I'm going to disagree with you a little bit on player development. I think it's a two way street. I think it's the responsibility of the team to do everything in its power to help with the development of their players. But I also think the player has a personal responsibility to do everything he can to improve his game. Most big changes for an NBA player come in the off season, when the team doesn't have the player under their wing. As a player you can go to Las Vegas or LA and hire personal trainers to help you improve your game, or, you can take the Donte Greene approach, and paddle around the lagoon drinking beer and make a documentary about your summer.
During the season, it's a lot harder. You have less time, and most of the time you do have, is spent working on things you already know how to do. Your just trying to polish them. I think in McLemore's case, you have someone that has worked very hard on his game, but he doesn't have a natural feel for the game. It doesn't mean he can't improve, or become a decent to good player. it means he'll probably never be a great player. He wasn't born with the instincts, and basketball is a very instinctive game. Everything in basketball is action/reaction, and reaction is purely the instinctive use of all the tools you've developed as a player.
When I played centerfield, my body was already leaning in one direction and my first step was starting as the pitch was on it's way to the plate. I couldn't break it down for you as to why, other than what I was seeing was making my body react instinctively before the bat ever touched the ball. I knew what direction the ball was going to go, if indeed he did hit the ball and it was in the air. That wasn't unique to me. Every fielder, infielder or outfielder did the same thing, and if they didn't, they weren't very good at their position.
What I'm saying that you can be blessed with great athleticism, but poor hand/eye coordination, which will hamper your use of that physical ability. Or, you can lack the instincts that the great players have. And I feel that BBIQ, and feel for the game are closely related. Their all just words, but they do have meaning. The Michael Jordan's of the world don't come around very often. That's the whole package. In short, I don't think the organization is totally at fault when a player isn't developing. If you ever gone to a game early, many times you'll see one or perhaps two of the players out there shooting the ball, or practicing one on one with one of the coaches. No one ever had to ask me to work on my game. You don't become a great player by reading about it.
With McLemore, I don't think he's done developing yet, and I'm not sure that Karls' offense was the best fit for him...but, that's a talk for another time. I think half of the fault does lie within our poor coaching.
We don't have a very good track record in player development. Since 2010, the only players under 25 that hhave truly developed under the Kings are DeMarcus Cousins and Isaiah Thomas. Would this have something to do with poor player personnel in the first place? Maybe. However, when the Kings have this track record, I think it should be looked at.
Improving basketball IQ is the hardest thing to do...because you're right, you just can't teach that stuff. Either you have it, or you don't. There are a loads of low bball IQ players who just have never reached their full potential because of it: Tyrus Thomas, Travis Outlaw, JaValee McGee, Gerald Green, Michael Beasley, etc. However, there are a few players who actually pan out and have increased their bball IQ: Russell Westbrook, Zach Randolph, and even Zach LaVine. I think it is something that can be improved pending on coaching.
This is why I think McLemore should be currently better than he is right now. LaVine arguably had lower bball IQ than McLemore coming out of college but all of a sudden, things have started clicking for him. Within 1 1/2 years, his bball IQ has actually gone up to completely league average. Even Shabazz has drastically improved his bball IQ in that same amount of time. I'm looking at McLemore and I go, how does a great shooter with all of the athleticism in the world not be at least a decent 3&D player at this point? Even if he commits the dumbest turnovers, he should be impacting this team just solely based on the fact that he can shoot and he's quick enough to defend. This is where I point to our coaching staff.
I just don't see how this coaching staff has benefited McLemore in any way in terms of his development. The only time we saw progress in McLemore was that short stint in his 2nd year under Malone. Was it our scheme? Was it Malone and his staff helping Ben figure things out? Was it the half-court offense that really allowed him to slow things down? What was it?
I personally think we screwed up Tyreke. He started out as a PG and we all witnessed growing pains...but he was doing exactly that,
growing. Less than mid way through his 2nd year, we decided that he wasn't growing fast enough for us.. so we moved him off PG duties. We stopped developing him as a PG, took the ball out of the hands of a player who's game excelled with the ball in his hands, then asked : "how come Tyreke not putting up ROY numbers anymore?" 20-5-5 season was special to me, but people overlook the fact that it was 5.8asts... nearly 6asts a game. In 2016, there were only 8pgs who averaged over 6.5ast/game. It's hardly a surprise to anyone that Tyreke's best year after his ROY came when the Pelicans actually let him run their offense. How many games did we even win with Tyreke as our SG/SF? How many more games would we have lost with Tyreke as our PG?
The Kings just haven't been able to prove that they can develop young talent. If we're talking about a half-way decent organization like the Washington Wizards, then I'd just say that Ben will never be able to "get it". However, this is the Kings... anyone on the Kings should get the benefit of the doubt. We're as dysfunctional as the Browns. At this point, we probably would've been much better going with the moneyball approach after Adelman... sadly, not joking.
You know, hot corner and all.
