[Game] Kings @ Minnesota Timberwolves, 3/1/2024, 5:00p PT/8:00p ET

[iowamcnabb]

Keegan doesn't shut down everyone, but I think he has been playing defense at an all-NBA level most nights this season. I just am not aware of any defenders that guard 1-5 and shutdown the best offensive player every single night. I recall Keegan getting the better of Booker in one of the matchups, but when you're guarding the best offensive players in the NBA, they are bound to get the better of you some nights for sure. Murray has been able to stay in front of quick players many games this season.

Side note: I also think Keon is an excellent defender and love seeing him and Keegan out there together. Add in Fox and that is a nasty perimeter defense that can virtually switch anything.

Also, SGA was brought up earlier as an example and no one is allowed to play defense on SGA. Every night the best defender from every team is on him and it’s impossible with the way he is officiated this year.

Yeh the best offensive players are still going to get 25 even if prime Klaw is on them. Playing great defense in today’s game means winning in the margins, getting a handful of stops in a row, contesting shots, tiring guys out. The different between giving up 118 points a game and 110 is a handful of stops over 48 minutes.

 

[Rain man]

When you need a young shooting guard or wing with length, you really shouldn't draft a third point guard....unless he's a potential all star type talent or there is nobody that fits your need that is anywhere close to your draft slot. This wasn't the case and was a perfect example of when reaching down the draft projections would have been a great move. Heck, even Kispert would have been a much better fit, but Moody or Trey Murphy would have been ideal

Again, I am not disagreeing with you...

 

[Rain man]

Rookies just don’t impact a teams finish that highly ….. especially rookies on the second half of the draft. You point is somewhat valid but you are way overstating the impact rookies have on a team. ..

for example
OG played 20 min per game and averaged 5.5 points.

Allen played 20 min per game and averaged 8 points.

But literally everything is impacted. It isn't how much OG or Allen would have played. It is the fact that we wouldn't have drafted Justin Jackson. We wouldn't have drafted Giles. Toronto would have drafted someone else. Cleveland would have drafted someone else. Other teams would have drafted other players and made other decisions based on those draft picks. Then other teams would have made other personnel decisions. We never trade for Barnes (which totally changes Dallas' future). And even if OG only played 20 minutes per game, the fact is that someone else entirely would have played those 20 minutes in Toronto, completely altering their future. They win games and lose games that they didn't win and lose. And so on and so on.

If you are a movie fan, it is like Back to the Future II. You can't just go back in time and change one fact and then expect everything else to play out exactly the same. That one change causes a tidal wave of knock on causes, effects, and results that would make the new reality totally unknowable.

 

[Kingster]

I want to make clear, I love Keegan’s game. I think he could end up as the best stretch 4 in the league. He can score at 3 levels. He can stay in front of most 3-4’s on defense. He, to me, is the 2nd least tradable player on the team.

I love him too. As I've said many times, he's the key to the Kings' future.

 

[sactowndog]

But literally everything is impacted. It isn't how much OG or Allen would have played. It is the fact that we wouldn't have drafted Justin Jackson. We wouldn't have drafted Giles. Toronto would have drafted someone else. Cleveland would have drafted someone else. Other teams would have drafted other players and made other decisions based on those draft picks. Then other teams would have made other personnel decisions. We never trade for Barnes (which totally changes Dallas' future). And even if OG only played 20 minutes per game, the fact is that someone else entirely would have played those 20 minutes in Toronto, completely altering their future. They win games and lose games that they didn't win and lose. And so on and so on.

If you are a movie fan, it is like Back to the Future II. You can't just go back in time and change one fact and then expect everything else to play out exactly the same. That one change causes a tidal wave of knock on causes, effects, and results that would make the new reality totally unknowable.

I get your point. You seem to be ignoring mine that most rookies impact is like a fart in the wind. Especially rookies in the 2nd half of a draft. You ascribe some gigantic impact the next year that simply would not exist. 3 years out sure. We are not drafting Keegan but that first year the impact is not hugely significant.