My New Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esk45_DUq4g
Subscribe to my newsletter: https://enjoybasketball.beehiiv.com/subscribe
My Twitter: https://twitter.com/KOT4Q
My Other Channels:
Kenny For Real: https://bit.ly/3gzL7m0
KOT4Q: https://bit.ly/2WuhewL
Kenny 13aseball: https://bit.ly/3mzUohZ
TTW: https://bit.ly/3DmiNNL
44 Comments
KCP had been underrated for mad long. Even somehow by LAL as a Klutch client w LBJ. He was the 8th pick in DET (tbf that draft was ridiculous) but ended up in LAL the year b4 LBJ got there. He didn’t pan out as an 8th pick, but basically nobody did, he’s legit the 2nd best player in the T10 of that draft lmao. He took a decent sized 1y deal, then LBJ got there and he took a more reasonable amount. From 17-18 to 20-21 (time he was there w LBJ) he was 38% 3P on 4.7att, 50.5% 2P, 82.3% FT, played 28MPG. Never turned the ball over, (averaged 1stl to 1TOV) and played good DEF. He could guard 1/2s well, and some 3s. Could def switch on to 3s. He also could pass a bit, and was on a great contract. Signed it after winning a chip, 3/39 and the final year wasn’t even gtd. Talking bargain bin contract. A 3&D wing for a 3/39 with only 2 gtd years coming off a ring. And he played well in the playoffs. 38% 3P on 5.7att. Good defense, 1stl to 0.7TOVs. He was only 26 too going in to age 27 season.
That Russ trade still truly truly baffles me. The blueprint around LBJ is a co star, and 3&D guys. If the co star isn’t a PG, then you ideally get a 3&D guard who can handle the ball even if they’re not some amazing passer. Bonus if the 3&D guys can also pass a bit. KCP was like the perfect SG bc he could at least make the easy read, 3&D, championship experience, never missed games, and fantastic deal. I would’ve understood the Buddy trade. Harrell was a bad signing in the first place, don’t have to give up ur pick, not taking on extra $, and it’s just Kuzma going out who had some positional overlap w Bron.
Buddy is a legitimate mega high volume sniper who can shoot off the catch, hand offs, or off the dribble. He’s not some good defender, but ppl underrate his non shooting skills. He’s BIG. Like not tall (6”4 maybe 6”5 at best) but huge. Like 225lbs. Still mad fast, but bc he’s so big you can’t just post him up easily unless you’re enormous. Like he’s not getting posted and bullied in the paint unless it’s a C or huge PF. Rarely misses games, good rebounder for a guard, actually a solid passer lowkey, great FT shooter, and he basically goes to the rim or takes 3s. Take out his rookie yr and he’s over 65% at the rim. 47.5% corner 3. Take out his rookie year, he’s a career 40.3% 3P shooter on 8.3att. That’s 466 games too. So 3,861 3PA. I think that’s a big enough sample size 😂 17/4.6/2.8/1.
Like at least that trade makes sense. Keep KCP, keep Caruso, get Buddy, keep your 1st (maybe use it in another trade, ideally with THT once you could bc again you would have enough guards/wings) they signed AR that off season, use your TMLE on a SF/PF bc you wouldn’t need Nunn w all the guards. Jeff Green would’ve been perfect he signed for like a decent bit less than full TMLE. Honestly prolly would’ve had enough for the full MLE without the Russ trade. Caruso, Avery Bradley, Buddy, Reaves, KCP, MLE, 1st round pick, THT (who you’d later trade at deadline w the 1st) Melo, LBJ, AD, that’s 10 guys. Should’ve kept Wes Matthews just for the defense and he could hit wide open 3s. Use MLE on one good 6”7+ 3&D guy (or two guys like Jeff Green and someone else SF size) then trade THT and the FRP unless FRP is balling for either a solid future 1st, or w/e.
