selected him at No2 !

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Originally Posted by Veteran_Picksetter

As far as your question "Who the hell was that?", it was a lot of people over at the Observer Bobcats forum. I finally had to leave that group and come over here to better threads. If memory serves, we were weak at shooting guard in Adam's rookie year. A lot of folks wanted to move Wallace to fill another position and clear space for Adam's development as a "3", thinking he was going to be a 20-25 point guy someday, due to his high draft position. Then the next year we grabbed J-Rich.

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Man. I remember thinking that having Wallace would be the only reason we'd be okay drafting Morrison: he'd make up for some of Ammo's defensive weaknesses as long as Ammo could gun. We need to collectively forget Ammo as quickly as we can.


Rites
http://www.plu.edu/~arnoldwp/img/sacrificial-stone.gif

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Originally Posted by dnbman

Man. I remember thinking that having Wallace would be the only reason we'd be okay drafting Morrison: he'd make up for some of Ammo's defensive weaknesses as long as Ammo could gun. We need to collectively forget Ammo as quickly as we can.


Rites
http://www.plu.edu/~arnoldwp/img/sacrificial-stone.gif

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I remember having thoughts like yours. I guess the problem was, Morrison wasn't simply a below-average NBA athlete. He was a BAD one. I don't know. I thought he could move his feet okay before the injury. But he just had no bulk/explosiveness/physical presence to finish in the lane or draw fouls....

Now the poor guy gets cut by his home-turf Blazers..... (Moment of silence)

It'll be an amazing experience if one of our draft picks ever actually succeeds in Charlotte longterm. Still waiting.....

Onward!!

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Whether we were drafting BPA or need, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist had the best potential of risk vs reward of any player in the draft not named Anthony Davis. I wanted Rich Cho to draft Andre Drummond because I know that big men with his skill sets are in the rare percentile, and I figured that with the right coaching he could reach a Dwight Howard-like ceiling or better, while MKG would make for a great 2nd option a la Scottie Pippen at best. It's easy to look in hindsight to say who we should have picked, but it's way too early to even get a fair assessment on any rookie just yet. I'm happy with the MKG selection. The thing about drafting a top 3 talent is that you have to build your team around them with players that will maximize their aptitude, and as I previously stated that Gerald Henderson's style of play doesn't help MKG. Winning organizations don't linger on maximum development for minimal improvement on things that didn't work in the past. To put this type of scenario into example, the then Seattle SuperSonics didn't hesitate to trade their All-Star SG, Ray Allen, to make the most out of their incumbent draft pick, Kevin Durant in the near future, and look how great that worked out. If the Bobcats are supposed to be following Sam Presti's infamous 'OKC model' of handling basketball operations then they are already about to skip out on one of the major steps that started that process if they don't bench or trade Henderson.

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I posted this in the "Most Important Player This Season ?" thread, but I thought it was more fitting in this thread.

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Originally Posted by fan_of_a_fan

I posted this in the "Most Important Player This Season ?" thread, but I thought it was more fitting in this thread.

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Wait, are you indirectly comparing Henderson to Ray Allen?

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Originally Posted by BrotherDave

Wait, are you indirectly comparing Henderson to Ray Allen?

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Hell to the no. Not even close. I was just making an example. Ray Allen was the best player on the Sonics the same way how Gerald Henderson is hypothetically the best player on the Bobcats. Before you try to jump to the conclusion that I'm comparing MKG to KD, I'm just making an example. KD was a top 3 pick of the Sonics the same way how MKG was a top 3 pick for the Bobcats. The example is figuratively speaking on how sometimes you have to cut your losses in order to win in the long run.

I just hope that Dunlap gives him the minutes to be effective !

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Originally Posted by SJackson1

I just hope that Dunlap gives him the minutes to be effective !

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SJackson1, we should start a Gerald fan club....

I only got to see one summer league game, and half a preseason game that was actually on tv. Besides his intangibles, the thing that stood out to me was how much of a natural ball handler he seems. The Gerald Wallace comparisons might actually be underselling MKG, as he has way better ball handling and passing abilities than what Crash ever exhibited, even after his vast improvement over the years.

And as bad as MKG's jumpshot is, he has this incredible knack (as seen from my very small sample size) of getting the ball into the basket when he's near the goal. Just like outside shooting can be an innate skill, so can having a natural touch around the basket to flip the ball in the hole at a high rate, instead of just chucking it up there.

Maybe he's more like a Crash/Iguodala hybrid, with the ball handling and passing ability of Iggy, but the heart, intensity, rebounding and driving ability of Crash. If he does ever get that shot up to an adequate level, then those early career Pippen comparisons may not actually be that far off.

Here's to hoping at least...