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Walker Kessler Should No Longer Play Until KO is Traded

This was from Andy Larsen's triple team column after the win, for some insight as to why Walker isnt getting as many minutes as some here think:

So what’s keeping Kessler from permanent starter status? I think he only needs to evolve his game just a little bit. Olynyk is just better offensively, even though I think the gulf is wider between Kessler’s defense and Olynyk’s defense, and the Jazz are winning games just on the back of their offense, so it makes some sense to stay with the status quo.

I asked both Walker and Hardy what was one thing Kessler could do to make that jump into being a consistent starter. Hardy said that the biggest thing is that Kessler is a poor screener right now, drawing all sorts of offensive fouls while not doing a whole lot to free up his man. He’s working on it every day in practice, though.

Kessler, meanwhile, said that he wanted to become a more switchable player defensively. I agree with that, but think that matters most in the playoffs — you can win a lot of regular season games by just protecting the rim like Kessler does.
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Honestly at this point would any of you trade Kessler for Rudy straight up? This kid is going to be really really good. If he were starting he would be right there in the ROY race.
 
sip said:
Honestly at this point would any of you trade Kessler for Rudy straight up? This kid is going to be really really good. If he were starting he would be right there in the ROY race.
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I pondered this earlier this morning. It is an interesting discussion when you take into account age and contracts.
 
sip said:
Honestly at this point would any of you trade Kessler for Rudy straight up? This kid is going to be really really good. If he were starting he would be right there in the ROY race.
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I wouldn't, because I dont think our best championship window is within the next 2 years. I think its more like 3-5 years from now. If it was now, then of course I would.

I think its a gimmie if you think about it that way.
 
HermanG said:
I wouldn't, because I dont think our best championship window is within the next 2 years. I think its more like 3-5 years from now. If it was now, then of course I would.

I think its a gimmie if you think about it that way.
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If the window was just this year I would go with Rudy but I'm not so sure about next year. I have a feeling Walkers offensive game is going to progress rather quickly and he is already a beast defensively.
 
HermanG said:
I wouldn't, because I dont think our best championship window is within the next 2 years. I think its more like 3-5 years from now. If it was now, then of course I would.

I think its a gimmie if you think about it that way.
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In this imaginary scenario where Rudy's value has truly dropped this low and you pretend the salaries don't need to match, then you just trade for Rudy, rehab is value, and trade him for another 4 first round picks.

I absolutely love Kessler, but people are going a little crazy right now.
 
sip said:
If the window was just this year I would go with Rudy but I'm not so sure about next year. I have a feeling Walkers offensive game is going to progress rather quickly and he is already a beast defensively.
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OK, just to make sure I have this straight, you are predicting that Walker Kessler will be more important to winning games than Rudy Gobert by next year?
 
SoberasHotRod said:
In this imaginary scenario where Rudy's value has truly dropped this low and you pretend the salaries don't need to match, then you just trade for Rudy, rehab is value, and trade him for another 4 first round picks.

I absolutely love Kessler, but people are going a little crazy right now.
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I was about to post this exact same thing, but realized it goes against the point of the exercise.
 
HermanG said:
While I dont think KO is the answer between Lauri and Kessler, I do like the idea that if Lauri develops his defense and aggressiveness while Kessler develops his scoring and physicality, we might end up having two solid 7" bigs who can defend, block, average double figures in boards and score around or even well above the 20 point mark.

Thats a damn good looking prospect in the first year of a rebuild. And they are not clogging up our cap space in a while, even though Lauri might get a pretty nice bag if he keeps this up.
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The Kessler Lauri pairing is what I think needs to happen sooner rather than later. It's kinda my issue with the Vando/KO thing... like as starters they have some limitations and kinda make up for deficiencies, but its almost like you play Vando and so you need a big that plays like a shooting wing. I'd almost rather use KO/Vando off the bench and roll with Kessler and add in a SF... Beasley is small when you consider our other smallish guard/wings. Not sure Simone is good enough guarding the perimeter but with Lauri and Kessler blocking off the rim it all may end up being a net positive.

Maybe you just start KO with Kessler and Lauri for now. Getting that big wing/guard that can defend has been a long time issue (Royce fell off defensively and ideally you have someone better/more rounded than him). Even if Walker is starting I think he is a 25-30 minute a night guy and not an every night 36 minutes type of dude. At least for now.
 
