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In what sense? He was just as "good" in the SL last season (MVP, right?), but it means absolutely nothing at the NBA level. He couldn't even really break consistently in the rotation, and clearly wasn't ready for a playoffs role.
Yes he absolutely did, he came out there playing like he was the best player in the SL and he absolutely looked exactly that. He only played 2 Vegas SL games for the Spurs (IIRC, there was no Utah SL then and there was no SL at all his first season due to the lockout) and he completely dominated those games, to the point the Spurs pulled him, even though it was his first SL ever. Last time I was actually excited about a SL. So I'm comparing to the 2 SL games Kyle played in Vegas this time around against that, and he nowhere near stacks up. Not even close. Especially on the at ude department. Night and day, and Kyle actually has much more experience against that kind of talent. Then again, Kawhi, flaws and all, is a way more talented player than Kyle, so it's not exactly a fair comparison. But the difference in at udes was what I was aiming at, and it's just black and white.
I took the Vegas games, because that's really the main SL event and that's what Kawhi played too. Again, big grain of salt due to small sample size and also not really an apples to apples comparison because they played against different talent, but he didn't dominate any category. But what's more, he didn't stood out from that talent level, which is my main concern, tbh...
I don't know where you get this idea that Manu "dominates the ball", and I'm not even being sarcastic here. The 2nd unit has been run by committee pretty much since Manu got older 4-5 years ago. It's not me saying it either, everybody here says the same thing. I guess they're all CoMer. Is he heavily involved in execution with that unit, and that's reflected in his usage? You bet. Will he continue to be? There's zero indication that he won't be, mostly because there's been no news about having superlative talent there. Some argue we've taken a step back. That unit run plays, that's all they do. Boris got his touches in the post, West in the pick and roll/pop, Patty in the mid-range or the occasional open 3. When Tiago was around, it was the P&R. When Beli was around, on cuts. There's no secret how that unit runs. I can't even remember the last time Pop called a play for Manu that was not that back-cut under the rim (which they actually run with the starters). The whole foundation with that unit has been for years basically to run flex, unless you have Kawhi or LMA out there. Will Pop call plays for Kyle now? Well, he did used to call plays for Bobo, so I suspect he will.
And Kyle didn't get "touches" and eventually minutes, because he couldn't beat Bobo for his spot, period. And he didn't because he wasn't substantially better to warrant that, unfortunately. Bobo is not there now, so he'll likely have an opportunity now to earn those touches and that spot. That's all there is to it, and I hope he does well, and I certainly hope he does much better than last season's Bobo.
He might've improved, but how does he stacks up against the league? Without looking at numbers, I would hazard he's on the lower half in the league as far as passing goes. I hope that's something he worked on during the summer, but then again, there's a lot of things I was hoping he worked on over the summers and never materialized.
Not even that much of a need to get creative. But Boban was let go. Chinook came up with ideas for a few established but maybe risky guys, but eventually reality dawned on us that Boban was gone, Diaw was gone and we had to make do. No "Gordon" type, not any kind of legit scoring guard who was in his prime would in his right mind come here to play behind Manu. It's like signing Conley to come here and divvy up time with Tony. It wasn't going to happen in any scenario.
