Walker Kessler Discussion: Rim Protector And Lob Threat

Grandkids keep me going, I can't compete but at least I can finish...lol.

It is all good, we are all on the same team!!

 

See...this is why I have a problem with advanced analytics in general.

Gobert has been a starter for 10 seasons, and avg 70 games a season, and 30 plus minutes a game. He's a 4 time DPOY, 9 time All star.

Kessler has played 70 games once..he's avg 30 min per once. 1 decent season doesn't make them similar. He's been hurt in every season since his rookie season. 74 games as a rookie. I look at the whole picture, we are banking on the potential and hope the injuries don't continue. Big gamble with 30M and 2 FRP. We shot our load on this gamble. I have concerns... yeah he blocks shots but that doesn't necessarily translate into us having a good defense.

Hell.. I'm sure there are some advanced analytics, that say Austin is closer to Luka than he really is.

 

compare kessler and gobert at similar ages then.

 

Gobert was getting DPOY votes, starting in his 2nd season in the league. He started his run of 1st Team All Defense at 24..DPOY at 25.

We hope Walker levels up like that, but it's not some kind of given.

Maaan...if Kessler gave us Gobert at 25 performance..I would eat all the expressed doubts and concerns, and STFU..Believe that.

 

It is coming Slick!! How do you want that served up??...lol.

 

well, there is still booze, sugar ain't everything!!!

 

We have been talking about Kessler and how many points he will be averaging per game

One of the ways for him to raise that average is to bring up his FT% of 54.5

If not teams will hack him late in games and it will be a big disadvantage for us

He should be shooting 100 or more FTs every day

 

I've found the best way to improve free throws, even more than number of reps, is consequences for not reaching percentage goals. Keeps the mind focused on the task. It needs to be substantial enough to somewhat replicate game pressure. That would be determined per individual and what they dreaded most...lol. Typically this has proven to be a successful approach.

 

No, but I will add it to the list. Good one!
I will make sure they know it came from The Dame of Doom for an extra twist...lol.

 

my problem with ft shooting was that i couldn't replicate game situations in practice. in practice, i shot 90%. in games, i shot 70%. now, these guys play a lot more games, so the habituation part should work in their favor compared to my 30 game hs schedule in which i shot, like 4fts per game. still, though, i think it's hard to replicate the feeling of an in-game ft in practice. which is obviously why guys like karl malone and giannis developed these elongated FT routines. i get it.

so...my suggestion is to develop a 90 second ft routine.

i won't be taking questions at this time.

 

Or take up the Rick Barry approach..lol. I used to do a drill where a teammate had to do extra work if a player missed. The pressure was intense and really helped with the focus. You could see how much it pained them that someone already exhausted had to do more work because they missed. That drill came close to replicating game pressure. Only once in decades did I have a player miss purposely to make a teammate do extra work. Needless to say, it did not go well for him. In the end our team free throw percentage did go up. We won a four team round robin Christmas tourney one year when it came down to tie breakers, the fifth or sixth one was free throw percentage.