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Walker Kessler Hype & Appreciation Thread


Looking at that chart one other thing i noticed besides the fact that Kessler is the GOAT rookie is that there are about 25 rookies who have played more minutes than Ochai this season. And according to the chart he has been better than most of them.
Maybe there will be a thread like this for Ochai by the time the season is over. Probably not but maybe.
 
Great idea for a thread by the way. Its way too late but better late than never.

Im surprised that @MT Steve isn't the one who started this thread.
 
Only one foul last night for kessler too. Wish he would get more minutes on a night when KO is out and Kessler is killing it and only has 1 foul but it was a blowout so i get it. I do feel like with conleys age Kessler should always get more minutes than conley in a game that doesn't have KO available and Kessler isn't in foul trouble. More of a wish for conley to get a bit more rest than anything i guess. Clarkson, Lauri and Conley all played more than Kessler last night with Beasley only playing 1 minute less than Kessler.
Maybe his conditioning isn't quite there yet or we are worried about the rookie wall and going from the amount of college games (30 something? idk) to the amount of nba games. Also, im nitpicking pretty hard with this one lol.
 
Kessler now the 5th in the Kia Rookie ladder listing. With rookies the focus seems to be often in their point production, not their effectiveness. Just taking one all-in-1 indicator EPM (Dunks&Threes) and comparing the first 5 in ROY competiton Kessler's impact to team performance is on a totally different level. Did not look but I am pretty sure RAPTOR, BPM etc will show the same. Even PER which is more offensive oriented is really good for any rookie, 21. beating Banchero (16.7) . Kessler is doing right things in a right way. Especially in defense.

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Man with Kessler and Lauri we’ve got solid defense for years to come. Lauri is sneaky good defensively.
Not just sneaky good.... actual good. His perimeter defense and shot contesting are one thing, but inside 6 feet we got 2 of the top 5 shot influencers (of 70 players with 5+ defended shots per game)

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Not just sneaky good.... actual good. His perimeter defense and shot contesting are one thing, but inside 6 feet we got 2 of the top 5 shot influencers (of 70 players with 5+ defended shots per game)

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That is incredible.

Lauri has never been known as an effective rim protector or interior defender. Never once in his career. On the contrary, really. And now this.

You only hear about his gaudy offense numbers when people talk about him being the frontrunner in the MIP race. But this, IMO, is just as impressive.
 
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That is flat out incredible.

Lauri has never been known as an effective rim protector or interior defender. Never once in his career. On the contrary, really. And now this.

You only hear about his gaudy offense numbers when people talk about him being the frontrunner in the MIP race. But this, IMO, is just as impressive.
He has learned to play physical only this year really. He bulked up during his Chicago days but Hardy is the first coach who has forced him to use that strength on both ends of the court.
 
I can definitely tell teams are respecting WK a lot more now.

That combined with the entire Jazz team just being way more disciplined with transition defense (all those benchings for lazy transition are finally paying off) have helped improve the Jazz D.

Will be interesting to see what happens when KO comes back. I think he should be a starter, but so should WK. Would be interesting to see the White Walkers trio start.
 
I can definitely tell teams are respecting WK a lot more now.

That combined with the entire Jazz team just being way more disciplined with transition defense (all those benchings for lazy transition are finally paying off) have helped improve the Jazz D.

Will be interesting to see what happens when KO comes back. I think he should be a starter, but so should WK. Would be interesting to see the White Walkers trio start.
I can get behind a KO/LM/WK starting front line. Not bad at all imo. 2 spacers, 2 elite rim protectors, 2 elite rebounders, and 1 elite flopper/irritant. What more could you ask for?
 
I can definitely tell teams are respecting WK a lot more now.

That combined with the entire Jazz team just being way more disciplined with transition defense (all those benchings for lazy transition are finally paying off) have helped improve the Jazz D.

Will be interesting to see what happens when KO comes back. I think he should be a starter, but so should WK. Would be interesting to see the White Walkers trio start.
Ya I would be fine with KO taking Beaselys spot in the starting lineup. After all this is the perfect season to experiment. 3 7 footers in the starting lineup is not like anything any other teams are doing but it might work for us. If it doesn't work then no big deal. Draft pick gets better.
Win win
 
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