Your current thoughts on MKG

[Veteran_Picksetter]

Keeping in mind the kid is the youngest player in the league, having just turned 19 like a lot of current NCAA freshmen....

If Dunlap is comfortable giving MKG brief minutes at the 4-spot at such a young age, is MKG possibly a future legit combo forward?

6'7", 7'0 wingspan, 8'8" standing reach, 230+ pounds last summer at age 18. His length/weight are on the low end for power forward range. But it's not inconceivable he could grow an inch and fill out more by age 25. We might be looking at a very unique player longterm.

The shooting form is still awful. As long as he insists on that little wrist-twist before his release, he's not going to fulfill his potential as a wing scorer, in my humble opinion. But hey, Shaun Marion has made a living in the league with that thing he calls a jump shot......

The kid's combination of length, speed, and character should keep him in the league for 12 years. But I want a borderline all-star from a number 2 pick. It's way too early to tell about that, but fun to speculate......

Has anyone seen enough of the preseason to form some MKG opinions? Thanks.

[ncstamey]

I was at both pre-season games at the arena and the open practice... I've commented quite a bit on those 2 games so I'll post a few things I noticed that I didn't say before.

1. at both games during the shoot-around and at the open practice I noticed him shooting the ball almost flat footed with a pretty normal release (no 'hitch') which is likely part of the process in fixing it. Dunlap mentioned addition by subtraction. Figuring out what he doesn't need in the shot, focus on what he does right and then improve from there. I would say he was about a 50-65% shooter with this shooting form.

2. he is first and foremost a slasher from what I've seen so far. He looks to take the ball to the rim when he wants to score 85% of the time. This may have something to do with the coaching (hold of on the jumpshots till we figure that thing out, sort of deal) but he drives hard into the lane and initiates contact. I would expect to see him at the free throw line quite a bit this season.

3.handles... Dunlap mentioned that he be open to have MKG bring the ball up the court on some possessions and it's clear why. he controls the ball really well.

4. a lot of talks about his 'intangibles' before the draft, which are very apparent on the floor. The thing that impressed me the most in the 2 games he played is his defensive awareness. With all this trap defense and what not there are many times where players are left open and he is really good about covering a lot of the floor... unlike most of the other players wearing a CATS uniform. sidenote- that looks to be the real issue with that style of play for us is leaving guys wide open at the 3pt line or under the basket.

these are some things I noticed... mind you he is a long way off from being an all-star here but he is easily in the top 2 or 3 when it comes to best player on our team... at 19. That's a start.

[fan_of_a_fan]

My current thoughts on MKG is that we are not currently taking advantage of one of his best assets, which is spreading the floor and allowing him to slash off the dribble to create a scoring opportunity for himself or a teammate. MKG cannot coexist successfully with Henderson as his counterpart on the wing because defenses just clog the lane when there is a lack of legit perimeter shooters beyond the arc. Other than that, MKG hasn't received enough consistent minutes to really stuff the stat sheet. Dunlap has been on occasion throwing him in for brief 2 minute stretches only to replace him with Carroll or Higgins for no apparent reason.

[SJackson1]

one of his many strengths is his motor and fitness, we should give him at least 30 minutes a game in the regular season. he will get 7/8 boards a game and he has shown great defensive ability.

[Veteran_Picksetter]

My current thoughts on MKG is that we are not currently taking advantage of one of his best assets, which is spreading the floor and allowing him to slash off the dribble to create a scoring opportunity for himself or a teammate. MKG cannot coexist successfully with Henderson as his counterpart on the wing because defenses just clog the lane when there is a lack of legit perimeter shooters beyond the arc. Other than that, MKG hasn't received enough consistent minutes to really stuff the stat sheet. Dunlap has been on occasion throwing him in for brief 2 minute stretches only to replace him with Carroll or Higgins for no apparent reason.

I think MKG can coexist with Henderson as long as Mullens and Kemba are hitting their outside shots.

One thing I noticed at the Wizards game: Henderson was comfortably going down on the block to post up guys, by design. Gerald is an average-sized 2, but he has terrific length and is entering his physical prime. If you post G-Hen, and have Mully and Kemba on the outside, maybe you can have the slashing MKG in that mix as well. Hopefully. Obviously that crew will have to run in order score a lot.

[fan_of_a_fan]

I think MKG can coexist with Henderson as long as Mullens and Kemba are hitting their outside shots.

One thing I noticed at the Wizards game: Henderson was comfortably going down on the block to post up guys, by design. Gerald is an average-sized 2, but he has terrific length and is entering his physical prime. If you post G-Hen, and have Mully and Kemba on the outside, maybe you can have the slashing MKG in that mix as well. Hopefully. Obviously that crew will have to run in order score a lot.

Henderson going to the post to imitate his idol, Kobe Bryant, will only work in two instances: if he can score efficiently enough to force a double team and if Dunlap was running the Triangle Offense. I don't see neither of those things happening, so I don't see Henderson predominantly being used in the post as a successful option. I have faithfully watched the Bobcats for the past four seasons via NBA League Pass and the only constant I have seen in this team's downfall offensively is the decision to try to make Henderson a "go-to guy" the past season & a half, especially the horrendously slow starts to the 1st & 3rd quarters.

I'm sorry, but now that I've got that rant out of the way, we don't want to rely on Kemba and Mullens being 3-point threats. That has all of the makings for this disastrous offense to continue. Reasons are because Mullens is just learning to take his shooting range to that distance this offseason due to Dunlap's insistence and is a career 24% at doing so while Kemba is already struggling with his FG% to the point where you don't want to depend on him taking the least efficient shot on the floor on most of his attempts.

