Great game for KO

[hwangjini_1]

Just figured that I post this, but congrats to KO for getting his first 30 point game! That's something Giannis has yet to have! 

and just for the record, tonight antetokounmpo has 6 points, 8 rebounds, and no assists.

[oldtype]

People should stop feeling the need to compare Giannis and Kelly.

It's probably true that odds are Giannis will have a better career at this point, but by all indications Kelly is still a good player and a fine pickup at #13.

Just because Giannis was available at the time doesn't make Kelly a bad pickup. Giannis was a high-risk, high-return play which has just begun to look like it might be pay off eventually.

Kelly was a medium-risk, medium-return play that looks like it might be paying off as well. It's just that the payoff is a bit smaller, but that's because it was lower risk to begin with.

They are both fine picks.

[truth4lyfe]

Kelly was a first team All American in college, and the sixers are a glorified college team. Of course he should dominate them. The problem is that he isn't athletic enough to consistently score, and defend, against real NBA talent, and a 30 pt outing against the sixers does nothing to dispel that notion.

[LooseCannon]

Kelly was a first team All American in college, and the sixers are a glorified college team. Of course he should dominate them. The problem is that he isn't athletic enough to consistently score, and defend, against real NBA talent, and a 30 pt outing against the sixers does nothing to dispel that notion.

Jared Sullinger was a two-time first-team All-American in college.  Does scoring 5 points on 2-10 shooting against a "glorified college team" mean that he sucks?

[truth4lyfe]

Kelly was a first team All American in college, and the sixers are a glorified college team. Of course he should dominate them. The problem is that he isn't athletic enough to consistently score, and defend, against real NBA talent, and a 30 pt outing against the sixers does nothing to dispel that notion.

Jared Sullinger was a two-time first-team All-American in college.  Does scoring 5 points on 2-10 shooting against a "glorified college team" mean that he sucks?

No, it means that he had a bad game. Obviously, Olynyk played great tonight, but he has consistently dominated scrubs throughout his career. Im not getting overly excited until I see him regularly perform on both ends of the court against high-end talent.

[rondohondo]

KO definitely has the better offensive potential , Sully is s more consistent player and rebounder. I think Sully could be a 18/9 player if he lost about 15 lbs . He is too slow and doesn't have any lift.  I would prefer KO's offensive potential if we have to chose between the two, but he has to start picking up the defense ( he looked good tonight).

[Mikedmx6]

Let's see how Kelly plays next game, if he plays as aggressive as he did today then he's turned the corner. Yes it was against the 6ers but the fact that he played up to his potential would and should give every green teamer hope. That one possession where he dribbled up court himself to pop a three and very next possession gets a steal comes up court to shoot wide open trey to miss it and get it passed right back to him for him to still shoot one up again shows how far along he has came.  Just hope he can keep it up because he's a big part of this rebuild in many ways.

[sofutomygaha]

I was happy to see Olynyk take full advantage.

The 76ers looked next-level bad.

[mgent]

I'm going to temper my excitement with the fact it was the sixers and they have no conceivable way of defending anyone with Kelly's skillset

"They have no conceivable way of defending Kelly Olynyk" is a phrase we are going to be hearing a lot in the coming years.

You can't stop the Klynyk!!  You can only hope to contain him.

[clover]

I'm going to temper my excitement with the fact it was the sixers and they have no conceivable way of defending anyone with Kelly's skillset

"They have no conceivable way of defending Kelly Olynyk" is a phrase we are going to be hearing a lot in the coming years.

You can't stop the Klynyk!!  You can only hope to contain him.

Yep, he's got to learn to stay more consistently aggressive this year. Then his next big progression will come when he has to learn to deal with the double team.

[clover]

KO definitely has the better offensive potential , Sully is s more consistent player and rebounder. I think Sully could be a 18/9 player if he lost about 15 lbs . He is too slow and doesn't have any lift.  I would prefer KO's offensive potential if we have to chose between the two, but he has to start picking up the defense ( he looked good tonight).

