Thanks for sharing!
Good analysis on both.
Also .. you are right. Can't pay attention to some guys around here, Kawhi is the best example. You can never fully tell how far a young guy will go, based on his first few outings with the Spurs, specially the younger they are and how much they still have to develop and grow. It really depends how much untapped talent there is there to begin with and the guy's work ethic. Some guys are limited and won't improve much (the famous limited ceiling), but the youngest a guy is when he gets to the Spurs, the more likely he still has room to grow, and you have to look at the talent that young guy had when we got him to begin with.
I agree with your assessment on both wings. Kyle has an intangible in that he's a really smart bball player, and he is really compe ive. It would not appear that he is compe ive, bc his style of play is so laid back, but he's won a lot of games in his short career at every level, and those were games where he had a prominent role. He was not being carried by anyone to those wins.
Not much gets said about his leadership quality, but the most important impact he had in that summer league squad was his leadership. He got guys organized. They ran a whole bunch of sets for him, not even bc the Spurs were molding him to be a scorer (it would help him long run), but for SL purposes, he gave that team structure in sets and such. Several media people commented at the time, that when he sat, the team kind of fell apart. The Spurs were the only summer league team running sets consistently (even if they were the same or simple variations of the same couple of sets), and you could see it specially in how disorganized the Suns SL team looked (with a lot more talent and some NBA players in it) vs the Spurs. A whole lot of that was on Becky Hammon specially, but when a game is played, action is live and you need guys to get to their spots, the leader of that team was Kyle.
He just knew what they were doing and were supposed to be doing and he rallied them on defense. Becky said as much and there is a video feature about his leadership at the time in spurs.com. Then you look at his background. He had always been the leader of winning teams. The impact he had on both ends, never known as a defensive player of any sort, he would be sneaky and come up with a complete stat line in his teams. In a team with Lavine and Adams, he was the best player unquestionably. He was a PG, but not bc he was fast or was going to do things traditionally. He was as unorthodox as they come, but (1) he is an unselfish player and would get the ball to the right people and moreover, he enjoyed setting others up, (2) he has a tremendous court vision and was not afraid to pass (maybe the too risky Manu-like passes are a weakness, but what other time to develop that than when you are young), (3) he is a smart bball player, he would know what to do in the pressure situations, and (4) he would hold others accountable, and be really compe ive and fiery, without getting animosity from guys toward him. Guys who played with him (Shabazz Muhammed, Adams, Bryce Alford, etc) have said they really enjoyed playing with him and for Shabazz I read somewhere that he said Kyle was his favorite player ever to play together with. Just looking at that, I think he has a tremendous upside beyond what we see right now. I see him as taking baby steps at this point.
Obviously, season starts and he's a kid among men now. First he's tentative and not doing much, staying within the system and more like hidden by it than anything (it is true his best assets are sort of redundant with Manu and Boris there, who are vets and know better). But also, if you want to use him right you have to give him some rope to make reads of his own. In reality, you can't really script Manu, or Boris for example. A lot of plays they make are scripted, but what makes them really special, unpredictable and hard to defend and account for, is maybe the 25-30% of plays they make when they see something developing on their own.
I think Simmons overall just allows the bench to push the tempo a whole lot. He will be able to get one or two easy transition baskets a game regularly, (very much Corey Brewer style), and even when he doesn't, the threat of his basket running the floor, opens opportunities for those running behind, and maybe causes a mismatch or two, (which is Boris' bread and butter), and he can really pass the ball well. Therefore, I see him already being a much better fit with this current bench, and having a better impact overall right away, but with a lower ceiling since I don't project him developing the leadership or BB savy to take a lead role eventually in the bench. He's the perfect roleplayer though.
Long term though, when Manu isn't there, you still want Kyle to develop bc of his leadership qualities more than anything else. Very different player, but in his own way, he is so unorthodox that he can and will get his shots when the team needs it, but mostly will find guys on their spots once he develops that go beyond the scripted, and will be able to find Simmons in transition opportunities to score that now Manu is probably the one making those passes. Let's not forget Boban's first NBA basket in preseason was a lob throw from Kyle and the two of them had a lot of chemistry before Boban was even breaking out for us. Kyle has a lot more potential than we have seen (maybe than we are likely to even see this season, due to the vets still being leaders and him needing experience and improvement to step into bigger roles in the future.)
Anyways, I am rambling. Really excited to watch the trio of Boban/Kyle/Simmons this season and follow their development with Pop and the team. It has been more interesting for me than Lamarcus' adaptation quite frankly.
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