I know you know hoops, Chinook. And sometimes we just see things differently. But I will say that I really expected Kyle to hit his stride this year, and play with the confidence and awareness of a guy who has been through two playoff runs with a very good team. I didn't expect him to get significant playoff minutes last season, but I thought when he came back this year he would be up to earning 25 minutes a game. I had higher hopes for him than this.
I do think that the idea we can't really assess him because of small sample size is poop. Besides that, if he had improved as much as I hoped, he would be getting more minutes, and we probably wouldn't be having the same discussion.
You think he's a good defender. I think he's an adequate defender. But tell me the truth - do you really see him on a significant upward trajectory? Do you really see any reason for him to be moved up to the 25 MPG I was hoping for, unless someone else gets injured?
One thing is for certain. If he does get a significant bump in minutes, someone else is going to have to step up their offensive game. Because Kyle's offensive production rate (Per36 numbers) are the lowest on the team. Putting Kyle on the floor with Danny is an offensive nightmare. I don't think this team can play defense good enough to make up for that. That's not hating, that's not being wishy-washy, that's just looking at what I see, and what the numbers say.