Kelly was literally a late bloomer in regards to position. He went from something like six foot three as a guard to six foot eleven in a very short time. I am not trying to convey the obvious, but it's the truth.
Perhaps he doesn't get cut enough slack because he was older than a lot of rookies coming into the NBA. James Young just turned 21. Marcus Smart is only 22.
Avery Bradley is only 26 and already in his seventh season!
Kelly Olynyk is 25 in his fourth season.
James Young had one good college season. Some think just because he's only 21 that there's plenty of time for him to still develop.
It seems unfair to compare the two in terms of age.
Olynyk is not as good as I thought he'd be when we got him, but I think he is getting better. He is decent at defense. That looked like his achilles heel similar to Marcus with shooting. Like the person says above, I agree he is lacking the physical gifts to become a great defender. For example, he is seven feet tall but has dinosaur arms. But couldn't he become effective for his position like Larry Bird was for forward, perhaps even better?
These guys are all for one, one for all. I think they are figuring it out.
Maybe Olynyk will be like Avery and pick it up during his second contract. One might hope player development is staggered, so we can keep a lot of the core intact. If all these guys get too good at once, they will want Evan Turner contracts. That only works if you are George Steinbrenner and the sport is baseball, and even that doesn't always work out, like the Knicks when they went for that tall guy Amar'e Stoudemire who ended up as damaged goods and they were stuck with him. Or us with Vin Baker.
Maybe Olynyk will eventually take Amir's contract. Maybe 12 million is the inflated rate of Avery's 8 million? Sure, Kelly has to prove he's worth it, but he's getting there.
Jaylen Brown had a breakout game. Olynyk is due one of those. For this season, however, we need Amir to pick up the pace. Kelly is not yet ready for that responsibility, but he might be by the end of the year. Danny will have to figure it out anyway, not us.
Brad is solid for coaching. Doc probably would have benched Jaylen for the year after he had that stretch looking lost. It's the same with Olynyk. Some guys need to be pampered and put into comfort zones. We will need both of those guys (along with Rozier) to take leaps for any chance at a Cinderella season.
Rondo and Perk were the perfect complement to the Big Three dinosaurs. This year's team seems to also be developing the perfect combination of youth and experience.
Not Mike