NBA Rumors Chat With Steve Kyler 10/18/12

1. Charlie

   If you could choose one player selected in the 2nd round this year to make the most impact on his team in year one. Who would it be and why.

   • Steve Kyler

     Welcome in everyone. Hope the week has been good to you. Lots of questions in the queue, so lets get after them…

     This is actually a good question…. I have a few that I am very high on.

     Draymond Green (Golden State), Orlando Johnson (Indiana Pacers), Will Barton (Portland), Kevin Murphy (Utah), Kyle O’Quinn (Orlando)

     All five were first round talents…

     I think Draymond could be very Zach Randolph-like, they love him in Golden State and I think he’ll get a real chance to play. I am a HUGE Orlando Johnson fan, the kid can flat out score. He’s super smart and he will fit in nicely with the Pacers. Will Barton is a MONSTER, Willie B the scoring machine. Not sure what kind of minutes he’ll get but he can flat out score. Kevin Murphy is a monster scorer too. He can flat out shoot and he’s a super humble guy. I have to put Kyle O’Quinn in here so he doesn’t rip my head off. KOQ is a man among boys and he can really play. Not sure how much time he gets immediately, but he’ll be a solid guy for the Magic this year especially as they sort the roster out with trades.

2. Frank

   I have Omar Asik, Jrue Holiday, and Grevais Vasquez as candidates for most improved player this year. Questions: Do you like my picks. And who are your top 2-3 players you could see having the most improvement this season.

   • Steve Kyler

     Not sure you can put Jrue in there, but I agree he’ll have a better year because he has more guys to go to… I expect his assist numbers to go up.

     I have not seen how guys are being used enough yet to say who I think would be an MIP guy, but I think Taj Gibson is going to see a ton of time. I think Ray Felton will look better in New York and I think guys like Mike Beasley are going to get a real shot to become something.

3. Dennis

   Former 1rst round pick Victor Claver is a relatively unknown commodity coming over from Europe. What do you think of the player and what type of impact do you see him having year one in the NBA?

   • Steve Kyler

     I am not a big fan, mainly because I have not seen a lot from him. He was a non-factor in the Olympics and he put up decent but not spectacular number internationally last year. I am not sure he’s going to get a ton of minutes as a rookie and so far he hasn’t played a lot of minutes. He got some extended run last night and put up decent numbers, but not sure he’s doing much as a rookie unless injury strikes and thats a constant concern in Portland

4. Mac

   Lamar Odom was a sixth man of the year only 2 years ago. One terrible season in Dallas and he is viewed by many as washed up. How do you personally think he will do this year with the Clippers?

   • Steve Kyler

     Lamar is an emotional player. Some guys can play anywhere and under any circumstance. Lamar is not one of those guys. He went through a lot personally last year and he had it all play out on reality TV and in the tabloids that care about that stuff. I think when he agreed to it, it was going to be fun, but when details of his sex life and the problems that come with marriage played out in front of the world it rattled him. Then he got traded and the world came unglued at every end and Lamar has never been a guy that can deal with that.

     I don’t want to say mentally weak, but I would say his world fell apart and he didn’t know how to cope or deal with that. I think the Clippers situation is good for him and I think he’ll play better this year than last. But keep in mind having things line up just right is not easy, and Lamar got that a few years ago so some of it was him as a player, some of it was the right time in his life personally and some of it was how the Lakers used him.

     I believe in Lamar, and I think he’ll do better this year because he’s structured his life better.

5. LayHee

   Nikola Pekovic only played in 98 games in 6 years in Europe averaging 20.5 minutes a game. He is now asked to play in 82 games per year for 30+ minutes a game. In his only two NBA seasons, he has not lasted the entire season, playing through injuries throughout most of last year = tough guy. My theory is his body will not be able to last the banging style he has throughout the NBA year. What do you think: conspiracy theory or legitimate concern?

   • Steve Kyler

     International guys don’t train like NBA guys do… they also don’t play as many games in a season or in such a condensed amount of time…. You have to prepare for that. I think Pek did more work this off-season than he every has and I think he’ll show it on the floor.

     It takes time to learn how to be physically ready for the NBA. He was not physically ready last year. He is better this year and I think he’ll be even better next once he finds his groove.

