Player The Lifelong Residency of the Ever-Important Heart and Soul of the Spurs, Keldon Johnson

[Shmurs]

So you were following the Spurs before last year? Just trying to understand the context of where you're coming from, and you previously said you only started watching the Spurs last year because you were without a team and you like Wemby.

Followed NBA forever. Started watching every spurs game in ‘23.

 

[Shmurs]

nobody with his mechanics would be able to shoot well. He has one of the most ridiculous forms in basketball. You teach kids to reduce movement and variability and here’s a huge strong dude who thinks he needs every inch of his muscles participating in his jump shot for some reason. I’m surprised he doesn’t also make vroom vroom noises for an extra boost.

He’s a bad shooter. By definition. But he’s been good despite that this year. Last night was a dysfunctional mess on offense all around . I don’t know how much Keldon can wag the dog.

 

[BatManu20]

Still love his energy on the boards, but his 3PT shooting falling back below 30% is killer and makes him almost unplayable in meaningful games.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1989580787436417335

 

[BatManu20]

 

[Unseen]

He's still a great high energy player to have on the bench imo. I do agree that I wish his defence was there because that would elevate him to be more useful in the main core but he is still a nice addition to have on this team, especiallyfor times in the game when an offensive spark is needed .

 

[Bones]

Had to close my eyes whenever Curry had KJ on him

 

[Shmurs]

Mitch needs to know when he doesn’t have it. He’s not much of a “turn it around in the 4th quarter guy”. If he’s doing bricks and tunnel vision, he can hand out Gatorade the rest of the evening.

 

[TBdog]

Keldon off ball defensive awareness is horrific. He does this like once a game. I just don't know what's going through his mind on this end.

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[Ice009]

I love Keldon as a person, but I really wish they traded him last season. He's a fan favourite and people love him, but I don't believe he's a player that can help you win a Championship. I don't believe he won't be a liability in the playoffs . I wish he could somehow become more aware and be rock solid on defense and shoot better on offense without those tunnel drive attacks at the rim as his only real offense. Not sure any of that will work in the playoffs.

 

[brazil]

Keldone is fine as energy guy off the bench for 15 mn, the issue with him is his contract and he has another year at 18 m$...

 

[Ice009]

Keldone is fine as energy guy off the bench for 15 mn, the issue with him is his contract and he has another year at 18 m$...

I could be wrong, maybe he has a role such as this on the team, but if they play him too much in playoff games, I think it will have diminishing returns and handicap the team in the long run. Teams are going to attack him on defense and on offense, a bit of pressure is enough to disrupt his shot. I think teams would actually want him to pump fake and try and drive it in, as that would be playing into their hands more than if the Spurs had a competent 3pt shooter and defensive player out there instead.

 

[LeBowen]

I could be wrong, maybe he has a role such as this on the team, but if they play him too much in playoff games, I think it will have diminishing returns and handicap the team in the long run. Teams are going to attack him on defense and on offense, a bit of pressure is enough to disrupt his shot. I think teams would actually want him to pump fake and try and drive it in, as that would be playing into their hands more than if the Spurs had a competent 3pt shooter and defensive player out there instead.

Keldon is useful against subpar teams, but competent opponents always expose him.
He shouldn't be getting more than 10 to 15 minutes in serious games.
But he's useful against teams like the Kings that don't really care about exploiting him.

 

[OK Computer]

Sorry, nah, KJ will be one of the more useful role players in the playoffs just by his hustle and physicality alone. Anyone who watched last year’s playoffs knows that its a grindfest and everybody bricks their 3’s. It starts to become a game of who wants it more and KJ will be an asset there.

 

[LeBowen]

Sorry, nah, KJ will be one of the more useful role players in the playoffs just by his hustle and physicality alone. Anyone who watched last year’s playoffs knows that its a grindfest and everybody bricks their 3’s. It starts to become a game of who wants it more and KJ will be an asset there.

If only he wanted it as much on defense.

 

[brazil]

I could be wrong, maybe he has a role such as this on the team, but if they play him too much in playoff games, I think it will have diminishing returns and handicap the team in the long run. Teams are going to attack him on defense and on offense, a bit of pressure is enough to disrupt his shot. I think teams would actually want him to pump fake and try and drive it in, as that would be playing into their hands more than if the Spurs had a competent 3pt shooter and defensive player out there instead.

Tbh... I'm not sure if I am yet in projecting myself into POs but if we get there and if we are healthy enough the rotation will be tighter, he should mostly against second units and in this context he still can bring some value.

I don't believe Spurs will find any trade for him before an eventual PO run but I do expect Sochan be gone and Spurs making a move for a vet who will hopefully eat some minutes from Keldone.

