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Walker Kessler Hype & Appreciation Thread

Happy to be able to say that I was one of the original hardcore Kessler truthers.
I remember defending Kessler in game thread after game thread along with MT Steve against the haters.
Nice to see that everyone seems to be where I have always been now.
 
Kessler played against the team with no NBA-level centers. These high stats are totally misleading: at his current level he won't be able to post this line against any team with even an average center. Just for the reference: in his previous game against Jalen Duren Kessler was 14-9-1 - that is much closer to his sustainable production against NBA-level centers.
 
jazznik said:
Kessler played against the team with no NBA-level centers. These high stats are totally misleading: at his current level he won't be able to post this line against any team with even an average center. Just for the reference: in his previous game against Jalen Duren Kessler was 14-9-1 - that is much closer to his sustainable production against NBA-level centers.
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I guess that's why all the other jazz players who played last night had career games as well then.
Maybe just try enjoying something without belittling it.
 
jazznik said:
Kessler played against the team with no NBA-level centers. These high stats are totally misleading: at his current level he won't be able to post this line against any team with even an average center. Just for the reference: in his previous game against Jalen Duren Kessler was 14-9-1 - that is much closer to his sustainable production against NBA-level centers.
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I don't see other centers getting similar stats playing inferior competition, of which, there's plenty in the league. While it's obviously a high variance performance (i.e., in the tail of the distribution), it's something few other centers in the league have approached this year, and it reflects a consistently productive season Kessler's been having across the board. Plus, he's in his third year, with plenty of room for more improvement.

Too many people gave up too soon on Kessler, including the interminable talk of trading Kessler for something equivalent to a bag of chips, as if, once the Jazz do turn the corner, having a defensive anchor and highly efficient scorer was not something that mattered that much. Even if we do get a transformative player in the draft, without a team around him, including that which Kessler brings, we'll just keep losing.
 
jazznik said:
Kessler played against the team with no NBA-level centers. These high stats are totally misleading: at his current level he won't be able to post this line against any team with even an average center. Just for the reference: in his previous game against Jalen Duren Kessler was 14-9-1 - that is much closer to his sustainable production against NBA-level centers.
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Yeah you think the records set by the others were against "the best of the best".

No. Of course you get your best stat games when the opponent offers the least resistance. Lets not be idiots and pretend like Kessler was the first center ever to play such a game.
 
jazznik said:
Kessler played against the team with no NBA-level centers. These high stats are totally misleading: at his current level he won't be able to post this line against any team with even an average center. Just for the reference: in his previous game against Jalen Duren Kessler was 14-9-1 - that is much closer to his sustainable production against NBA-level centers.
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Ok, but over the season he is 5th in rebounds and 2nd in blocks behind an alien, so he's pretty handy regardless.
 
Schrödinger's Gerbil said:
I don't see other centers getting similar stats playing inferior competition, of which, there's plenty in the league. While it's obviously a high variance performance (i.e., in the tail of the distribution), it's something few other centers in the league have approached this year, and it reflects a consistently productive season Kessler's been having across the board. Plus, he's in his third year, with plenty of room for more improvement.
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The Raptors are tanking and refused to to sign any meaningful centers to play in case Poeltl is not available. One of them is on the 800K contract, another - on the 100K. They are happy to be destroed at center since they have no one to develop there. Should we celebrate if Kessler plays against a high school team and posts the 30-30-15 stats? No, because it is completely meaningless: he will not play against such horrible opponents in any meaningful playoff game/regular season game when the Jazz are hopefully competing again.

The context like this is always important. In the previous game the Wizards beat the Jazz and Sarr played probably the best game of his career. Does it mean anything given that the Jazz sat down their 6 best players and Sarr was going against the defensive stalwart Filipowski?

What we should celebrate and be happy about is when Kessler holds his own in a game against AD, Hartenstein, Jokic, Gobert, Wemby or KAT. Even when it is something relatively boring like 12-13-2 and holding the opposing center below his season average.
 
jazznik said:
The Raptors are tanking and refused to to sign any meaningful centers to play in case Poeltl is not available. One of them is on the 800K contract, another - on the 100K. They are happy to be destroed at center since they have no one to develop there. Should we celebrate if Kessler plays against a high school team and posts the 30-30-15 stats? No, because it is completely meaningless: he will not play against such horrible opponents in any meaningful playoff game/regular season game when the Jazz are hopefully competing again.

The context like this is always important. In the previous game the Wizards beat the Jazz and Sarr played probably the best game of his career. Does it mean anything given that the Jazz sat down their 6 best players and Sarr was going against the defensive stalwart Filipowski?

What we should celebrate and be happy about is when Kessler holds his own in a game against AD, Hartenstein, Jokic, Gobert, Wemby or KAT. Even when it is something relatively boring like 12-13-2 and holding the opposing center below his season average.
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Blah blah blah just celebrate when our players play great rather than whatever you did in the post I quoted and didn't read.
 
jazznik said:
Kessler played against the team with no NBA-level centers. These high stats are totally misleading: at his current level he won't be able to post this line against any team with even an average center. Just for the reference: in his previous game against Jalen Duren Kessler was 14-9-1 - that is much closer to his sustainable production against NBA-level centers.
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I bet your fun at parties.
 
slc said:
Every player on this list is a hall of fame player
He is in elite company
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And you know why every player on this list is a hall of fame player? Because they put these stats against quality NBA centers and you have to be a Hall of Famer to post such lines against the legit competition.
For example, Olajuwon did it with 27-28-8 on March 26, 1986 against Indiana and Herb Williams. Herb Williams was a productive starting center for years and his stats for the 1985-86 season were 20-9-2.4.

