Re: Kedrick

[Ryan W <ubiquitous_am_i@xxxxxxxxx>]

--- Tammo29@xxxxxxx wrote:
> >>>Kedrick, for all his passiveness so
> far, at least doesn't NEGATIVELY affect the game). 
> <<<
> 
> I would have to disagree with that.  I think any
> time a player isn't making 
> his mark on the game in some way, be it shooting,
> rebounding, defending, 
> whatever, he is negatively affecting the game.  You
> can't just sleep walk through 
> the game without it affecting your teammates. 
> Someone has to pick up the slack.
> There was one time last game where the ball was
> worked around to a wide open 
> Kedrick and he absolutely froze.  He ended up
> throwing the ball to Pierce who 
> was about 2 feet beyond the three point line with
> one-second on the shot 
> clock.  That's not good.  And it's nothing new.  I
> remember complaining about the 
> same thing his rookie year.

You may be splitting hairs, Tammo.  In the play you
cite, Kedrick was not absolutely open and, at any
other time, taking the shot he was presented with
would have been forced shot.  It's true that he
misread the shot clock situation, but, again, that
stems from too-much-of-a-fear-of-failure.  Now, fear
of failure is helpful (and some players, like Walter,
should be instilled with more of it), but I believe
the C's preach it too much for their rookies.  Marcus
is going through the same thing...they're constantly
harping on him to take care of the ball and to not
turn it over, which in turn just creates hestitancy
where none existed beforehand.  I believe one of the
posters already mentioned it, but I'll mention it
again.  Marcus COULD have blown by Davis or Armstong
at will if he wanted to...and I believe the only
reason that he hasn't unleashed it yet is because of
the preaching of the coaching staff.  You need to
balance your aggression with your caution.  And you
also need to modify your coaching to the strengths of
your players.  Jason Kidd throws a hell of a lot of
risky passes that result in a high number of
turnovers, yet his risktaking has been cultured to the
point that it results in many easy baskets.  Would you
want him to cool it and play it safe?  Same with
Marcus (though his passing is not at the same level as
Kidd's is); he needs to be let off the leash and learn
to play his game at this level (and that only comes
thru playing time and mistakes).  As for Kedrick (I
seemingly got off on a tangent), the same can be said.
 I find it hard to believe that his passiveness is not
in some part related to the coaching staff's
over-bearance on keeping turnovers to a minimum.  And
while that goal is honorable, it is a self-imposed
reduction of aggressiveness and that's always a bad
thing, especially when it, in turns, affects other
parts of one's game.

As for your, if he's not positively affecting the
game, he negatively affecting the game:  Is he
throwing bad passes?  Is he neglecting some aspect of
the team defense?  Is he forcing shots?  Basically,
he's been pretty careful with the ball, has played it
mostly close to the vest and has deferred most
shotting opportunities to other players (and has got
the assist in those instances as well).  His
passiveness only manifests itself in shooting
opportunities and those opportunites are often
translated to other players (who happily shoot it).  I
don't see how deferring one's shot, in a limited
amount of instances, can be seen as negatively
affecting the game...and so I refute the "if you're
positively affecting the game, you're negatively
affecting the game" theory.
> 
> >>One other thing:  Some have wondered out loud why
> Kedrick isn't getting that many rebounds.  Well, he
> plays the other teams' best wing player, thus
> keeping
> him on the perimeter more often than not. 
> Furthermore, he usually is running the break instead
> of coming back to garner the rebound.  Lastly, on
> offense, he's often protecting against the other
> teams' fast break and is unable to get any offensive
> rebounds.  <<
> 
> I don't know.  These sound like excuses to me. 
> Pierce has all the same 
> responsibilities yet he had 10 rebounds the last
> game to Kedricks 3.  Is Eddie 
> Jones any more of a perimeter player than Dwayne
> Wade?  Is Posey any more of a 
> perimeter player than Miller?  Paul spent a
> significant amount of time guarding 
> both Wesley and Davis last game because the Hornets
> went small a lot.
>   You could point to playing time, but that doesn't
> really explain it either. 
>  Pierce is averaging 39 minutes 8.3 rebounds. 
> Kedrick is averaging 23 
> minutes, 2.0 rebounds.
> To me it looks like Kedricks main problems in
> rebounding are twofold.  He 
> doesn't anticipate very well (this has been Battie's
> biggest problem as well), 
> and he doesn't fight for position. If the ball comes
> right to where he happens 
> to be, he's just fine.  Unfortunately that doesn't
> happen very often in the 
> pro's. 
>  I think these both stem from his being able to just
> out "athlete" players 
> all of his life.  He's finding he can't do that now
> and he's not adjusting well 
> so far.
> These are fundamental things that can be learned if
> a player wants to take 
> the time to learn them and has the discipline to use
> them.
> 
> 
> TAM

Well, Tam, I guess I haven't been paying attention to
how Paul gets his rebounds, so I really can't refute
your comparison/arguement.  However, I have been
watching Kedrick and he's rarely in the paint when the
shot is going up.  And you don't get too many rebounds
unless you're in the paint.  Possibly Paul has been
asked to come back and help on the defensive boards,
but regardless, Key's been on the front of the break
on almost every possession in which he has been on the
court.  

Ryan

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