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Yeah he looks it for sure. Coaching staff has to love seeing him already in such great shape a month before training camp.
Saw somewhere today that SpursReport fb page is reporting he is down 33 lbs.
Yeah he looks it for sure. Coaching staff has to love seeing him already in such great shape a month before training camp.
even with him being fat and his schematic fit being questionable, he was part of the spurs best 5 man unit last year...
Tre - Vassell- Keldon - Sochan - Wemby
also, Tre - Vassell - Keldon - Champagnie - Wemby performed a little better but on only about 33 minutes sample size
a slimmed down Keldon that can actually compete defensively is his best bet at sticking around. being a fat undersized PF aint it
See, I disagree with this. Johnson fell off a cliff defensively after he lost weight. Like literally became a bottom-five defender in the league. He's been far better as a short PF than as a slow-footed wing. I don't know that becoming less able to box guys out or bully players in the paint is a better path for him. That's even more given these lineups where he's not supposed to have the ball in his hands much. Johnson losing weight might've opened up some options on offense. His floor game has grown a lot from his early garbage-man days. In his role as a sixth man, that will likely serve him well. However, is Paul, Vassell and Wemby are on the court with him, that game is much less important. I'd argue that being able to bust in the paint to grab key boards and put-backs would be much more valuable. Maybe dropping weight will help his shooting consistency.
I worry Keldon's last few years of development has been his and the team's effort to chase a potential version of him that really isn't there. Obviously him losing weight is good for his long-term health and conditioning. But I think a guy with his old frame who learned to set great screens, knock down shots and defend in the post might've had a legit amount of upside. That only became more true once they lucked into Wemby, who still has a lot of development ahead of him in those areas. Looking at this roster, Johnson could be looking at a lot of PF minutes. Him becoming less able to play that position doesn't feel like the right move.
^ totally agree with this take. Keldons strength is (was?) at the undersized PF. I always thought it’d be ideally if hed become something like a Bonzi Well’s type off the bench. Match up nightmare, energy guy, beating up on the backup.
But maybe he can still play with the same ferocity and strength? Losing the weight doesn’t necessarily means losing the strength, but we’ll see.
best PG in spurs history.It’s official. Seen a ’s Sporting Goods.
I thought KJ started the year skinny than gained it all back? Or has it been two years in a row like that, I can't remember.
Regardless, they seem to want him skinny and playing at the 3 I'm assuming.
I expect the bad D to continue further (hopefully not) but if he can play with CP he might find a more suitable role on offense - open 3s and drive to the paint when open.
Keldons ability to play bully ball in the paint doesn’t come from him playing against PFs though. If his weight loss makes his drive game worse then yeah I’d agree this is the wrong path. Tbd
If you mean him driving, it comes from him having a girth advantage over other players given his build and lower center of gravity. But I think he should also include getting into the paint without the ball to grab boards, and those came as a PF too. The main issue is that Keldon's weight loss hasn't been shown to meaningfully improve his agility. He has the same negatives but with fewer positives
Remember that game against CLE a few years ago when he had 21 rebounds? I thought that was going to be the future Keldon. Undersized PF who still shot well from 3 and could get you a sneaky 8-10 rpg. That's also a guy who would be far more useful on this team like you said. Bummer.
Best move of the offseason was not going after Trae Young. ESPN podcast suggesting they could have had him if they wanted.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNKsyoB7H_k
What a disaster that would be. Take it with a grain of salt, but I've been saying for a while that Atlanta is desperate to get rid of him. His performance in the play-in was especially egregious. Good Lord was he awful.
Thank God the Spurs weren't interested. They passed on Dillingham, who is the same mold, small, good offense, beyond negative on defense. By now it seems clear the SAS are looking for a strong defensive iden y above all else. And I do think they're avoiding taking on long-term salary at this point.
Also... how is Castle not Atlanta's pick? He would have been exactly what they needed. Actually, I guess Dyson Daniels does the same thing, so fine.
I'm down for defensive iden y. Easier for small market teams to attract great defensive players I imagine.
So I was day dreaming today and was thinking there actually is a non zero chance PATFO brought Chris Paul in to tutor Sochan on running point. Imagine.
Sweetness.
So this is what you daydream...
Looks like Keldon really was bullied into dropping 3 per his latest post
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/...-paul-contract
“bullied”
0 is a cool number
as evidenced by the frustrated emoji on his social media posting announcing the number change lol
K3LDON becomes KELD0N
Oftentimes, the player giving up the number gets paid or has the Paul player donate to charity. If he really didn't want to give up the number, I could see Johnson having a big concession out of Paul.
we should create a 30 page thread dedicated to speculation regarding the dynamics behind Keldon's surrendering his number over to CP3.
CP0 would have been too good.
Pop and Paul
The Epochal Collaboration
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