Keys to the kingdom
Song: "Pacific State (12" version)", 808 State
Two Georges, damn
In the NBA right now, there are two up-and-coming players with very similar names. This seems to keep happening in the league. I wish somebody would do something about it.
For a few years now, we've had to deal with two players named Jaylin Williams and Jalen Williams who play on the same team and have similarly generic nicknames, forcing hoops fans to remember which one is "J Dub" and which is "Jay Will". This is on top of a dozen other "Jalens" playing for other teams as well. (Do Jalen Rose or his parents get any residuals for all these basketball Jalenses? I hope so.)
Compounding the problem for Keyonte George of the Utah Jazz and Kyshawn George of the Washington Wizards is the fact they play for two of the worst teams in the league. There's only so much Jazz/Wizards basketball anyone can watch and stay sane, so even avid hoops fans should be forgiven for doing a "Christian Bale"/"Kirsten Bell" thing with them. Even pro sports journalists do that.
Both started out looking like they were drowning in the NBA, but they're putting it together, Kyshawn in his second season, Keyonte in his third, so it's time to tune in while you can still say you knew about them before it was cool.
Kyshawn
Kyshawn George is a floofy haired youth who always looks like he's 15 minutes late to his Political Science class. He should probably be playing in a North Face puffy jacket and pajama pants instead of a Wizards uniform.
All-Pro Reels, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
With the big hair and the throwback Wizards jersey, he looks a little bit like greatest player in Washington Bullets/Wizards history, Wes Unseld:
His game is a little Unseld-y, too. Unseld was a 6'7" guy who played center. Guarding much bigger players takes a certain quality -- solidness -- that not all players have. Some guys just occupy space better than others.
Although he plays small forward, Kyshawn George has that solidness. At his best, Kyshawn just kind of owns the floor, unafraid to bounce off of other players (or go through them) in order to score or get the rebound. And like Unseld, he has good passing skills. If Wes Unseld played today, he might be a point forward like Kyshawn, who is leading the Wizards in assists.
At his worst, well, Kyshawn's got a lot to learn. I think he has the capability to be a very good defender, but the Wizards are just awful at defense -- worst in the league by points allowed. It's hard for me to tell how good a player is when they're surrounded by teammates who make lots of defensive mistakes.
Keyonte
Keyonte George, looks a bit like, I dunno, Timon from the Lion King. I don't have Timon's scouting report, but Keyonte's a super quick modern point guard who can score as well as set his teammates up. Or at least that was the idea. His first two years in the league were disappointing. He mostly shot 3 pointers, and wasn't especially good at it. As a point guard, he was tentative, and seemed to check out mentally at times when things were going bad (a frequent occurence on the woeful Jazz.)
This year, he's more of an all-around scorer, and much more efficient. He's scoring almost 6 more points per 36 minutes, while only taking 1.7 more shot attempts. A lot of that is driven by getting more free throws -- 3 more made free throws per 36 over last season. He's a threat to score from just about everywhere, after two seasons of not being a threat anywhere.
Keyonte's still bad on defense. The Jazz are 28th in Defensive Rating, so like Kyshawn, it's awfully hard to say how good he really is when he plays on such a crappy team. His game is similar to DeAaron Fox, who is currently thriving on the Spurs surrounded by significantly above average defenders. So I think he has a bright future even if he never makes a big leap on defense.
7'6" man kills giant
Shout out to the try-hard Spurs for taking down the Thunder in the NBA cup. The fact that the tallest guy in the NBA took down basketball Goliath is perfect. No notes. My biggest basketball fear is that if the aliens come down and challenge Earth to a game, we're not gonna have anyone who can guard Wemby.
Mathletix Bajillion, week I guess we're still doing this
As usual, one of these teams picks randomly, the other algorithmically.
The Ringer went 9-16 on the week, for a 171-204 combined record on the season and 45.6% winning percentage. The mathletix teams didn't cover themselves in glory either, going 3-7. Nobody knows nothin'. All of us are in the gutter, but some of us are staring at the reduced juice.
Lines taken Wednesday afternoon
The Neil McAul-Stars
last week: 1-4, -321
Overall: 16-14, +159
line shopping: +99
- SEA -1.5 -105 (prophetx)
- TEN +3 +100 (lowvig)
- CAR +3 -106 (prophetx)
- NE +3 -108 (lowvig)
- ATL -3 +100 (prophetx)
The Vincent Hand-Eggs
last week: 2-3, -110
Overall: 11-18-1, -781
line shopping: +99
- SEA -1.5 -105 (prophetx)
- JAX +3 +103 (prophetx)
- MIN -3 +109 (prophetx)
- LAC +2 +106 (lowvig)
- GB +0.5 -110 (prophetx)