King Keegan

2

206Fan

All-Star
#211
#211
I think it's clear that Keegan has his training wheels on during his rookie year. He's not being asked to do much for the team except make his open 3s, play defense, and rebound. However, I think next year and onward, we're going to need him to fill bigger shoes for the team. He showed that he could be a 3-level scorer at Iowa, but can he do that in the NBA? He hasn't really had an opportunity to show that yet. In that same press conference from above, Fox even joked that Keegan gets mad when the guys say that he doesn't have a "bag" which basically means he can't break defenders down and score 1 on 1 due to the lack of "bag of tricks" he has.

I really wonder how much of these 2 and 5pt games are on Keegan, and how many of them are on Coach Brown? I've said this before, but he's got to find other ways to contribute when his 3pt shots aren't falling down. He's done much better by grabbing boards. But now that kinda shifts onto offense. But then again, how much of it is Mike Brown holding Keegan back and wanting him not to play outside of the offense? Keegan isn't the passing threat like Kevin where he can play out of PnR with Sabonis. If you give him a screen, he's 100% trying to lay the ball in.

I never even thought Keegan would be as good of a shooter as he is now, so I think I'll be the first to say that it would be premature for anyone to say he can't improve his all-around scoring. I think he can, but it's just one of those things where he'll just have to prove it on the floor.
 
2

206Fan

All-Star
#217
#217
coolhandluke said:
https://twitter.com/statuses/1629309882884325378
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This kinda leads me to thinking that Keegan is the one who's holding himself back a bit. He probably thinks that it's the best thing for the team with how successful we've been with him as a catch and shoot guy. But he'll need to burst out his shell and give us more of the Iowa and Summer League Keegan. It would just add another dynamic piece to our already elite offense. But it would help a lot long-term to cement him as a top wing in the league.
 
T

The_Jamal

Hall of Famer
#221
#221
206Fan said:
This kinda leads me to thinking that Keegan is the one who's holding himself back a bit. He probably thinks that it's the best thing for the team with how successful we've been with him as a catch and shoot guy. But he'll need to burst out his shell and give us more of the Iowa and Summer League Keegan. It would just add another dynamic piece to our already elite offense. But it would help a lot long-term to cement him as a top wing in the league.
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Absolutely. He shows flashes of scoring creation moves (OKC game stands out) and he pretty much makes at least one good/great passing play a game now. And even if the scoring numbers aren't there every game, he's finding ways to make stand out plays on the defensive end or on the glass. We don't get to OT without his defense the last 5 minutes of regulation tonight. And still gave us a 7-12 shooting for 15 points on top of it. He's just one of those players that seems to be in the right spots making good impact plays throughout a game. Very rarely does he have "Oh, there's the rookie mistake" type moments.

It's also likely hard to get these guys to play outside their current offensive roles with how much success the Kings have had offensively this year. I mean, we currently have the best offensive rating in NBA history LOL. I think that gets guys to fully buy-in and play within the system that got them there. I'm sure Domas doesn't put up with a lot of nonsense either and keeps guys in line and the machine running smoothly as it's been all year. Keegan very much has proven he's a team first guy and cares about wins; he has no ego as a top 4 pick or any sense of him "deserving" shots because of that draft status.

I'm not worried at all about potential future growth from his offensive game. Just keep giving me flashes while maintaining starter level play as a rookie. This is where every star wing in the last 15 years begins their career; a quality NBA role player that plays both ends and can space the floor.
 
2

206Fan

All-Star
#222
#222
The_Jamal said:
Absolutely. He shows flashes of scoring creation moves (OKC game stands out) and he pretty much makes at least one good/great passing play a game now. And even if the scoring numbers aren't there every game, he's finding ways to make stand out plays on the defensive end or on the glass. We don't get to OT without his defense the last 5 minutes of regulation tonight. And still gave us a 7-12 shooting for 15 points on top of it. He's just one of those players that seems to be in the right spots making good impact plays throughout a game. Very rarely does he have "Oh, there's the rookie mistake" type moments.

It's also likely hard to get these guys to play outside their current offensive roles with how much success the Kings have had offensively this year. I mean, we currently have the best offensive rating in NBA history LOL. I think that gets guys to fully buy-in and play within the system that got them there. I'm sure Domas doesn't put up with a lot of nonsense either and keeps guys in line and the machine running smoothly as it's been all year. Keegan very much has proven he's a team first guy and cares about wins; he has no ego as a top 4 pick or any sense of him "deserving" shots because of that draft status.

