Stevens should show him tape of Larry Bird and tell him to try to play like that more. Bird had so much confidence, despite lacking athleticism, because he was such a phenomenal shooter, and had such great court vision. Those are two qualities Kelly possesses, but without the confidence does not amount to a hill of beans.
Bird was much more athletic than KO, and much more skilled as well.
Bird was not much more athletic. Seriously?
Bird was a gazelle compared to KO. There's more to athleticism than jumping. Bird was legitimately quick when he was younger, not to mention pretty strong for his wiry frame. He had incredibly quick hands and he was pretty fast in a straight line. You don't average 11 rebounds from the small forward spot without some athleticism.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDk9y0Vul5A
Bird was actually pretty quick, laterally, but he wasn't fast by any stretch of the imagination. I think sometimes he's really underrated, athletically, to be honest. If there's anyone who compares to him in terms of body type (and being white, lol
) it's Chandler Parsons, except that Parsons is much faster. I'm not saying that he was a great athlete, but he was pretty decent, and he understood positioning as well as anyone ever has, imo. His hand-eye coordination was simply incredible, but he also had outstanding instincts concerning where a missed shot would end up - I've never seen a guy take a shot, instantly know it was off, and then position himself between his man and the basket in about two seconds after taking the shot, get the rebound, and then put it in the hoop. Please don't compare him to KO lol.
As long as we're talking about white hall of famers, though
, it just occured to me that KO does move as a big man about the same way that Chris Mullin did as a guard/forward - both guys run like they're stuck in molasses
. The crucial difference, however, is that Mullin, like Bird, had lightning-quick hands, while KO does not. He's more like Luis Scola with 3-point range, only worse defensively haha
. Sigh.
