Walker Kessler Discussion: Rim Protector And Lob Threat

Appreciate the input

 

Thanks for the input

 

Kessler is a really good piece at a really good price. 32.5m is excellent if he continues to perform how he has and develops some more. With Luka and Reaves, he’ll have plenty of opportunities to score easy buckets. 16/12 plus 3 blocks isn’t out of possibility.

Really like this pickup.

But man the overpay hurts, 2 picks, 2 swaps and no salary dumped. Just awful. What should have been the piece to put us over the top, means we can’t build a starting unit good enough around him, Luka and Reaves to compete.

 

I love Kessler being on the team but man, the picks hurt. I believe we have no tradeable picks now until 2032. That’s rough. We definitely overpaid here.

 

The biggest worry I have with Kessler is, does he get played off the floor in the playoffs?

Rudy Gobert does, and Kessler to me is a version of him. If he can add 3pt shooting maybe that helps? But what happens when teams play 5 out on the perimeter. We saw it harmed Wemby’s production and he is the gold standard.

 

My business partner in Utah isn't that high on him. Says he went into a mental funk a few years ago. I haven't watched much of him, admittedly.

Hope he works out. We sold everything for him.

 

Yeah I think he will.
It's usually due to being targeted in mismatches on defense (meaning he needs perimeter defense he doesn't have nor will he I'd guess) and 5-out offense (needs 3pt shooting, which he started to chuck a few last year, was only good from one of the corners).

I'd say it's something we have all year (and upcoming ones) to develop from an individual and team perspective. It shouldn't be impossible to find defense and offense schemes that can protect him.
In any case, Mamu was brought for that I think. He's a stretch 5

 

Yeah I see it the same way.

You know everyone talks about the finishing 5.

Two years ago that was: Reaves, Luka, Lebron, Rui and DFS

- We lacked perimeter defense even though we had 4 strong switchable guys, they just couldn’t stop fast guards or really big centers. Minnesota had both.

Last year it was: Smart, Reaves, Luka, LeBron and we kind of lacked that last closing guy.

- So it kept changing, Rui, Ayton, Hayes, Kennard etc but we were one more wing or switchable center away from slotting a strong closing 5.

That’s why I was calling for Watson initially and then when I realised that wasn’t possible, Claxton. You can’t play Claxton off the floor on defense, he can switch with the best of them. And you have to sell out to stop the Luka + big pnr, and we would have had Kennard, Rui, Reaves, Lebron and Smart in some form to punish them.

Now I just don’t see how we get a x and o’s advantage against anyone in the playoffs. If they get Kessler off the floor. Who are we playing?

Sexton - Reaves - Grimes - Luka - Mamu?

Where is the defense coming from…

 

Yeah agree with you too.
Watson and Claxton fit the switchability that allows you to throw different covers to teams and adapt to any counters. With a traditional 5 as one of the big pieces we'll lack that.

Another thing is that the blueprint to beat the Spurs seems to be having a stretch 5 that can bring Wemby out of the paint. It makes it harder for him to recover and gasses him too.

But yeah our team is extremely thin to have any plan B, C or D. Hell, even plan A seems heavily flawed.

At this point, let's trust the organization and see how it plays out. Maybe it looks good on the floor, there's a lot we don't know and Luka and JJ aren't certainly playing around. JJ has shown he can maximize flawed groups, so let's see. He certainly needs to start trusting young or flawed guys more, so that will be interesting to follow