I'm not worried at all about potential future growth from his offensive game. Just keep giving me flashes while maintaining starter level play as a rookie. This is where every star wing in the last 15 years begins their career; a quality NBA role player that plays both ends and can space the floor.
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I just found Brown's full segment about Keegan, it definitely answers our questions:

https://twitter.com/statuses/1629311917281120258
 
T

The_Jamal

Hall of Famer
#224
#224
206Fan said:
I just found Brown's full segment about Keegan, it definitely answers our questions:

https://twitter.com/statuses/1629311917281120258
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Hmmm. So I wonder if this is Brown giving Keegan some leash that he's earned because of his play, or if he's been harping on him to do this all season? Because I recall at the beginning of the season, he really harped on the fact that Keegan doesn't get to have typical rookie mistakes because he's going to pull him because the Kings are good. That he doesn't get to play through those same errors the other top 5 guys do. That's a lot different than this clip of him basically telling Keegan he wants more ISO/creation type stuff from him

But with how damn good he's been since December 1 really, this sort of feels like coach taking some of those training wheels off and now putting more on Keegan's plate. "Giving permission" if you will to access more of his on-ball scoring game in addition to his off-ball/C&S shooting.
 
E

ESP47

All-Star
#225
#225
The_Jamal said:
Hmmm. So I wonder if this is Brown giving Keegan some leash that he's earned because of his play, or if he's been harping on him to do this all season? Because I recall at the beginning of the season, he really harped on the fact that Keegan doesn't get to have typical rookie mistakes because he's going to pull him because the Kings are good. That he doesn't get to play through those same errors the other top 5 guys do. That's a lot different than this clip of him basically telling Keegan he wants more ISO/creation type stuff from him

But with how damn good he's been since December 1 really, this sort of feels like coach taking some of those training wheels off and now putting more on Keegan's plate. "Giving permission" if you will to access more of his on-ball scoring game in addition to his off-ball/C&S shooting.
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I think Keegan is smart enough to know that maybe the stuff in his bag isn't dialed in quite well enough to be more efficient at the NBA level than what the Kings are doing through Fox and Sabonis. I mean we're talking about one of the best offensive seasons for a team of all time here so it's natural for a rookie to know that taking the game into his hands randomly probably isn't the most efficient way to play overall.
 
T

The_Jamal

Hall of Famer
#228
#228
ESP47 said:
I think Keegan is smart enough to know that maybe the stuff in his bag isn't dialed in quite well enough to be more efficient at the NBA level than what the Kings are doing through Fox and Sabonis. I mean we're talking about one of the best offensive seasons for a team of all time here so it's natural for a rookie to know that taking the game into his hands randomly probably isn't the most efficient way to play overall.
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Yeah this is my thinking as well. And he obviously wants to play, so it's probably not wise to go start chucking over the 2 all stars on the team.

I do think he's earned a bigger offensive leash though. And the quicker he can develop the on-ball scoring at the NBA level, the better
 
iowamcnabb

iowamcnabb

Hall of Famer
#231
#231
Iowa is having a basketball moment. First Keegan plays in one of the best NBA games ever, next night Kris and the Hawks come back from 10 in under a minute to win and then today College Gameday was in Iowa City for Iowa Indiana women’s showdown and Caitlin Clark hits a dagger at the buzzer to take down #2 Indiana. I nearly blew out my own ear drums screaming in the car

 
Kingster

Kingster

Hall of Famer
#240
#240
The_Jamal said:
Hmmm. So I wonder if this is Brown giving Keegan some leash that he's earned because of his play, or if he's been harping on him to do this all season? Because I recall at the beginning of the season, he really harped on the fact that Keegan doesn't get to have typical rookie mistakes because he's going to pull him because the Kings are good. That he doesn't get to play through those same errors the other top 5 guys do. That's a lot different than this clip of him basically telling Keegan he wants more ISO/creation type stuff from him

But with how damn good he's been since December 1 really, this sort of feels like coach taking some of those training wheels off and now putting more on Keegan's plate. "Giving permission" if you will to access more of his on-ball scoring game in addition to his off-ball/C&S shooting.
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He's not only earned the leash, but Brown now wants him off the leash. At first Brown made sure Keegan was going to play defense like he wanted and have him understand everything he got was earned (unlike other ex-players who will remain nameless). Now Brown wants Keegan to play like a vet, not a rookie, which means at time he wants Keegan to take over games. I don't think the stat that the Kings are 9-0 when Keegan scores 20 or more is an aberration, and probably Brown doesn't either. Good times lie ahead.
 
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