     Keep in mind most teams stopped practicing last year after the All-Star break. There wasn’t nearly the focus on strength development and coaching. It was simply keep as many guys functional as possible.

     I think Pek will benefit from more practice time. More strength and weight room time and more time between games.

6. Julian

   In your opinion, which 2-3 teams do you think has the thinnest bench in the NBA to start the year?

   • Steve Kyler

     Have not given it any thought.

     My first guess… and again… more of a guess.

     Sacramento… lots of young guys or guys that have struggled with injury.
     Milwaukee… again lots of young guys.
     Atlanta… Lots of toss ins in that Joe Johnson trade. I like John Jenkins and I’ll assume Lou Williams starts that the two.

     With ten seconds of thought, those are the ones that jump to mind.

7. desmond

   steve two questions 1. how do you see as better steve nash or tony parker ? 2. a few years back you had a writer of indian descent i believe named pyretom or something i enjoyed his work what ever happened to him ?

   • Steve Kyler

     1. how do you see as better steve nash or tony parker?

     — Both are excellent players… I think Tony is closer to his prime, but Nash is amazing, especially with the weapons he’ll have around him. I think one-on-one, Tony probably wins more games simply because Steve is older and slower. But neither guy is a bad choice.

     2. a few years back you had a writer of indian descent i believe named pyretom or something i enjoyed his work what ever happened to him ?

     — Pree was a good guy for us. Ass things go in life and in business, things did not work out for both of us. We appreciated Pree a lot, but things don’t always workout. Pree will always be part of our family.

     Over the years we have had a lot of great people that have contributed to us… Jason Fleming, Ravi Sighn, Tom House, Jess Camerato and the like. I explain friendships to my kids like this. We all travel on our own road in life. Sometimes your road brings you close to someone else’s road and you may travel together for a long while, but eventually your road will take you one direction and the other person’s road will take them in their own direction. Thats life. I tend to cherish the personalities that have helped us get to here and think fondly of them as they move on to other things in their lives. They will always be part of our family even if they don’t write here currently.

8. Radu

   Hi Steve,

   Could it be true? Is Travis Heath returning to Hoopsworld?!

   • Steve Kyler

     Yep… Travis will write a feature length article twice per month… generally every other week. On the week;s he does not write, he’ll chat… so you’ll get Travis once a week.

     We are trying to fit in a good chat time from Travis and its looking like Friday’s at 5pm EST. I think we’ll try and get his first chat in next week.

     His latest article can be found here:
     http://www.hoopsworld.com/the-nba-superstar-debate/

9. Cain

   What are your thoughts on Barbosa signing with Boston? They have Lee, Bradley, Terry, Rondo an Barbosa.

   • Steve Kyler

     They got him EXTREMELY cheap… and its just one more weapon for the Celtics. I don’t even Doc Rivers trying to find quality minutes, but it should help bring the minutes for guys like Rondo and Paul Pierce down so they have something left at the end of the season.

     They are have some trade chips too… none of the new guys want to hear that, but once the best of the bunch start to surface, Danny could use some of these guys to get pieces he can’t sign like bigs.

10. jesse

    Who will be covering the lakers/clippers now that Mr. Pincus is off to the times?

    • Steve Kyler

      EP will continue to cover the Clippers and the NBA for us. He will also continue to hold down our salaries data, which is the most accurate you’ll find anywhere.

      His LA Times gig, which I urged him to take, precludes him from doing anything Lakers for us, which includes chats. I mean he could skip Laker questions, but that becomes a little impractical.

      The Lakers’ situation is a bit unresolved… we may look to add an experienced personality for the Lakers or we may cover the Lakers from the road as we do with some teams.

      The Lakers are one of the toughest organizations in sports in terms of credentialing and gaining real access. So we’re not bring on someone who has not been credentialed with them before.

      I have been flooded with interested writers, most of which are “outsiders”, so until we find the right person, its a bit unresolved. We are exploring the situation.

      The issue I have to tackle is this… can our guy get anything exclusive out of the market to justify the expense of a person. The Lakers are OVER covered. Same with the HEAT, so should we pay for a guy to be there and get exactly the same materials as the AP, ESPN and the local paper… or should we focus on areas were we can lead the way?

      I am a lead the way guy. I want us to have exclusive materials others do not have. That is hard to do in LA with the Lakers, so its about finding the right personality.

