Kyle wasn’t so bad at 3′s last season. He was .344 from the arc, which is respectable. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him improve on that slightly, as it takes rookies a while to adjust to the longer distance.

I’m saying that he wasn’t bad at setting up the offense last year, because that wasn’t his job last year. I was hoping that between last year and this year, Kyle would have two seasons under his belt. That would enable him to learn the offense well enough to run it as a backup. Of course, his injury didn’t help that timeline.

Of course his assists will go up if he’s playing PG, but his turnovers translate between positions. Whether or not he’s learned some ball protection is yet to be seen.

The blog formatted my post strangely, I meant he was the only guard to accomplish greater than 20% turnover rate and less than 15% assist rate.

He didn’t play much PG last year, and his high turnover rate combined with low assist rate is probably the reason. Remember, he’s the only GUARD to accomplish the feat of 20% turnover rate; this includes shooting guards..

“If he can learn to set up the offense and shoot the 3 ball, and cut down on his turnovers.. ”

Well, that’s a lot of stuff to learn, especially since he was so bad at most of it last season. I don’t doubt that Kyle Weaver has utility as a defensive specialist and maybe as a spot up shooter from the corners, but we already have a player that does that (without the shooting). I’m just not sure where this idea of Kyle Weaver being an effective PG came from when he was awful at everything a PG is supposed to be good at.

justin :
Shaun Livingston’s ceiling at this point is a capable backup. He could never shoot, probably will never be able to shoot (see: Sefolosha, Thabo) and he’s lost the one aspect of his game that made him an exciting player for the Clippers (athleticism). He does have enough bball IQ, vision, and passing ability to scrape by as a backup, but I don’t know if he’s the right fit. We have too many guards that can’t shoot. Although he’s played well, Ollie is in the same boat as well and is definitely not a long term answer in any case.
As for Kyle Weaver, let’s face some facts regarding his play. In nearly 1200 NBA minutes last year, his turnover percentage was over 20% and his assist percentage below 15%. Kyle Weaver was the only guard in THE LAST TEN YEARS to do this while playing regular minutes (over 1000 minutes) last year. Yet somehow this guy is going to be our backup point guard. Even if you drop the minutes criteria to 500 minutes in a season, which would include all sorts of scrubs, only two other guards join him on this list, a 37 year old (former Sonic!) Brent Barry and a relatively unknown (another former Sonic!) backup point guard Emanuel Davis one year.
Kyle Weaver does play good defense and perhaps his three ball will come around. But I’m kind of tired of people saying this is a point guard when it was clear that he was no kind of PG last year, and was possibly one of the worst distributors among all guards in terms of assists and turnovers in the past ten years.

Honestly, I don’t think Kyle got many minutes at the actual PG position. Between Russell, Chucky Atkins and Earl Watson, there just weren’t many minutes to go around.

The reason I keep calling for him to be our backup is because of his defense and his usage. I expect rookies to turn the ball over, but I think he can correct that with experience at the position.

We don’t have a lot of data to go on, but in his one year last year, he played the best at around 15 to 18 minutes a game. That’s all a good backup PG will get. The more minutes he got, the worse his shooting %. Also consider that even when he was playing 30 minutes, he only took 6 shots on average. That’s also what I want out of a backup, a low usage guy who passes the ball and plays lockdown defense.

I’m just willing to give the guy a chance. He’s already got the low-usage, the defensive mindset, and the productivity per 18. If he can learn to set up the offense and shoot the 3 ball, and cut down on his turnovers, I think he’d be an excellent player off our bench.

@kieth

I hope durant doesnt run plays at the end of the game, he dribbles too high makes it easy to steal the ball from him. Lebron does it for the cavs, but it makes their PG a useless position.

Honestly, I don’t have anything bad to say about any of our DT regulars – or the occasional posters, for that matter. Most of you know a lot more about basketball than I. When I picked up my shirt at Tree and Leaf last night, there were several stacks of recently printed DT shirts waiting to either be shipped or that they were holding for people. I couldn’t help but wonder, “Wow, maybe those are for GAP or Kev or one of the other guys.”

Speaking of which, I wonder if – after the holidays – it might be good to have a DT Thunder watch party sometime?

Sooner or later, Durant is going to have to be more than just a go to scorer. He’s going to be asked to draw defenses and make smart plays. He’s going to be told to run a play at the end of a game, but he’s going to be expected to get the ball to the best shot even if it’s not him. He could use PG training as much as Russell.

As for Kyle Weaver, let’s face some facts regarding his play. In nearly 1200 NBA minutes last year, his turnover percentage was over 20% and his assist percentage below 15%. Kyle Weaver was the only guard in THE LAST TEN YEARS to do this while playing regular minutes (over 1000 minutes) last year. Yet somehow this guy is going to be our backup point guard. Even if you drop the minutes criteria to 500 minutes in a season, which would include all sorts of scrubs, only two other guards join him on this list, a 37 year old (former Sonic!) Brent Barry and a relatively unknown (another former Sonic!) backup point guard Emanuel Davis one year.

Kyle Weaver does play good defense and perhaps his three ball will come around. But I’m kind of tired of people saying this is a point guard when it was clear that he was no kind of PG last year, and was possibly one of the worst distributors among all guards in terms of assists and turnovers in the past ten years.

Joe :
I’m obviously in the minority here, but I would be very happy to have Nate Rob on the team on an expiring deal. The dude DOES play defense. He is a tweener who definitely can play PG, not a maybe like Bayless. His assist rate is double what Livingston’s is, and his turnover rate is lower than Westbrooks or Livingstons. Plus, he’s lightning in a bottle. I would sign him wholeheartedly depending on what NY wanted. He would be nails playing alongside Harden on the second unit.

Let me tell you as a seattelite who played against him in high school, college, and in pickup games….keep him the hell away from this team. He is one of, if not the most immature human beings i have ever seen. He has the power to single handedly compromise the culture we have built here with our group.

Keep him as far away from the Thunder as possible.