Wait and see what fits and doesn't around Wemby.
Dangle him to Portland to see if they have any interest since they’re looking to trade the #3 pick. Obv a long shot, but a package of Keldon + multiple picks that they could then use to trade for another starter elsewhere might be an intriguing package. Unlikely but doesn’t hurt to pickup the phone. Otherwise I think he’s a Spur for another season to see how he fits alongside Wemby. Could be trade-bait at the trade deadline next Spring. We’ll see.
Some people have said to wait a year to see how Keldon and Wemby play together and I'm in agreement. You need a certain amount of a veteran presence on any winning team. I don't mean like McDoogie or Devonte, those guys are getting up there in years and only have limited value anyway. He's not the most efficient player, I'll give you that, but he is a needed veteran/ leading presence on a very young team. You don't trade that for a 18-19 year old kid who looked good in college but may or may not ever pan out in the pro's. Be patient for at least a year and lets see what happens. You want to trade Keldon, trade him for another established player rather than a 10-25 pick.
Keldon may really thrive next to Wembanyama. I feel his game suffered having to carry too much of a load. Wemby will cover up a lot of defensive issues and that will also help Keldon. While I do think he was next on the 'to be moved' list, this was before Wembanyama became a reality. The team likely expected to do the Murray-Poeltl dance and get future assets for him. Now, that's not the case, it seems.
Whether they would trade him for specific assets is another matter.
He is useful. A forward that can guard several positions. He scores points without having to run the offense through him.
It's really hard to evaluate him. His efficiency took a huge dive last season playing tank ball. The year before he was pretty damn efficient.
As others have pointed out, he is several years away from his athletic peak and should continue to improve.
I don't know what his ceiling is but trading him now seems a bit selling low.
He's already replaceable. Front line should be Wemby, Collins, Sochan.
I think Keldon will be a much more efficient scorer when he isn't forced to be a team's first or second option.
His 3 point shooting in particular will really benefit from getting some kick outs and having the defense forced to focus on someone else.
He's only 23, so there's reason to think his entire game will continue to improve over the next 4-5 years as long as he stays healthy and keeps working hard.
What I don't see getting much better is his defense. He just doesn't have the physical attributes to be very good there.
Perhaps his defense will be more tolerable if he has a great rim protector behind him.
The biggest challenge is that he is a tweener. I like him more as a 3 than a 4, but he doesn't really belong at either spot.
I wouldn't trade KJ for anybody in this draft outside of Wemby and Scoot tbh.
Splits from W/L last season...
Wins/Losses GP MIN PTS FGM FGA FG% 3PM 3PA 3P% FTM FTA FT% OREB DREB REB AST TOV STL BLK PF FP DD2 TD3 +/- Wins 17 33.1 24.6 9.1 18.4 49.4 2.4 6.5 36.0 4.2 5.2 80.7 0.6 4.6 5.3 3.2 2.5 1.1 0.2 1.8 37.2 2 0 6.3 Losses 46 32.6 21.0 7.6 17.4 43.6 2.0 6.4 31.8 3.8 5.2 72.8 1.0 4.0 5.0 2.8 2.0 0.6 0.2 2.1 31.4 3 0 -13.0
KJ ceiling should be Rudy Gay.
Someone that seems to be the star of the team but did not ever became an All Star
KJ’s ceiling on a good team is bench tweener forward. He scored 22 ppg because somebody has to take the shots on a bad team. If somebody offers a first-round pick for him, you take it.
Looking back on the 2019 draft, 10 of the players picked before KJ are either out of the league or will struggle to potentially get a contract beyond the league minimum next season.
To go a step further - there would be only probably 5-6 guys you would draft ahead of KJ in that being a redraft (based on ulative production and projected improvement), which puts him firmly in lottery type discussions. Any old first round pick would likely struggle to return his type of production.
He's worth more than 1 first round pick. Proven player, young, good contract.
How much are you willing to bet that a better player than Keldon will be selected with this pick in the future?
I don't think people should view Keldon as expendable. Even if he would come in as a scorer of the bench he'd be super valuable. We need to build a vicious 10-man rotation that makes life tough for every team in the league
He has hit his ceiling. Time to unload him while value high.
He can be a good trash man, playing off ball with periodic threes and thunderous dunks. He could finally find his role next year. I say wait. He’s a perfect teammate.
He is a tweener and pop played him at the wing 3/2 more this season. No surprise that it did not really work out defensively. He was better playing 4/3 last season despite the consensus in here. His post defense and Iso against bigger players is actually good because of his strength. He probably hit his ceiling on defense. On offense I think he would be really good 2nd or 3rd option. He shot 40% on threes with DJ on 5 attempts a game , and he made leaps on his driving game this year. I think he is a super efficient 1 2 dribble scorer, the potential he flashed his first summer league game. I predict a 50-40 player the next year or two.
I do think he would be involved in speculation around the 3-4-5 pick.
Hard to part with those picks with it not being a swap though. DAL would do it for #10, I think KJ has more value than that pick.
I don’t see Collins as a long term solution as he is so injury prone and he fouls so much but I do like his grit.
Ideally I see him coming off the bench and being an important part of that squad. Let him come in and goon when needed.
Keldon had his work cut out for him this year and he faired pretty wel all things considered. If he can become a decent defender he has a role on this team moving forward, otherwise I’m putting him on the block by the deadline to continue to keep the books clean for when we actually start looking like a playoff threat as he is easily replaceable.
He is at ceiling now, starting because he was all there was on one of the worst teams in the league. No true position as he is a tweener at SF and can't guard there. Better for him and the Spurs if we are able to find him a spot somewhere that might bring in a decent draft pick and move him asap. He won't be a starter on any other team in the league.
Which of these players is unconditionally better than Keldon?
Isaac Okoro, Dorian Finney-Smith, Cameron Johnson, De'Andre Hunter, Patrick Williams, Jalen Smith, Aaron Nesmith, Deni Avdija, Kyle Kuzma, Jerami Grant, Matisse Thybulle, Jarred Vanderbilt, Talen Horton-Tucker, Ochai Agbaji, Reggie Bullock, Tim Hardaway Jr., Luguentz Dort, Kyle Anderson, Jaden McDaniels, Harrison Barnes, Dillon Brooks
Good stuff. I think Keldon is very much undersold by this board. I've long thought he'd be ferocious on Denver, for example, with a good passer with gravity hitting him. I've moved back from wanting to trade him. Of course, I think he was the next to be moved pre-Wemby, but that's changed. His scoring and effort will be important next year. The starting five is a big question, but that's okay.
Probably Cam Johnson and Jaden McDaniels.
I wouldn’t take that bet.
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