11. Robert

    How do you think minutes are going to be divided in the Celtics backcourt? They have Rondo,Barbosa, Lee, Bradley, Terry. Who is going to the starting SG?

    • Steve Kyler

      I don’t give minutes any consideration… My guess on starter at SG is Courtney Lee because he’s healthy. Bradley is still injured and not expected back in the lineup until December.

      So for my money Rondo is the PG starter… CLee is the two guard starter… Terry is sixth man depending on matchup and LB comes off the bench.

12. Robert

    Although it’s still very early, out of these prospects which do you think has the most upside?

    Shabazz Muhammad
    Jabari Parker
    Nerlens Noel
    Andrew Wiggins

    • Steve Kyler

      Wiggins is the best of the bunch hands down…. I;d put Parker and Shabazz in the same tier, different players but both should be good NBA guys… Nerlens is the X-Factor. He could be the next Dwight Howard… he could be the next Javale McGee/Emeka Okafor/Deandre Jordan.

      Nerlens has real questions about his work ethic. He is EXTREMELY RAW offensively and he is not very string physically. He has a lot of work to do at Kentucky. Now, if Nerlens stays for his sophomore year, which is almost impossible, two years at UK with their strength coaches and their development guys could turn Nerlens into a monster.

      MY fear is he does his year at UK, gets drafted by a team that does not put the time into developing him and he becomes Kwame Brown or Michael Olowokandi …

13. Chris

    Hi Steve, with 4 seconds left in the 4th quarter Ryan Hollins sent a Utah Jazz layup far far away from the basket to clinch the win. With such a highlight do you see him making an impact on that Clippers team? Would you compare him to a departed Reggie Evans or maybe a newly signed Ronny Turiaf?

    Cheers

    the german fella

    • Steve Kyler

      Ryan is a big guy… thats it. He has below average hands and foot speed. He can block a few shots and grab a few rebounds, but he is far from an impact player. He is the 9th or 10th man. thats been his career.

      He is a good guy. He cares. He works on his game, and he’s stuck in the league because he can play, but he’s not a game changer or a player that you should count on for more than a bench minutes.

14. Charlie

    Doomsday scenario, rank these teams in terms of their ability to succeed without their star player this year: Philadelphia minus Andrew Bynum, Dallas Mavericks minus Disco, or Minnesota without Kevin Love.

    • Steve Kyler

      Philly is deep enough to win without Bynum… they are a marginal .500 team because of their depth. Bynum makes them a .600 team and a home court contender.

      I made the case for Minnesota staying at .500 without Love this morning, but they need someone to step up in a big way… not sold that happens unless derrick Williams looks like the 2nd overall pick.

      Dallas is terrible without Dirk… They have good guys, but I am not sure they win again real teams in the West without him. They are a .400 team without Dirk.

15. Dennis

    Noticed the Atlanta Hawks have started both Jeff Teague and Devin Harris in the backcourt for multiple preseason games. Any chance this is the backcourt this year or is Larry Drew just trying something different. How do you think this combo would fair?

    • Steve Kyler

      Drew is fishing for offense and spacing. Not sure they are there yet, but lets face it Devin Harris has always been a better on the ball scoring guard than true playmaker.

16. Julian

    Which rookie shooting guard would you rather have on your team and why: Evan Fournier or John Jenkins

    • Steve Kyler

      John Jenkins… he has a more complete game. He can shoot it better and he’s in better physical condition. Evan is soft and somewhat lost in the NBA game. He’ll find his way, but he’s not the play John Jenkins is.

17. Bubbles

    In his chat, Bill Ingram complimented new Bobcats coach Mike Dunlap. Was surprised at this, as looking at Dunlap’s credentials one would wonder how he even got a NBA head coaching job. What do you personally think of him as a coach and how much of an improvement do you expect from Charlotte this year.

    • Steve Kyler

      he is a teacher. He gets after his guys. he inspires his guys. He coaches his guys and he gets them to believe in themselves. That’s not going to work with a veteran squad, but for the Cats that are so young he is actually a really good fit.

      Not sure they win a ton more games, but they will be better prepared physically. They will stay in games more and they will grow as players and assets… thats what they wanted in their coach and thats what Mike Dunlap is.

      Guys… I am out of time. Thanks for all the questions. Make sure you are following me on Twitter (@stevekylerNBA). See you all next week.