Mutombo on November 11, 1994 had a line of 19-26-9 when he played against the Lakers (who lost in the second rounds in the playoffs that year) and Vlade Divac.

And so on.

Kessler played against the tanking Hornets and the mighty Orlando Robinson/Colin Castleton. Comparing him with those actual Hall of Famers without the context is honestly pretty insulting to them. I can guarantee that the current Kessler in no way or shape is capable of putting these numbers against the modern equivalent of Herb Williams and Vlade Divac. He simply got incredibly lucky with the opponents on the day when he was feeling it.

​

 
Also, in this era of the turbo-charged shameless tanking many scoring records will be destined to be matched or broken simply because the opposing teams will be doing everything in their power to lose for long, long stretches of time. In the past the teams were not sitting their 6 best players with made-up injuries at the beginning of March, as the Jazz did against the Wizards. The NBA is turning more and more into WWE.
 
Just confirmation of why I have that dude on ignore
 
He’s not wrong though. Kessler had an amazing night and is a really good player, but the context to how he got those stats it’s important too. I don’t think it’s meaningless he had that game, obviously, but it doesn’t show as much as if he did it against good competition. That’s kind of a “no duh” statement tbh.
 
RandyForRubio said:
He’s not wrong though. Kessler had an amazing night and is a really good player, but the context to how he got those stats it’s important too. I don’t think it’s meaningless he had that game, obviously, but it doesn’t show as much as if he did it against good competition. That’s kind of a “no duh” statement tbh.
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Exactly. No one came in here and touted his numbers and added to it "and he played against a hall of famer on a title contender!"
We all know who the opponent was. There is no need to bring it up like we didn't know about it and just looked at a box score. We are big time jazz fans who watch a lot jazz games and understand the context of the performance.
This is a hype and appreciation thread.

I posted in the non jazz NBA thread when Curry made 12 three pointers on his way to 56 points recently. I have no idea who his primary defender was and don't really care. It was impressive.

I also posted recently about jokic insane 30/20/20 triple double. I have no idea if he was going up against a defensive player of the year in that game. It would be impressive regardless.

What Kessler did was amazing regardless of the opponent. I mean toronto plays more teams than just the jazz but I doubt they play against any other opponent this entire season that does what Kessler did. So it's impressive to do something no one else is able to do. Let's see if any of Toronto opponents the rest of the year does what Kessler did while they continue playing tanking lineups each night. I doubt anyone else puts up those numbers.
 
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jazznik said:
The Raptors are tanking and refused to to sign any meaningful centers to play in case Poeltl is not available. One of them is on the 800K contract, another - on the 100K. They are happy to be destroed at center since they have no one to develop there. Should we celebrate if Kessler plays against a high school team and posts the 30-30-15 stats? No, because it is completely meaningless: he will not play against such horrible opponents in any meaningful playoff game/regular season game when the Jazz are hopefully competing again.

The context like this is always important. In the previous game the Wizards beat the Jazz and Sarr played probably the best game of his career. Does it mean anything given that the Jazz sat down their 6 best players and Sarr was going against the defensive stalwart Filipowski?

What we should celebrate and be happy about is when Kessler holds his own in a game against AD, Hartenstein, Jokic, Gobert, Wemby or KAT. Even when it is something relatively boring like 12-13-2 and holding the opposing center below his season average.
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I agree with most of what you say. However, Kessler's performance against Toronto was still extraordinary, regardless. Again, teams face inferior competition all the time, with different teams resting players or with players injured or just because the team is bad. Yet, we still only rarely see such dominant performances from other centers similar to Kessler's. I choose to enjoy it in a season of otherwise little to enjoy, notwithstanding scrooges like yourself :).
 
jazznik said:
And you know why every player on this list is a hall of fame player? Because they put these stats against quality NBA centers and you have to be a Hall of Famer to post such lines against the legit competition.
For example, Olajuwon did it with 27-28-8 on March 26, 1986 against Indiana and Herb Williams. Herb Williams was a productive starting center for years and his stats for the 1985-86 season were 20-9-2.4.

Mutombo on November 11, 1994 had a line of 19-26-9 when he played against the Lakers (who lost in the second rounds in the playoffs that year) and Vlade Divac.

And so on.

Kessler played against the tanking Hornets and the mighty Orlando Robinson/Colin Castleton. Comparing him with those actual Hall of Famers without the context is honestly pretty insulting to them. I can guarantee that the current Kessler in no way or shape is capable of putting these numbers against the modern equivalent of Herb Williams and Vlade Divac. He simply got incredibly lucky with the opponents on the day when he was feeling it.

​

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LOL, you're bound and determined to die on this hill. Props to you.
 
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