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Could Yurt7 Overtake Kessler?

fishonjazz said:
I think 13 games with some of those games him being injured isn't a very good sample size. It's not a tiny sample size either though.
Last year was a 74 game sample size and he looked great though. For whatever it's worth.

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Oh, I thought you meant we didn't have big enough a sample size last season. Yes, I agree with you.
 
Fosto said:
We wouldn't be having this conversation last season. I don't know why Kessler looks underwhelming this season.
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The biggest reason is differences in expectations. I brought this up before the season started, but there was a good chance that Kessler would have a Sophomore slump, as most Rookies who exceed expectations go through this as well. When you dig in to what is going on, the main reason is higher expectations.

I'm not bringing that up to brag, but just to show that this disappointment could have been expected.
 
Fosto said:
We wouldn't be having this conversation last season. I don't know why Kessler looks underwhelming this season.
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The league has figured him out. There are other factors, but that's the big one. It happens to everyone (to an extent), but being super one-dimensional doesn't help.

Walker's usage is up and efficiency is down. That's how it usually goes, but there's definitely some worrying signs. All his advanced defensive metrics have taken a nosedive this season, even though his blocks are actually slightly up. Kessler can and will still get swats right under the rim, but he's been terrible at defending in space. Unfortunately, that's something that will really put a ceiling on him in the modern NBA. You have to be able to close people out, you have to be much better at defending the P&R. A pure rim-protecting center who likes to stay in the hole is a bench player today.

The offensive numbers say that Walker is even more dependent than last season on being spoon-fed easy looks near the rim. That's why it's not exactly great that his 2P% has still dipped considerably (from 72% to 62%). Meanwhile, he's launched a preposterous 11 3pt shots this season and made two. I'm all for Kessler trying to find a serviceable corner 3, but at his current skill level he should just hand the ball straight to the other team instead of shooting it. Would save everyone's time.

There's a time and place for shooting practice, but real NBA games are not it.
 
nope.
 
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