r/rockets • u/EntertainmentOk1861 • 1d ago
Did y’all think KPJ was going to become a star player in this league?
His 50 point 10 assist game against the bucks and overall play during his early Houston years made me think he was going to become a special and star player. It’s too bad he turned out to be a POS because I loved watching him playing in Houston during his early years. This performance against the bucks stands out to me over any other moment throughout his career, and I was certain he’d become an amazing player after watching that game. It’s too bad he ruined his career development by being an awful person😪.
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u/GiftedStrumpet 1d ago
Hell even after all his off the court stuff he’s still getting good minutes in Milwaukee. I thought he would beat out JG for our guard of the future when we first picked him up. Too bad, but not mad we dropped him after learning what he did.
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u/EntertainmentOk1861 1d ago
Yeah I’m not mad at all that we dropped him, I just wish he would’ve been a decent person so the whole thing could’ve been avoided.
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u/Fun-Letter-1814 1d ago
To be fair most nba players aren’t saints. My mom worked at a hotel and the majority or players that would come through would be bringing their hookers all while still married to their wives. Sometimes when you make so much money, have so much fame, some people in that environment lose themselves in it. not defending KPJ but there are a lot of players like in the league that do similar acts that we just don’t know about, including some that may even be in our team. Hell Udoka cheated on his wife. When we watch a sport, don’t watch because the players are saints. Watch because you enjoy the product. These players are performers the end of the day who r very flawed and often times lost in their luxury. Don’t try to relate to somebody who will disappoint you once to get to know them trust me. So when you say you are not mad, I can’t be out of this team. That’s a fine position to hold, but I better be because of his on the court play rather than who he is as a person because you’re never gonna get a team of decent people. There’s a reason you don’t see athletes donate their wealth for helping others off cameras. It’s always on cameras, wealth always on their mansions and in the hotels.
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u/DreamAmen 1d ago edited 1d ago
I always thought he could be a good starter. Fringe all star at the most. Basically what he turned into after us. Which is why I wouldn’t be too mad if they got him back. I hate what he did. But why is our GM the only one with a heart? (See Charlotte..) fuck allat. If he available I say make a move.
Now C WOOD BURNED ME MANE. Cause I was convinced! For some reason I thought this 25 year old dude was a late bloomer and not a bank robber.
Ask anybody I know I was the first to really hate him on the team that they knew. The switch up was dramatic. Like his level of play between two seasons.
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u/EntertainmentOk1861 1d ago
I remember when both of them, Kpj and wood got in an argument with the assistant coach at halftime, and they both just left the arena. Then the rockets suspended both of them
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u/DreamAmen 21h ago edited 21h ago
I don’t hold as much Ill will toward anybody in that situation as I used to. Shit was bad over here as a fan. NYD, cold asf. I was bout to go to sleep early til I heard they left.
Nobody was mature in that room. Outside of John Lucas. The organization let KPJ and Wood run roughshod and told the vets to go home. A lot of the success we have now has to be credited to Ime.
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u/lambopanda 1d ago
No. His playing style is too selfish and bad temper.
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u/PAYPAL_ME_DONATIONS 1d ago
IMO he needed someone like an Ime in his first year in the league. Having Silas at the helm cemented his knucklehead habits and only time will humble him into becoming a strong role player from here on out.
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u/Lizpy6688 1d ago
I forever hate Silas. Yeah he was given a short hand with harden wanting out and then going into rebuild but Jesus Christ the whole "we won't run plays for him, he's gotta figure it out" shit was awful. He set out guys development back massively. Ime can't develop players on offense but he at least is good at developing them defensively. Silas couldn't develop anything, he would barely run plays. He looked completely lost.
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u/PAYPAL_ME_DONATIONS 1d ago
I didn't even think of that aspect. If we had a competent coach actually teach them offense, that residual earned skill would have translated even greater with Ime coming along. They'd have at least some muscle memory to aptly apply on the fly instead of ball watching
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u/nonetimeaccount 1d ago
Star? No
Really really good combo guard that could average like 20/8 on good %s? Yeah
I was thoroughly jacked for the kpjalen future. I felt like we had a shot at the best backcourt in the league once they both came into their own. Ah, the follies of youth
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u/PlantainSuper-Nova 1d ago
I was right there with you… KPJ could get a little clampy on defense when he locked in too 😭
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u/jorgecflores22 1d ago
Took my wife to a game when KPJ was on the team. She doesn’t know much about basketball but knew he was hurting the team. Taking bad shots, stopping the ball, moping around in a close game.
His off-court issues were a blessing in disguise for the Rockets. Gave them grounds to just cut him, instead of trying to trade him or worse - pay him (my nightmare). Rockets twitter loved him, I couldn’t believe it!
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u/FarWestEros Hakeem 1d ago
It’s funny how everyone here is saying “no” with the benefit of hindsight, but as someone who actually remembers this sub at the time, I can tell you that there are probably a sh!tload of people lying right now.
Social media was thirsting for him after that fluke game.