I want to see the team start the season with Kemba/Gordon/MKG/Mullens/Haywood as the starters, and I promise you will see an increase in MKG's overall play. This team need as much offensive firepower on the court as possible and my aforementioned lineup will do so sans probably Haywood. The lineup will put two slashers with playmaking ability in Kemba & MKG on the floor with two deep threats in Gordon & Mullens to complement each other offensively. I like the idea of Sessions and Henderson off the bench as game managers instead of dictators of pace to start off games and halves. All of this said, we must spread the floor for MKG to be most successful.

[Veteran_Picksetter]

Henderson going to the post to imitate his idol, Kobe Bryant, will only work in two instances: if he can score efficiently enough to force a double team and if Dunlap was running the Triangle Offense. I don't see neither of those things happening, so I don't see Henderson predominantly being used in the post as a successful option. I have faithfully watched the Bobcats for the past four seasons via NBA League Pass and the only constant I have seen in this team's downfall offensively is the decision to try to make Henderson a "go-to guy" the past season & a half, especially the horrendously slow starts to the 1st & 3rd quarters.

I'm sorry, but now that I've got that rant out of the way, we don't want to rely on Kemba and Mullens being 3-point threats. That has all of the makings for this disastrous offense to continue. Reasons are because Mullens is just learning to take his shooting range to that distance this offseason due to Dunlap's insistence and is a career 24% at doing so while Kemba is already struggling with his FG% to the point where you don't want to depend on him taking the least efficient shot on the floor on most of his attempts.

I want to see the team start the season with Kemba/Gordon/MKG/Mullens/Haywood as the starters, and I promise you will see an increase in MKG's overall play. This team need as much offensive firepower on the court as possible and my aforementioned lineup will do so sans probably Haywood. The lineup will put two slashers with playmaking ability in Kemba & MKG on the floor with two deep threats in Gordon & Mullens to complement each other offensively. I like the idea of Sessions and Henderson off the bench as game managers instead of dictators of pace to start off games and halves. All of this said, we must spread the floor for MKG to be most successful.

Walker/Gordon/MKG/Mullens/Haywood works for me. Small backcourt, but then you make up for it a bit with a big frontline.

I'm more optimistic about Henderson than most. He took a while to develop at Duke, improving every year, and maybe the same thing is happening in the NBA, after limited playing time his first two seasons. He looked really good in that Wizard game, and Dunlap annointed him captain due to his offseason work ethic. I'm hoping that work ethic translates to a more complete offensive skill set. Fingers crossed that he is a better player this year.

I see a 3-point shooting big like Mullens as more like 1.5 outside shooting threats, because he draws a big defender out of the lane, hopefully opening things up for our slasher-style wings.

I guess it comes down to whether or not we want to win games now(with Gordon getting 32 minutes a night), or try to patiently improve the younger Henderson, even though he doesn't complement MKG/Walker as well.

[kitch0202]

My worry, currently at least, with MKG is that we don't really have the pieces around him to complement his offensive skill-set. As fan-of-a-fan said:

MKG cannot coexist successfully with Henderson as his counterpart on the wing because defences just clog the lane when there is a lack of legit perimeter shooters beyond the arc.

Ideally your SG would have good range on his shot in order to offset MKG's lack there of. I appreciate that's not news to anyone here but it's much like the situation with Biz really, in that Biz's limited skill-set restricts who you can pair him with at the 4/5. MKG needs to develop his shot and Biz needs to develop a post game (and ability to catch the damn ball) to prevent them from becoming defensive specialists. I know they're both young and have time on their side, so I'm talking about a 2-3 year development period (which obviously fits into out 'plan'). But the point about their deficiencies limiting their relevant wing/big pairings is, I believe, a short-term problem for the coach.

[Veteran_Picksetter]

I was at both pre-season games at the arena and the open practice... I've commented quite a bit on those 2 games so I'll post a few things I noticed that I didn't say before.

1. at both games during the shoot-around and at the open practice I noticed him shooting the ball almost flat footed with a pretty normal release (no 'hitch') which is likely part of the process in fixing it. Dunlap mentioned addition by subtraction. Figuring out what he doesn't need in the shot, focus on what he does right and then improve from there. I would say he was about a 50-65% shooter with this shooting form.

2. he is first and foremost a slasher from what I've seen so far. He looks to take the ball to the rim when he wants to score 85% of the time. This may have something to do with the coaching (hold of on the jumpshots till we figure that thing out, sort of deal) but he drives hard into the lane and initiates contact. I would expect to see him at the free throw line quite a bit this season.

3.handles... Dunlap mentioned that he be open to have MKG bring the ball up the court on some possessions and it's clear why. he controls the ball really well.

4. a lot of talks about his 'intangibles' before the draft, which are very apparent on the floor. The thing that impressed me the most in the 2 games he played is his defensive awareness. With all this trap defense and what not there are many times where players are left open and he is really good about covering a lot of the floor... unlike most of the other players wearing a CATS uniform. sidenote- that looks to be the real issue with that style of play for us is leaving guys wide open at the 3pt line or under the basket.

these are some things I noticed... mind you he is a long way off from being an all-star here but he is easily in the top 2 or 3 when it comes to best player on our team... at 19. That's a start.

Awesome post!! That game against the Wizards was fun, wasn't it?? Did you hit the Panther game as well that day??

I was at the open practice as well. While there, my friend pointed out the weird "wrist-twist" motion he has right before the release in his shooting form. I didn't even notice it before. Dunno. It still looks strange to me. Maybe he has two forms going right now? One for now and one for the longterm??

[SJackson1]

Ive also been impressed with his offensive rebounding and hustle play in the pre-season, he plays 110% every minute he plays and thats who we need wearing our uniform. I think he will get to the free throw line quite a lot aswell this season, he his very quick so he will draw a few fouls when attacking the basket.