Let's see the list of current second year players who have been consistently good every night?
There are a few guys who have good second years. Some guys believe or not are good from the get go. Bigs do take longer to develop usually.
Looking at our roster, Crowder, Smart and Jerebko play hard every night. Their production can be uneven but you know they will try hard and play D. Bass you know what he is going to give you and he is pretty consistent. Zeller for the most part is fairly consistent. ET is all over the place some nights he is lights out and some nights he kills us and probably why he has bounced around a lot. AB is getting to where he is reliable most nights but has an occasional slump. KO is a confidence player in that some nights he is good and some nights he is not depending on whether his shot is falling. Phil is a nice little PG off the bench who shows that he can be ready despite not playing all season. Young is all over the place but he is what 19 and he will likely get a pass for a year or two but he inability to make progress on defense needs to be addressed in the off season.
Speaking of 19, KO is 23 going on 24 this year on April 19th. He is not the age of your typical NBA two year player taken in the top twenty. Young will have 4-5 experience under his belt by the time he is KO's age. KO has about 10-12 years left in him.
ha, ha....sounds like a plan. pass final judgement early to avoid the crowd.
KO and Sully have a lot or up and downs because they depend on their ability to match up because they lack athletic ability. They both struggle against length and athletic ability. You can pretty much tell what your going to get in a player after an NBA season. Both these guys are skilled and slow. They might improve their shooting and saavy but their athletic ability is finite. I think KO has a better work ethic and Sully's conditioning bears this out. I think they have a place in the league. I just think what we see is what we will get with them.
I doubt you have ever been around scouts, scouted or the like or been scouted. They can make up their mind pretty quickly. This let's wait and hope they blossom has not place in professional sports played by men. Guys have to show progress at certain ages or they get replaced. It happens all the time. You can bet Ainge notices KO vanishing some nights. You can bet he would trade him if he thought it would make the team better. Some of these guys are simply playing to build their value and see if we want to keep them or deal them.
What you don't realize is that people are consistently jockeying for position in the pros. Free Agents to be, are trying to increase their value, guys on your team are trying to play and take your spot, etc. No one is going to take KO hold his hand and hope he gets better. He is going to have to step up and deliver or down the road he will be replaced or benched it is that simple. It is his job too.
I thought Kelly played well last night. I hope he can maintain it but I am not optimistic given his history. We certainly need everyone to step up for the playoff fight as we have several games that will be hard down the stretch. We need all the help we can get down the stretch and good Kelly.
7-footers take longer to mature than smaller players, so KO in maturity is probably about where Smart will be next year at 21/22--still a ways to go. But scouts and GMs thrive in the league if they can recognize the high-potential young players who will realize a good share of their potential--but haven't quite managed to do so yet. That's exactly where KO is. The trick is for the C's not to undervalue him while another team takes advantage of Danny making that mistake.
And, I'd argue that while KO needs some strengthening of body and mind, as well as development of some skill and toughness down low, he always plays hard. What you want, rightly, is for him to always play aggressively. He just had a great night with his 18 points in 16 minutes of play, but he may have had a better game just before, when he cranked out the boards and assists even though his shot wasn't falling.
He may not get it all together, but then again he very well may. And even while he's not near his ceiling, he has had as positive +/- effect on his team as any Celtic for his two years in the league.
