...or cut their minutes drastically when he's back.
With both Rose and Jennings, this is how the season played out.
Jennings played well for the first 20 games passing and doing all the things people expect from a good PG. So much so that folks on this forum, including me, thought...hey he might be the answer at starting PG, not Rose.
For the next 20 games, Rose has outplayed Jennings, though that is not necessarily a good thing...because its THE WAY HE HAS OUTPLAYED him. Its more of a "I'm doing me" type of play as opposed to playing like a real PG like Jennings was playing for the first 1/4th of the season.
Now that we know that even in their contract years, they cannot manage that level of consistency as a starting PG in the NBA, why should we sign either one of them to a long term deal?
I am not sure what happened to Jennings this season, but I honestly thought he was going to turn out to be Phil's best signing the way he shot out of the gate.
Now coming to maximizing KP's development...
Until he gains more strength and fills out a la Dirk, you will not be able to use him consistently in post up situations. More starting PFs and Cs (than not)in the league will consistently be able to prevent a post up move from him.
Even when he has a guard on him, he is unable to post them up because he's still developing the back to the basket game.
Sounds like he needs more space to operate, drive, kick, etc himself, which is difficult in a halfcourt set for him. You can say that he doesn't need to do that in a halfcourt set because of his sweet jumper, but is it really that sweet. This season he has been pretty inconsistent from 3 point land.
Adding to what holfresh said in another post, when Melo has the ball and is looking to pass, the only place where he can pass to an open KP is at the 3 point line, typically behind a screener or on a PNR.
In a half court set, KP simply isn't fast enough to get to the rim without someone trying to take an offensive foul on him. To me, until he gets stronger, his development and confidence will go up in a fast tempo offense before the defense gets set.
He can catch and finish in a single motion, crossover, shoot over, drive and kick, several options because the floor is more open for him.
He definitely needs to up his stamina running up and down the court, but he's a young guy...that will come easily compared to strength development.
What he needs is a PG who is fast and loves to pass without TOs. Rose and Jennings typically have quite a few TOs when they look to pass on a fast tempo offense. How many times have we seen Rose dribble off his foot now? How many times have we seen Jennings throw to an opposing player or to no one in particular? How about the jumping up in the air?
A point forward like Giannis or Durant is perfect for KP...they can bring the ball up quickly and get it to KP to do his thing before the defense gets set. Our point forward is much slower unfortunately, but at least in the half court set he is quite capable of making the right pass.
Given that plus the NTC, we need a PG who can run and make the right passes on the break in order for KP to develop and gain more confidence. If you look at his interviews from last season vs this season, you can see this kid is losing a bit of joy. And then losing 9 out of 10 games stretch cant help with that either.
Neither Rose nor Jennings is capable of helping KP, and that's why they both need to be gone.