KO's still learning and making mistakes on D down low, and of course he has some physical limitations there; but he already makes a lot of good defensive plays when he's active there, too. E.g., Basketball Reference has him tied with Rondo as first on D among the C's rotation players. Put KO at the 4 and I think he has fewer physical limitations on D than Sully ultimately has.

[mgent]

People should stop feeling the need to compare Giannis and Kelly.

It's probably true that odds are Giannis will have a better career at this point, but by all indications Kelly is still a good player and a fine pickup at #13.

Just because Giannis was available at the time doesn't make Kelly a bad pickup. Giannis was a high-risk, high-return play which has just begun to look like it might be pay off eventually.

Kelly was a medium-risk, medium-return play that looks like it might be paying off as well. It's just that the payoff is a bit smaller, but that's because it was lower risk to begin with.

They are both fine picks.

I think people have it flat-out backwards.  Antetokounmpo looks more like the low risk guy to me.  I think he's most likely to get a little better and then stay at that level.  Of course he could turn into LeBron, but the actual chances of that are horrible.  Most likely he's not capable of reaching anything higher than a fringe all star.

KO on the other hand is probably less likely to ever see an all star game, but if he ever did realize his potential he could be better than that, Dirk-level.  That's why I'm thinking KO might be the higher risk/reward guy.

Of course, the chances of either player becoming a fringe all-star are way out there.  I'm not saying Antetokounmpo is close.

[rollie mass]

during off season can he work on lateral speed,can he increase his vertical.He came back in much better shape this season.Why can't he jump ,why does he have slow lateral movement and agility.Is he stuck like this.

[clover]

People should stop feeling the need to compare Giannis and Kelly.

It's probably true that odds are Giannis will have a better career at this point, but by all indications Kelly is still a good player and a fine pickup at #13.

Just because Giannis was available at the time doesn't make Kelly a bad pickup. Giannis was a high-risk, high-return play which has just begun to look like it might be pay off eventually.

Kelly was a medium-risk, medium-return play that looks like it might be paying off as well. It's just that the payoff is a bit smaller, but that's because it was lower risk to begin with.

They are both fine picks.

I think people have it flat-out backwards.  Antetokounmpo looks more like the low risk guy to me.  I think he's most likely to get a little better and then stay at that level.  Of course he could turn into LeBron, but the actual chances of that are horrible.  Most likely he's not capable of reaching anything higher than a fringe all star.

KO on the other hand is probably less likely to ever see an all star game, but if he ever did realize his potential he could be better than that, Dirk-level.  That's why I'm thinking KO might be the higher risk/reward guy.

Of course, the chances of either player becoming a fringe all-star are way out there.  I'm not saying Antetokounmpo is close.

I expect both KO and GA will play in multiple AS games. But I think the OP was referring to how the risks looked at the time of the draft--since that's what is relevant. KO had a much greater body of work against NBA-headed competition at that point.

[clover]

Kelly was a first team All American in college, and the sixers are a glorified college team. Of course he should dominate them. The problem is that he isn't athletic enough to consistently score, and defend, against real NBA talent, and a 30 pt outing against the sixers does nothing to dispel that notion.

Jared Sullinger was a two-time first-team All-American in college.  Does scoring 5 points on 2-10 shooting against a "glorified college team" mean that he sucks?

No, it means that he had a bad game. Obviously, Olynyk played great tonight, but he has consistently dominated scrubs throughout his career. Im not getting overly excited until I see him regularly perform on both ends of the court against high-end talent.

But what is that notion based on to start with? Yeah, right now he lacks strength for battling down low at the 5, but that's probably not his best position and he should get stronger with age anyway. He's actually pretty quick up and down the floor, and gets out to the 3 on D far better than, say, Sully does. Not that many big men can guard KO out to the 3 themselves, and KO is shooting not only over 40% from the 3, but over 50% overall--including a high percentage finishing at the basket. He's a smart player who is a very willing help defender.