I'm Ok With KG's "Flaw of Unselfishness"

Big Al Jefferson has scored 39 and 40 points in the past week. As weird as this sounds but Kevin McHale might be looking like a genius sometime next year.

You can’t compare KG to Bird with only about 40 games played. When Don Nelson was coaching Milwaukee he said he game planned to include Bird’s biggest weakness, his unselfishness. He therefore double and triple teamed him knowing he would pass the ball and take his chances by letting the others beat him. But it is true that Bird would take the big shot at the end (if it were a reasonable shot); whereas, KG often defers thruout the game. But there were different agendas. Bird had grown over time with a team. He saw to it that others were involved, but in the end, he wanted the ball. KG’s agenda is to build a team that was put together suddenly. He came here with great fanfare by media and fans—“The Big Three”. It was very important to let the other players know that they belong. KG is building chemistry, while chemistry developed around and with Bird. Let’s judge KG’s “flaw” in the playoffs when the agenda changes. And does it really matter if KG takes over a game with shooting. The point is to win. We constantly got on PP for overdoing it at the end of games when he was the only guy who had a chance of getting a win. Would we get on KG if he forced shots at the end of games?

no one is without his flaws. kg could do more down low both with scoring and boards. this guy has been around a long time and i hope for several more years. staying away from down low saves his somewhat fragile body. look at heman shaq and the wear and tear on him. with his fadeaway and his passing skills to augment his intensity and defensive prowess, we have ourselves one heck of a player. he’s no bird tho.

It’s not unselfishness …. passing up shots is a selfish play. When he does that, he’s being selfish. Not unselfish, he’s being selfish. It’s not a constant with KG but it happens regularly.

Give me a team of pass first guys over a team of shoot first guys anyday.

i think it’s important to recognize the different makeup of kg vs. other kind of players. he’s not a big wide-body guy that bangs down low, he’s much more of a finesse player. and he’s not a ball handler that breaks down his man and creates his own shot off the dribble. he’s quick, he has great footwork, and he has a very nice mid-range shot. he also works incredibly hard on defense, and he’s smart. if he had the same kind of game as bird or jordan or kobe i think the criticism would be warranted, but he doesn’t. i’m not saying he doesn’t have his flaws—i’d love to see him play closer to the basket more frequently and shoot higher percentage shots, especially when he has a mismatch—but he generally plays within himself and his abilities, which are great.

i think in general paul and ray are actually the guys who should shoulder that load in crunch time, as far as scoring. they should work hard to get ray open looks. i mean, look at the orlando game. he was cold the whole game and then hit the 3 in the last seconds to tie the game. he’s a killer who never doubts his ability to knock down a shot, even when he’s struggling. and when paul has the right mindset and drives to the basket, rather than forcing a jumpshot, he’s fantastic. he either gets a layup, gets fouled, or finds an open shooter.

what kg does incredibly well in crunch time is lock down the defense (see timberwolves game) and force the opposing team to make bad shots. if he can get the ball in the post he’ll make a shot, or if they can find him in transition he’s money. but i just think it’s important to know who he is. and he’s not that guy, generally, who is going to score 20 pts in the 4th to put the team over the top. he can make it easier for paul, or ray, or guys like big baby to be that guy, though. and that’s invaluable.

KG also took over down the stretch in the first game up in Toronto, teasing CHris Bosh with four different post moves for baskets on consecutive trips down the floor. He “takes over” more than people notice.

And to say that Big Al is in KG’s league is a joke. We all know that. There are only a handful of people in the HISTORY of the NBA that’s been in KG’s league. I love Big Al as much as the next guy,(he’s from my home state!!), but he’s not the passer or defender that KG is, and probably will never be!

If we need to ‘get on’ somebody, how about Ray Ray and the brick houses he’s building. Or T.A. or should we start calling him T.O.?

I lived in Minnesota during KGs formative year’s. Obviously when he’s on a team with PP and RA, the fault of being too unselfish isn’t even close to a major issue. When however, he dishing to Mark Madsen in the closing minutes of a tight game, that ain’t so cool. This is why he’s such a good fit on this team. Pierce and Allen are both quite accustomed to and comfortable taking the last shot, and in fact have to fight a tendency to be selfish.

Lets see what we all say about this, if KG defers to Scalabrine in the waning seconds of a playoff game and it costs us the season. Its easy to laugh off this ‘too unselfish’ rap at this point, just remember that while the regular season is fun at this point, it doesn’t mean anything except it positions us to win a championship.

Would that Pierce have this flaw…….

For the trade to work for Minnie, Big Al doesn’t have to be what KG was. Big Al just has to be better in the future than KG will be. And since KG’s old, that’s not the terrible stretch that it might have been.

When I see KG I think a lot of Hakeem Olajuwon. Hakeem was the best player on his team however because he was an unselfish player he let guys like Robert Horry (as a rookie) Sam Cassell (as a rookie) Kenny Smith and Mario Ellie take big shoot at the end of games. Because he was unselfish those guys was ready come play-off time and how look at it Horry is a 6 or 7 time champion. Cassell still can get you a big shot all because of the Dream

The Real Large James said:
  Would that Pierce have this flaw…….

Have you seen Paul’s assists, rebounds and #shots taken this year?

yea, pauls pretty much playing as well as a SF can right now, and not be named lebron or kobe. hes played out of his mind from an assist and rebound standpoint. the vision of paul as a player who forces things comes from him being the only true scorer on TERRIBLE teams. how much did he force things in that Detroit game? or tonight, when he was clearly cold, realized it, but quickly realized powe and rondo were hot instead of trying to be paul from 2 years ago, who would have had to struggle through?