KJ played with Dream Team II in 1994. He led Dream Team II in both total assists (31) and assists per game (3.9), while shooting 47.1% (16–34) from the field and 50.0% (16–32) on two-point field goal attempts.
The U.S. head coach, Don Nelson, stated, "I really like having KJ on the court. The thing that stood out is how he sacrificed his scoring to be a distributor of the ball and make his team win. We didn't need his offense on this team. We did need his defense, penetration and assists. He gave us all three.
I was surprised by how unselfish and pass first was on Dream Team II. He was superb pushing the ball in transition and creating opportunities for his teammates and driving into the paint in the halfcourt to create open jump-shots or dunks for cutters in the halfcourt.
I always thought of KJ as a great passer but out of one-on-one situations. Sort of like James Harden. He can rack up a lot of assists but he does it through a lot of dribbling & one-on-one play. I was surprised by how well KJ adapted to a smaller scoring role on Team USA and concentrated on getting everyone else the ball.
He finished with the lowest shot attempts on the team. About half as much as Mark Price which also surprised me. Price did such a great job of enabling ball movement in Cleveland. Not just himself but a passing SG, passing big men. Great all round ball movement. Whereas Phoenix was more KJ-centric. Then Barkley / KJ centric once Barkley joined. Good ball movement elsewhere but not as good as M Price's Cleveland team.
It was nice to see how well KJ adapted to that type of role on Team USA.
Topic: 2023 CS Historic Draft Thread - Results in OP! (Read 149075 times)