In the meantime, let's pray tho that Barnes stay healthy.

 

[brazil]

Sorry, nah, KJ will be one of the more useful role players in the playoffs just by his hustle and physicality alone. Anyone who watched last year’s playoffs knows that its a grindfest and everybody bricks their 3’s. It starts to become a game of who wants it more and KJ will be an asset there.

Ideally Keldone will be an enforcer kind of player bringing some grit and grind going after players getting physical against Victor

 

[DAF86]

Everybody knows I'm one of Keldon's biggest critic, but his play to this start of the season has surprised me in a good way.

I think the way Mitch has been handling KJ's minutes is perfect. Play him depending on how well he's doing. He's making an impact? By all means play him 25 minutes and have him on the crunch time lineup. He's sucking ass? 10 minutes and call it a game.

He shouldn't be getting any senority minutes just because he's expensive and has been here longer than any other player.

 

[OK Computer]

If only he wanted it as much on defense.

I don’t think Champagnie and Vassell are that much better. If either of those two are cold, what do they offer? I think all role players present and future will always have a bad rap with fans. The problem is, we watch other teams’ role players go off on us and assume that those guys are way better than ours - not knowing that their own fans complain about those very same role players when they don’t perform well. It’s really skewing our role players are perceived.

 

[LeBowen]

I don’t think Champagnie and Vassell are that much better.

No, they're not.

If either of those two are cold, what do they offer? I think all role players present and future will always have a bad rap with fans. The problem is, we watch other teams’ role players go off on us and assume that those guys are way better than ours - not knowing that their own fans complain about those very same role players when they don’t perform well. It’s really skewing our role players are perceived.

For me personally, role players either have to be positive defenders or shoot consistently within reasonable expectations.
That's why I rate Barnes the most. Yes, he's a veteran and is expected to be more consistent, but even when he's having an off night, I'd trust him to make the next open shot.
When our other role players start struggling, I feel like they just sink all the way down to the bottom and can't recover from it.

 

[PanameSpur]

Love the dude's attitude but I'll have to accept there's no hope if he keeps showing no progress.

In a normally driven franchise, KJ, Devin and Jeremy should be on their way out for the same reason.

But they're the last part of the friendly crew so... not happening smh

 

[Exstatic]

You previously said you only jumped on the Spurs last year... so when were you rooting for him before?

TBH, it’s probably hard to remember which account he’s signed in as.

 

[scott]

I don’t think Champagnie and Vassell are that much better. If either of those two are cold, what do they offer? I think all role players present and future will always have a bad rap with fans. The problem is, we watch other teams’ role players go off on us and assume that those guys are way better than ours - not knowing that their own fans complain about those very same role players when they don’t perform well. It’s really skewing our role players are perceived.

Bingo. They are role players. They play a role. Fans want these guys to be well-rounded high performers. If they were, they'd have a much bigger role.

Teams need role players, and at some point you have to accept their limitations. Would it be great to have a TMIII or Lauri as your 4th option wing scorer? Sure, but those guys aren't interested and aren't taking what you should pay for that role.

Devin especially, and to a lesser extent Keldon, are in somewhat unique positions because they were paid when their expected future role was different. Now that leaves them slightly (Keldon) or significant (Devin) overpaid... but it is what it is.

 

[scott]

No, they're not.

For me personally, role players either have to be positive defenders or shoot consistently within reasonable expectations.
That's why I rate Barnes the most. Yes, he's a veteran and is expected to be more consistent, but even when he's having an off night, I'd trust him to make the next open shot.
When our other role players start struggling, I feel like they just sink all the way down to the bottom and can't recover from it.

I'm actually starting to feel like Julian begun showing some resilience to bounce back from slow starts and hit some shots in the second half, which is a nice development.

 

[TBdog]

Sorry, nah, KJ will be one of the more useful role players in the playoffs just by his hustle and physicality alone. Anyone who watched last year’s playoffs knows that its a grindfest and everybody bricks their 3’s. It starts to become a game of who wants it more and KJ will be an asset there.

Did you watch my clip above? He can't rotate. And it's a common occurrence. He is so bad reading plays defensively.

 

[OK Computer]

Did you watch my clip above? He can't rotate. And it's a common occurrence. He is so bad reading plays defensively.

He’s clearly a positive contributor in enough areas. Folks here say our perimeter defense by our wings is bad and point to our wings as a sort of lazy analysis and then when you look at the games where we’re getting hurt by, it’s usually the guards going nuts and our wings have nothing to do with it. Case in point: Curry went off and KJ was barely assigned to him during the game yet people will focus on KJ because of a few clips of defensive lapses that resulted in 6 points for other teams.