Imagine if this 22-23 LAL team had Schroder, Caruso, Buddy, AR, KCP, Christie, TBJr, Rui, LBJ, Jalen McDaniels, AD, Damian Jones, and then use the TMLE on a non 1/2, and then you have two minimum spots left. Wouldn’t have had to give up a 1st. Could’ve easily still gotten Rui w 2nds. Jalen McDaniels or someone like that would’ve been easy to get at the deadline. Then instead of TMLE on Lonnie you ideally find another 3&D F. Or even a good backup C if there was someone out there a lot better than Damian Jones on the minimum for the TMLE. You’re basically minus Vando, Beasley, Bamba, Lonnie, and DLo. Plus your pick. Plus Caruso, KCP, Buddy. Plus a good backup C. Minus the Russ saga. Prolly a 45-48 win team, a lot cheaper, and you have assets to improve even more next year. You’d maybe have the full MLE, and you could trade your ‘23 1st and like a ‘28 swap along w whoever to make a really legit upgrade somewhere.
I went in to the cap stuff below if anyone wants to nerd out and know how he ended up in LAL when he was a RFA for DET. But So he still had high expectations. By Y3/Y4 he looked like he was gonna be a good role player at least. Was still only 23, still was improving. He had a bad second half to his 4th year and turned down 4/80 before the season (equivalent to like 4/100 in 22-23, like Simons signed for basically the exact same $ based on % of cap) and then 5/80 in RFA when the projected cap was lower than expected. He had 0 offers, literally 0 for anything close to 5/80 or even like 4/64 etc. he was a Klutch client, and once he was free, LAL signed him for 1/18. This isn’t even a rumor anymore, that was to establish a relationship w Klutch to try and get LeBron later. That’s a big reason why they dumped Mozgov too to clear the books for LBJ. I doubt they sign him w/o that, coming off a 26 win season. He shot the 3 well that first year in LAL. But he was clearly a role player, and LBJ went there that off season.
Apparently they offered him 5/80 in RFA, and he had no other big offers. It was honestly a totally reasonable offer, but KCP and Klutch said it wasn’t close.
They offered him 4/80 before the year too. But then the cap was lower than projected, & tbh KCP didn’t ball out. Cap was proj to be 101M, so 4/80 is a lot. Around 18% of the cap Y1 or so w 8% raises. Next year that’d be like giving someone 4/106-107M or so. That’s good starter money. Simons got 4/100 last yr. That’s also roughly the equivalent. Simons was obviously more valuable last year coming off that great chunk of the year when Dame was out. Just more valuable in general.
So when the cap came in at $99M instead of $101M+ (cap proj is usually very rarely lower, way more likely it’s a little higher by like $1M or so, usually the same. So the cap was like 2.5-3% lower than expected, he didn’t progress as much as expected, he started off hot, but then shot 31% 3P after all star break. and the market was drying up fast. Two of the main rumored suitors for him both spent their $ (PHI on JJ, BKN on DLo, taking on Mozgov, and they traded for Allen Crabbe who was making $19M as a 3&D guy) so there was literally 0 offers. They waited a while too and he couldn’t get an offer sheet.
It was the SVG era so of course he did some dumb stuff and ended up just letting him walk for nothing which is ridiculous. There was no offer sheet coming for even 4/64 or w/e. Could’ve at least S&T’d him somewhere for a mediocre 1st in the mid 20s or something. But dude just decided to be impatient, sign mfing Langston Galloway for 3/21, then traded for Avery Bradley.
NIKOLA JOKIĆ IS:
HIM
THE TRUTH
THE ANSWER
THE BIG TICKET
THE BIG FUNDAMENTAL
☆☆☆NOT SINCE WILT!!!!!☆☆☆
SUPERMAN(APPROVED BUY SHAQ😉)
NEO(HE FIGURED OUT THE MATRIX)
THE BEST HUMAN BEING ❤️
THE BIG TIPPER
THE JOKER
BIG HONEY
WCF MVP👊
THE BEST PLAYER IN THE GAME
THE REAL MVP
To be continued….
If CP3 doesn’t get hurt the Suns would’ve beat Denver
Yeah they got the sweep and we're the better team but was it dominant? Their biggest win in the series was 11 points
Kenny I appreciate so much that you love basketball more than pushing narratives and riding the coattails of headlines.
As a Nuggets fan, I’ve been unable to watch any commentary. It’s all been about the lakers and Bron. To see you give props to this Nuggets team in a very honest and analytical way, made me feel validated in my fandom.
I’m buying an Icee ball if they’re in stock still!!
LETS GOOO
Man, defense for Jokić is an optional thing, he is too important to make fouls and get into a brawl with cutters. This is how you save your diamonds from being fouled out.
