Keyonte George’s Star Ascension

[Tremendous Upside]

That’s true, but on the other hand he’s our only threat that can create for himself so should be getting the brunt of attention from opposing teams already. A better team around him should make things easier for him.

You're kidding. Lauri has insane gravity, which takes a ton of individual pressure off Keyonte. The #1 game plan priority of every team playing the Jazz is keeping Lauri away from the ball, and if he does get, making him give it up before he gets to his spots. That's how good he is.

Nurk's screen assist ability (or sometimes just the threat of a screen) is another important factor in Keyonte's rise.

Key has become very good at utilizing the space and lanes available to him, but he's not playing alone in a vacuum. He's looked very pedestrian in games where both Lauri and Nurk have been out.

 

[Rubashov]

They forgot to mention "who also tied their left shoe first on Wednesdays" to really make this complete.


Seriously though, he has been on fire. I am happy to see it. It is fun to see a player break out AND lose enough to keep our pick and get a chance at a good lottery player to help fill Key's gaps.




@Rubashov get your mind out of the gutter

Why?

 

[Tanktastic]

"Self-creation" is the second biggest myth on this board.

 

[Ikel]

You're kidding. Lauri has insane gravity, which takes a ton of individual pressure off Keyonte. The #1 game plan priority of every team playing the Jazz is keeping Lauri away from the ball, and if he does get, making him give it up before he gets to his spots. That's how good he is.

Nurk's screen assist ability (or sometimes just the threat of a screen) is another important factor in Keyonte's rise.

Key has become very good at utilizing the space and lanes available to him, but he's not playing alone in a vacuum. He's looked very pedestrian in games where both Lauri and Nurk have been out.

Nba.com actually measures gravity: https://www.nba.com/inside-the-game/player/gravity

 

[KqWIN]

Some of those VORP and BPM numbers for some of the other guys are just crazy. But those are fun comparisons for sure. Now do the same players and their defensive stats comparison!

BPM and Vorp include defense which is why Key rates out so much worse.

 

[KqWIN]

Key performs quite well on offense regardless of who he shares the court with. Offensively he’s just very good and his success doesn’t seem to be tied to any player.

 

[LogGrad98]

Why?

I honestly cannot think of a good reason. Carry on.

 

[HermanG]

Key performs quite well on offense regardless of who he shares the court with. Offensively he’s just very good and his success doesn’t seem to be tied to any player.

I would also like to add that if you add qualifiers to remove "good players" while you also simultaneously replace them with "bad players",... then that switch hurts the performance (at least efficiency) of literally anyone.

 

[rippimpc]

Iirc Keyonte played off ball his entire career til the nba. Can imagine he can play lead guard or move off ball. That was the differentiator between Steph and Lillard IMO.

 

[Rubashov]

I honestly cannot think of a good reason. Carry on.

That's cause you're a thick ****.

 

[KqWIN]

I would also like to add that if you add qualifiers to remove "good players" while you also simultaneously replace them with "bad players",... then that switch hurts the performance (at least efficiency) of literally anyone.

Yeah…idk why we would have to turn “Lauri and Nurk help their teammates” into “Key is reliant on them” even if his performance did dip a little bit….but it hasn’t. There’s some shooting variance when you chop up his minutes into smaller SSS’s off, but he’s actually been remarkably consistent.

As much as I’m a skeptic of his defense, I’m very bullish on his offense. He has taken a major step and at 22 he still has the potential to level up. The takeaway I get from looking at his production with and without teammates is that he can succeed in different roles. He can play in PnR as a heliocentric guy. He can play off the ball next to an extremely ball dominant ball handler. He can play when the offense is run through an offensive hub center. He can play when there’s bad spacing. His versatility isn’t talked enough imo. Even some of the very best guards don’t have the ability or willingness to pull that off.

 

[SoberasHotRod]

Yeah…idk why we would have to turn “Lauri and Nurk help their teammates” into “Key is reliant on them” even if his performance did dip a little bit….but it hasn’t. There’s some shooting variance when you chop up his minutes into smaller SSS’s off, but he’s actually been remarkably consistent.

As much as I’m a skeptic of his defense, I’m very bullish on his offense. He has taken a major step and at 22 he still has the potential to level up. The takeaway I get from looking at his production with and without teammates is that he can succeed a different roles. He can play in PnR as a heliocentric guy. He can play off the ball next to an extremely ball dominant ball handler. He can play when the offense is run through an offensive hub center. He can play when there’s bad spacing. His versatility isn’t talked enough imo. Even some of the very best guards don’t have the ability or willingness to pull that off.

His versatility in playing on or off ball is the biggest reason why he's different and worth more than the other defensively limited guards that are talked about.