You can understand why they are willing to live with some painful turnover games from Yax. They clearly are trying to develop Yaxel into the Draymond offensive role (initiate the offense, pass, or just go to the rim).
Those tweets in the story conveniently forget that when JK got to the league, he could dribble twice in traffic, and then he had to pick the ball up.
Yax can dribble in traffic (not great, but better than many big guys), read a defense, and pass. JK has gotten better at all those things, but with 4 years of NBA experience and coaching under his belt, he's still not at Yax's level.
Plus, what are the options, if not Yax? It's still very much TBD to see if Gui or BW can scale their game up to a number 2 option behind Steph. Podz is who he is ... great, but not a number 1 guy. Beyond that, the offensive cupboard is pretty bare right now.
As far as "that’s hella turnovers for a rookie on the same team as Stephen Curry and Draymond Green," I entirely agree: How can Steph and Draymond tolerate a rookie making more TOs than they do? Turning the ball over has been one of their privileges. 😊
I am much happier with Yaxel on this team than JK for multiple reasons. Yaxel is bigger and stronger, he is eager to please the coaches and OGs, and he played a full college career, including a championship in an excellent program. I'm more optimistic about his defensive potential than some DNHQ posters. (But then I built the fancy bar and grill on Wiseman Island. Talk about worst DNHQ takes!) I think he will be a significantly better, more complete player.
That said, Yax is 6 days older than JK. JK was a teenager and much less mature and experienced when he was here. If he turns it around this year and in the future, I think we can explain at least some of his shortcomings here as immaturity and, as you posit TRT, being a bad fit here at that time.
Kuminga’s athletic upside is undeniable, but he always felt like a talent developing alongside the team rather than within the team. He didn't really have a static runway to lockdown a role. I think his isolation style of play limited his usage with others on the team.
Yaxel can processes motion basketball on the fly. He can more naturally alters his role each possession. I think he has a slight edge over JK because he can be paird with more lineups.
Yaxel and Kuminga took very different roads to the NBA. Yaxel competed at an elite level for quite a while whereas after several seasons, Kuminga is an impressive athlete who’s still learning the nuances of the game.
Screening is a major difference in favor of Yax too.
Dubs never ran the offense through JK.
You can understand why they are willing to live with some painful turnover games from Yax. They clearly are trying to develop Yaxel into the Draymond offensive role (initiate the offense, pass, or just go to the rim).
Those tweets in the story conveniently forget that when JK got to the league, he could dribble twice in traffic, and then he had to pick the ball up.
Yax can dribble in traffic (not great, but better than many big guys), read a defense, and pass. JK has gotten better at all those things, but with 4 years of NBA experience and coaching under his belt, he's still not at Yax's level.
Plus, what are the options, if not Yax? It's still very much TBD to see if Gui or BW can scale their game up to a number 2 option behind Steph. Podz is who he is ... great, but not a number 1 guy. Beyond that, the offensive cupboard is pretty bare right now.
As far as "that’s hella turnovers for a rookie on the same team as Stephen Curry and Draymond Green," I entirely agree: How can Steph and Draymond tolerate a rookie making more TOs than they do? Turning the ball over has been one of their privileges. 😊
I am much happier with Yaxel on this team than JK for multiple reasons. Yaxel is bigger and stronger, he is eager to please the coaches and OGs, and he played a full college career, including a championship in an excellent program. I'm more optimistic about his defensive potential than some DNHQ posters. (But then I built the fancy bar and grill on Wiseman Island. Talk about worst DNHQ takes!) I think he will be a significantly better, more complete player.
That said, Yax is 6 days older than JK. JK was a teenager and much less mature and experienced when he was here. If he turns it around this year and in the future, I think we can explain at least some of his shortcomings here as immaturity and, as you posit TRT, being a bad fit here at that time.
Kuminga’s athletic upside is undeniable, but he always felt like a talent developing alongside the team rather than within the team. He didn't really have a static runway to lockdown a role. I think his isolation style of play limited his usage with others on the team.
Yaxel can processes motion basketball on the fly. He can more naturally alters his role each possession. I think he has a slight edge over JK because he can be paird with more lineups.
Yaxel and Kuminga took very different roads to the NBA. Yaxel competed at an elite level for quite a while whereas after several seasons, Kuminga is an impressive athlete who’s still learning the nuances of the game.