^^ Yeah, Kelly's not built for SF. But if Wes has to miss games, then Kelly is going to have to play some real minutes there. Tough for him defensively.
He's gonna get destroyed by the opposing SFs, hope the big men will help at the rim. Also might see some of JC if Ellington is going to be back up SF.
I thought Kelly played pretty darned well tonight. The kid knows how to play. He's got good fundamentals. Another good pick up by Mitch.
Good eye. He's got very good fundamentals. He makes the right pass, he's in position defensively, he doesn't make stupid mistakes, and he can space the floor. etc...I think he did a decent job last night at the SF position; he was 1-6 from the field 0-3 from 3 with 2 points, 3 assists, 7 rebounds, and was a +10 when he was on the floor. The knock on him last night was missing shots; he's rusty. Those will eventually go down, though.
I've mentioned before he's got some toughness in him too. The pic of him stepping in front of a comically enraged Hibbert 2 nights ago to break up the "fight" was cool.
Dave McMenamin @mcten ยท Jan 4 Ryan Kelly immediately jumped in to intercept Hibbert from clocking Boozer. Nice growth after being called out in the Swaggy/PHX fight You're not the only one that notice...
Why was Kelly called out in the Swaggy/PHX situation? He was the closest person to Nick the whole time, and he didn't back down.
Agreed RandleROFY. I could see he's still shaking off the rust on those shots. He just didn't have the lift from distance, but I know that those kind of shots are his bread and butter and once he gets back into gear I think he'll knock down a good percentage. That's his game. But yeah, he was just playing good basketball. Nice to see. For the most part he was able to even stay in front of a very good athlete at the SF in Batum. I think Batum shot like 3-8.
He didn't protect Nick or get in the way of any of the altercation. He was the closest person to Nick, but Nick was surrounded by Suns and the Lakers were just watching. Ryan talked about it. He said there was a bunch of factors. First he'd never been in a fight. Second he's not really the type to jump into one. Third (and maybe most importantly) he's on a minimum deal and a fine actually hurts his wallet unlike higher paid players. He said he learned a lot though and learned he can intercede without adding to the confrontation while still having his teammate/friend's back.
Seeing Kelly out there last night playing the SF position had me thinking if Randle could it and play a sort of hybrid 3/4 out there; grant it, what we have seen out of Kelly is a very, very small sample size and there are some days he will get abused...however, with Randle, he is quicker laterally, more athletic, has the potential to guard in space, etc...I'm thinking he could depending on the match up of course.
I had been thinking that too before another needle was shoved in the Lakers "doll" ...... and mentioned it several times. Seems like he would be quick enough for some of them and would abuse most SFs from trying to stop him from where he wanted to go down low on offense.
This guy has really been disappointing lately. I know he's playing out of position at SF, but he's not impacting the game much at all. His last three games (which I believe is how many he's started)- ~ 20 minutes per game 3.3 ppg 2 rpg 1 apg 0.3 steals 0.3 blocks 20% FG (2/10) 0% 3PT (0/2) 66.7% FT (6/9) +/- of net -18
He's not a SF. Just like playing Wesley at PF last year was a failure, this is as well. Bad coaches make bad decisions. He did fine as a stretch 4 last season.
We don't need to play Boozer. We are basically letting him ball out on our dime, for him to secure a contract next season with another team. (Contender)
We need to ship Boozer, Hill and Lin off so we can continue the tankathon while developing our young players.
Boozer won't be part of any package because he's on a 1 year deal and teams know what he brings. Same goes for Lin but the problem he has is that it looks like he has regressed from previous seasons
Can't trade a person we picked up via the amnesty process. Which makes the Boozer move even more puzzling.