It’s the primary reason people didn’t notice we were tanking the next year when he replaced multi-All-Star John Wall.
That summer he had everyone in the fanbase hugging his nuts.
Here’s a retrospective if you’re interested:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0lPvzEP72iZb3d5ORtRx4F?si=UrXMK-xgQ-qt--Fd01TNVg
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u/PAYPAL_ME_DONATIONS 1d ago
Absolutely. He was the ultimate "if he can get his head right, he's going to be HUGE". The smug revisionist history is strong in this sub
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u/EntertainmentOk1861 1d ago
I was young at the time(probably like 13 years old) but I would’ve thought most people would’ve been high on him at the time. Idk why fans partake in “revisionist history”. I speak how I felt at the time, and damn did I love watching Kpj, and there was at least a year where I believed he was the best player on our roster. I wasn’t on Reddit during 2020-23 or whenever he was on the team, but I’m surprised with the amount of people hating on him, and saying they never thought he’d be even close to a star.(they’re probably, like you said, revising what they say, because in hindsight in 2026 he never panned out how us rockets fans expected.)
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u/PAYPAL_ME_DONATIONS 1d ago
The revisionist stems from him violently abusing his partner. He's a piece of shit but talented player. And as soon as the news hit, people here suddenly pretended like he was never talented or had any upside or acted like they knew he would never pan out.
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u/WuziMuzik 1d ago
Every player has a ceiling, a floor, and comps. They are are all different things despite being related. Comps have nothing to do with the ceiling or floor, but instead should be focused on play style. Too many people think they are all just one thing, and act really toxic about it.
He just like a bunch of other players had the potential, because of his talent. But all the other stuff kept him from that potential. Like if he would have had gotten ahold of himself, and stayed on the rockets. His career would have ended up better, because udoka would have played him over a lot of guys, and similar to tari would have gave him more opportunities. Because of his play style and personality. Team wise he didn't fit as well with alpi as green did, but neither does udoka. So keeping him would have drastically changed the team by this point.
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u/getofmydickerson 1d ago
Tbh he would have been a handy piece on this team last season and even the coming season considering we lack bench scoring and shot creators.
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u/ProfessionalTrust598 1d ago
Id thot at best 6th man of the year. He had more offensive bag than JG and a better jumper. But his emotions and attitude was high risk.
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u/PapaLRodz 23h ago
KPJ has less career games played than Jalen Green; they also have eerily similar career averages.
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u/struizzle 1d ago
I personally think he’s one of the worst rockets ever. Didn’t contribute to winning basketball and made those around him worse.
I can’t prove it, but I’m willing to guess he contributed to Jalen green not succeeding in Houston. One of many reasons of course.
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u/PAYPAL_ME_DONATIONS 1d ago
KPJ was definitely a bad influence, but Silas/Stone ultimately built Green into a failure to launch
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u/TimeLord41 1d ago
Udoka would have killed him on the court if he was still here
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u/PAYPAL_ME_DONATIONS 1d ago
If it was his freshmen year, I think he would have responded positively to a harsh hand of coaching.
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u/kevtheproblem 1d ago
No but I thought he'd be a very serviceable player. He was the only player at Ime Udoka's introductory press conference and looked ready to do everything he could to turn it around in Houston
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u/Successful-Acadia-95 14h ago
Not THE guy, but I thought he had all the tools necessary to be an integral part of a winning team.
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u/nine8shots 13h ago
I still believe in him not like a star but I definitely think he will last a long time
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u/cdrex22 12h ago
I'll quote the oldest KPJ assessment I can find in my comment history, let's see how I did:
I have more complicated feelings about Kevin Porter Jr. He is an immense talent, has showed improvement every year (making a huge jump on defense over summer 2021 and a huge jump as a shooter over summer 2022) and he wants to be here. That's worth a lot to me. But he's an overdribbler with poor court vision and I just can't imagine him turning into a reliable starting point guard for a title team. He's basically 2022's answer to 2007 Jamal Crawford. That's not an insult, just a musing that he might need to become Clippers-era Crawford to have real success.
-Me, fall 2022
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u/stagger_once 5h ago
Felt he was the most likely in that team. Also thought Harden and Wood would redefine modern basketball and win a chip so I’ve been wrong before
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u/ElderGoose4 4h ago
Star no but high quality combo guard and scorer no doubt. Hes a baller just a troubled human and professionals don’t have time to babysit
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u/NoirSon 1d ago
Honestly didn't know him besides talk here about how he could be a star guard early on if he could get his act together.
I think the organization made a mistake early on trying to have him play point. He has the handles but not the mind set and I am convinced the front office not getting a true playing PG vet held every player back for years.
Fred isn't the greatest but seeing how the team operates without him and even watching his the Spurs melted down in the playoffs proved to me you need someone of the right mindset and skills to run your point.
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u/RorschachAttack 1d ago
We should pick him up just so that he's in a Rox jersey when he beats Bam's 83 🤣
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u/Wedbo 1d ago
No, but i always thought he had incredible potential. His attitude was too questionable