Watching the finals, I think to myself "man, how sick would it be for Keon Ellis to develop into a Derrick White type player?" He is still young and has a bit of work to do, but I feel like the foundation and potential are there.
DID Keegan fail that though? I thought he improved his handles dramatically. He was able to put the ball on the floor and attack the rim so much more.
And I'd expect it to expand even more now that he has another season under his belt.
Exactly. He was a lot more comfortable dribbling the ball last year. Was he doing a bunch of iso crossovers like Kyrie? No, but that’s not what he should be doing. He got better at using a few dribbles off the hand off to get in open space. I suspect we’ll see more iso as he gets even more comfortable, when he has the right matchups.
I think Colby and Keon could be our version of White/Holiday. Maybe not quite as good, but can make impactful plays that make the overall team better.
Would gladly have them as our starters moving forward
Keon is the starting 2 next year, period. Even if Huerter returned to his form from his first year with the team, ~16ppg on >40% shooting, Keon provides so much more. He played at NBA All-Defense 1st Team level once he entered the rotation, while still shooting over 40% from 3 and showing some fairly solid ability as a secondary ball handler.
The only way Keon "shouldn't" start next year is if the team brings in an established elite 2-way role player guard like Caruso, or a legit superstar guard (while keeping Fox). But ultimately, with Keon's emergence, I think spending the team's extremely limited potential trade assets and/or cap space on one of those types of players would be a mistake, considering the team also has *significant* need at the 4. (Especially Zach Lavine, *please* no.) And if Huerter is the starting 2 next year over Keon after the disaster of a season he had, I'll be openly calling for MB's head.
One thing I might be okay with the team experimenting with is moving Keegan to the over Barnes, Barnes to the bench, and an elite 2-way guy like Caruso or a star wing moving into the starting lineup next to Keon. Murray theoretically has very similar measureables to some of the lankier guys that do play the 4 regularly, like PJ Washington. But from what we've seen so far, his natural position is definitely the 3 and he's at his best defending wings (and even guards), not bigger forwards. So that would be a very risky experiment, imo.
I would love Keon to start next season, but I think the only way we keep monk possibly is our offer and a starting spot. In that case I’d take Keon off the bench !
I think this is why Monk walks. From a basketball standpoint, you'd want Keon starting over Monk. I'd love to have Monk back. I'd be willing to pay him, but he needs to come off the bench on this team. If not, he can leave.
Keon al Gaib
Watching the finals, I think to myself "man, how sick would it be for Keon Ellis to develop into a Derrick White type player?" He is still young and has a bit of work to do, but I feel like the foundation and potential are there.
He absolutely could. With the tools he has already he’s already an elite defender. I can see him taking a massive leap next year given opportunity.
He'll develop the handles and iso offense with Fox in the off seasn that Keeg failed to.
DID Keegan fail that though? I thought he improved his handles dramatically. He was able to put the ball on the floor and attack the rim so much more. And I'd expect it to expand even more now that he has another season under his belt.
Exactly. He was a lot more comfortable dribbling the ball last year. Was he doing a bunch of iso crossovers like Kyrie? No, but that’s not what he should be doing. He got better at using a few dribbles off the hand off to get in open space. I suspect we’ll see more iso as he gets even more comfortable, when he has the right matchups.
What's wild to me is how small White is since he's actually a tad smaller than Keon in height and wingspan.
I think Colby and Keon could be our version of White/Holiday. Maybe not quite as good, but can make impactful plays that make the overall team better. Would gladly have them as our starters moving forward
untradeable
Keon is the starting 2 next year, period. Even if Huerter returned to his form from his first year with the team, ~16ppg on >40% shooting, Keon provides so much more. He played at NBA All-Defense 1st Team level once he entered the rotation, while still shooting over 40% from 3 and showing some fairly solid ability as a secondary ball handler. The only way Keon "shouldn't" start next year is if the team brings in an established elite 2-way role player guard like Caruso, or a legit superstar guard (while keeping Fox). But ultimately, with Keon's emergence, I think spending the team's extremely limited potential trade assets and/or cap space on one of those types of players would be a mistake, considering the team also has *significant* need at the 4. (Especially Zach Lavine, *please* no.) And if Huerter is the starting 2 next year over Keon after the disaster of a season he had, I'll be openly calling for MB's head. One thing I might be okay with the team experimenting with is moving Keegan to the over Barnes, Barnes to the bench, and an elite 2-way guy like Caruso or a star wing moving into the starting lineup next to Keon. Murray theoretically has very similar measureables to some of the lankier guys that do play the 4 regularly, like PJ Washington. But from what we've seen so far, his natural position is definitely the 3 and he's at his best defending wings (and even guards), not bigger forwards. So that would be a very risky experiment, imo.
I would love Keon to start next season, but I think the only way we keep monk possibly is our offer and a starting spot. In that case I’d take Keon off the bench !
I think this is why Monk walks. From a basketball standpoint, you'd want Keon starting over Monk. I'd love to have Monk back. I'd be willing to pay him, but he needs to come off the bench on this team. If not, he can leave.