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Walker Kessler Should No Longer Play Until KO is Traded

I think Kessler is the starting center going forward.

I hope so. I think it kind of depends on what we do before the deadline...if KO and Vando are both still on the roster past the deadline then I think Hardy will continue to bring Kessler off the bench once KO is healthy, unfortunately.
 
Kesslers gonna be an offensive weapon in the future. He can shoot jump shots. He can use his left or right hand, can spin. Big man moves Rudy never had.
 
Other than his shot blocking, Kessler has a really random superpower for a guy that huge: he's extremely crafty with those reverse layups right under the basket. That's not normally something you'd want your center to rely on, but he's such a natural with them that he puts them up before the defender can react. Going forward, he needs to start turning more of those into dunks though.

IMO Kessler has soft hands - he can catch the ball in traffic and finish with finesse - but they're not especially quick at this point, and he needs to work on his grip strength too. A lot of his dunks under the hoop are foiled because he's so slow getting up with the ball, giving the defenders a chance to get their hands on it. I don't think he'll ever become explosive, so he needs to learn to take up more space in the low post - tighter grip on the ball, elbows out, initiate contact before putting it up.
 
Other than his shot blocking, Kessler has a really random superpower for a guy that huge: he's extremely crafty with those reverse layups right under the basket. That's not normally something you'd want your center to rely on, but he's such a natural with them that he puts them up before the defender can react. Going forward, he needs to start turning more of those into dunks though.

IMO Kessler has soft hands - he can catch the ball in traffic and finish with finesse - but they're not especially quick at this point, and he needs to work on his grip strength too. A lot of his dunks under the hoop are foiled because he's so slow getting up with the ball, giving the defenders a chance to get their hands on it. I don't think he'll ever become explosive, so he needs to learn to take up more space in the low post - tighter grip on the ball, elbows out, initiate contact before putting it up.
True. This strength will come with age, then he will stuff it and those times he is getting dunked on, but still getting a piece of the ball will be good blocks. He has so many things going for him this early in his career. Will be great to watch.
 
Teams will eventually stop going at him as much. He still doesn't have a ton of respect in terms of guys avoiding him, but it will get there.
 
Other than his shot blocking, Kessler has a really random superpower for a guy that huge: he's extremely crafty with those reverse layups right under the basket. That's not normally something you'd want your center to rely on, but he's such a natural with them that he puts them up before the defender can react. Going forward, he needs to start turning more of those into dunks though.

IMO Kessler has soft hands - he can catch the ball in traffic and finish with finesse - but they're not especially quick at this point, and he needs to work on his grip strength too. A lot of his dunks under the hoop are foiled because he's so slow getting up with the ball, giving the defenders a chance to get their hands on it. I don't think he'll ever become explosive, so he needs to learn to take up more space in the low post - tighter grip on the ball, elbows out, initiate contact before putting it up.
Kessler has smaller hands (according to nba draft measurements) than virtually any other big taken over the past several years. That's not the end-all-be-all for hand grip, but it's an innate disadvantage that he'll have to try to overcome.
 
Kessler has smaller hands (according to nba draft measurements) than virtually any other big taken over the past several years. That's not the end-all-be-all for hand grip, but it's an innate disadvantage that he'll have to try to overcome.
I dont think it makes all that much of a difference. I mean, maybe if you had crazy small hands or something. Or maybe you have huge hands and you can make some highlights one handed catches, but overall your ability to catch the ball is going to be 95% based on your hand eye coordination and your ability to hold onto the ball will be dictated by some intersection of strength and coordination components

I'm sure Gobert has huge hands, probably some of the biggest hands in the NBA, and his hands arent considered great.
 
Other than his shot blocking, Kessler has a really random superpower for a guy that huge: he's extremely crafty with those reverse layups right under the basket. That's not normally something you'd want your center to rely on, but he's such a natural with them that he puts them up before the defender can react. Going forward, he needs to start turning more of those into dunks though.

IMO Kessler has soft hands - he can catch the ball in traffic and finish with finesse - but they're not especially quick at this point, and he needs to work on his grip strength too. A lot of his dunks under the hoop are foiled because he's so slow getting up with the ball, giving the defenders a chance to get their hands on it. I don't think he'll ever become explosive, so he needs to learn to take up more space in the low post - tighter grip on the ball, elbows out, initiate contact before putting it up.

Honestly, they need to go find whatever Enes Freedom is doing nowadays and have Kessler work with him with his under the basket stuff.
 
Other than his shot blocking, Kessler has a really random superpower for a guy that huge: he's extremely crafty with those reverse layups right under the basket. That's not normally something you'd want your center to rely on, but he's such a natural with them that he puts them up before the defender can react. Going forward, he needs to start turning more of those into dunks though.

IMO Kessler has soft hands - he can catch the ball in traffic and finish with finesse - but they're not especially quick at this point, and he needs to work on his grip strength too. A lot of his dunks under the hoop are foiled because he's so slow getting up with the ball, giving the defenders a chance to get their hands on it. I don't think he'll ever become explosive, so he needs to learn to take up more space in the low post - tighter grip on the ball, elbows out, initiate contact before putting it up.
Kessler gathers his feet extremely well. I feel like that is almost impossible to teach.
 
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