SoberasHotRod said:
In this imaginary scenario where Rudy's value has truly dropped this low and you pretend the salaries don't need to match, then you just trade for Rudy, rehab is value, and trade him for another 4 first round picks.

I absolutely love Kessler, but people are going a little crazy right now.
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No one else would offer that much I'm afraid. I think that deal was pretty unique and so much different than the packages discussed at the time with the Hawks or Bulls.

I wouldn't trade them straight up for each other... for us it doesn't make much sense. The difference in salaries and team control over the long term is too valuable for a team in our position. I also see the backend of the Rudy deal being rough. Many other teams would see it differently, but for us Walker makes more sense.
 
Handlogten's Heros said:
The Kessler Lauri pairing is what I think needs to happen sooner rather than later. It's kinda my issue with the Vando/KO thing... like as starters they have some limitations and kinda make up for deficiencies, but its almost like you play Vando and so you need a big that plays like a shooting wing. I'd almost rather use KO/Vando off the bench and roll with Kessler and add in a SF... Beasley is small when you consider our other smallish guard/wings. Not sure Simone is good enough guarding the perimeter but with Lauri and Kessler blocking off the rim it all may end up being a net positive.

Maybe you just start KO with Kessler and Lauri for now. Getting that big wing/guard that can defend has been a long time issue (Royce fell off defensively and ideally you have someone better/more rounded than him). Even if Walker is starting I think he is a 25-30 minute a night guy and not an every night 36 minutes type of dude. At least for now.
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I like the way you think. Im still worried about triple Ivory towers. Lauri would have to defend much faster 6"9 wings that usually belong to Vando and KO would be outmatched in speed as well, since Kessler would take the biggest body.

Maybe zone would work better with that setup, but its more difficult to execute effectively and requires practice together, and our lack of closeout speed might still become an issue.
 
Handlogten's Heros said:
No one else would offer that much I'm afraid. I think that deal was pretty unique and so much different than the packages discussed at the time with the Hawks or Bulls.

I wouldn't trade them straight up for each other... for us it doesn't make much sense. The difference in salaries and team control over the long term is too valuable for a team in our position. I also see the backend of the Rudy deal being rough. Many other teams would see it differently, but for us Walker makes more sense.
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Right, we're not trading Kessler and the Wolves aren't trading Rudy. This was an imaginary scenario where Rudy had lost all his value in less than 2 months. I would bet pretty hard that value could be rehabbed pretty easy (whatever his true value should have been).

In other words, Rudy is still an all time great and didn't suddenly become worthless. Also, as good as Kessler has been if you can swap him for whatever Rudy's true value is, you do it.
 
SoberasHotRod said:
Right, we're not trading Kessler and the Wolves aren't trading Rudy. This was an imaginary scenario where Rudy had lost all his value in less than 2 months. I would bet pretty hard that value could be rehabbed pretty easy (whatever his true value should have been).

In other words, Rudy is still an all time great and didn't suddenly become worthless. Also, as good as Kessler has been if you can swap him for whatever Rudy's true value is, you do it.
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Rudy wasn’t worth what was traded for him in the first place. His value depreciated as soon as the deal was struck.
 
SoberasHotRod said:
OK, just to make sure I have this straight, you are predicting that Walker Kessler will be more important to winning games than Rudy Gobert by next year?
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I think by next year there is a chance they could be viewed pretty close. Kessler's impact this year is impressive by any metric as a rookie and next year as a starter I could see him putting up 14pts, 11rbs and 3blks a game with elite defense.
 
SoberasHotRod said:
Right, we're not trading Kessler and the Wolves aren't trading Rudy. This was an imaginary scenario where Rudy had lost all his value in less than 2 months. I would bet pretty hard that value could be rehabbed pretty easy (whatever his true value should have been).

In other words, Rudy is still an all time great and didn't suddenly become worthless. Also, as good as Kessler has been if you can swap him for whatever Rudy's true value is, you do it.
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He hasn't lost all his value, but I wouldn't expect him to get 50% of what we got right now. Expiring semi-useful players and a couple first round picks.

The way it works with rookies is if they show promise they often increase in value rapidly. So would Kessler get two firsts on the open market?

I don't think their value would be much different and can't ignore the fact that you could sign a max player or get several solid high value players with the difference in salary.

This is a silly exercise though cuz the thought you take on 30M plus in salary in the imaginary deal without some other cut somewhere is tough to leave out of the thinking.
 
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