I believe it was sucsessful as the lakers were like 12th seed after the all star break? I may be wrong but like they werent believed to make the play offs and they made the wcf. Like no one saw it legistically. So i think next season, you give bron more time off. I dont like load mangement but hes played 20 years and is 38 going 39, so lebron playing like 30 minutes a game shouldnt be a thing or even him playing b2b and i think him playing anything more than like 56 games is unreasonable. But with this young roster we have rn there is a bright future (obvisouly if everyone is re-signed) and maybe a full season with this roster we might see a ring next year or atleast a finals appearance.
people act like the Lakers got destroyed. Every game was extremely close. and in another reality, the Lakers could have won this series. I expect Nuggets to win a championship.
To be fair, denver and miami are the underdogs in their respective division.
Why does spoeltra have an advantage ? Cause he won a championship 15 years ago lol
We are witnessing two of the greatest Playoff runs of all time from Jokic AND Butler! Great time to be watching basketball.
Lakers will probably try to get a 3rd star, but imo that would be 100% the wrong move. They should learn from their mistake with Russ and use what they have to improve their center and shooting.
The best basketball I've seen in a minute. The nuggets are special
Yet they give mvp to the third if not forth best player.
jokic still needs 4 more wins relax 😂
AYO… Shotout to Embitch winning the pitty undeserved MVP award thanks to xenophobic Kendrick Perkins.
JAMAL IS HIM
People been on jokic talking bout oh he can win in the playoffs like his team wasn’t injured the past two years
Ken you said the nuggets would be the #1 regular season team but you didn’t think they would make it out.
There will a serious conversation on the matter of Joel and Jokic if the nuggets end up winning the ring. One will that will be dark stain in Joel’s career. A dark stain indeed.
usual Kenny W. best channel and best fans/comment section.
(Warriors 2024 Champs 💍)
Kenny makes YouTube channels the way i make Spotify Playlists.
kenny d realest
Heat winning or nuggets winning would be nice
Don't let the celtics win game 5 at home!
Jokic is one of the best NBA players of all time right now… out of this entire season this year alone, what other player in the NBA has been as consistent as Jokic? There are plenty of elite players and superstars but how many of them can be consistent all the way through the season AND play offs AND make it to the finals? this is a 1 in a century player
i love these videos bc Kenny actually talks ball and knows what he's talking about and in this video he's actually talking about the Nuggets unlike dumbass espn. thank u 🙏🏼
youre the guy who consistently said joel embid was the mvp and you saw problems with the nuggets in nikola jokics defense . so why make a video? views. you are essentially a new channel not even content that is meaningfull
I still don't really get how Jokic did not win MVP this year
with icee is crazy, bro made it
Jokic is crazy. Bro is like cheating the game. He built the perfect archetype for someone who doesn't feel like trying lol
Subscribed after this chill comfortable outlet for sports talk
As a huge nuggets fan, I finally get to see my team in a finals? 🥹 I’m going to game 1 and I’ve never been so happy in my life. Thank you for respecting my team tho 🤝🏽
Keep AR Rui & Lonnie
Flip AD for Embid
Or to ATL(plus Vando) For Collins Okongwu AJ Griffin and Jalen Johnson
If Bron Reties that Frees Up 40mil if Not
Convince him NikeTown in the perfect place to end his career he can pad his stats and Wait for Bronny w No Expectations.. And We get Dame
yo congrats on the Icee collab bruh thats fucking LIT
Celtics in 7
💛🖤
This Celtic video bout to go crazy (For Historical Reference: morning after D White Game 6 tip-in)
I agree wit everything u said but saying MPJ is our 4th best player is disrespectful 😂😂
team looked better with russ and when bron was injured
0:10…let’s talk about this again after last night ☘️
No team in history, yet
good job
Joel cried himself to mvp. Affirmative action at its peak
I typically don’t care to comment on something I disagree on, but Jokic has not by any means held it down defensively. They’re team is so good because of their offense. They have been amazing on that side of the ball and teams can’t keep up with it. LeBron was scoring at the basket when he went there, he just simply didn’t do it enough. The other series yeah he was decent but not “holding it down”. With that being said he is an all world offensive player and is very reminiscent of Dirk with way better passing