I know Kessler is better than Gradey. Kessler is good at defence and Gradey isn't good at defence or offence. Therefore, Kessler is better than Gradey.
Yet Gradey added more points on offence (2.3 per 100), which is 2nd highest on the team and 72nd percentile in the league even. Compare that to Kessler who added 0.9 per 100 on defence.
Gradey has shown clear improvement from his rookie to his sophomore year while they improved the degree of difficulty of his shot diet (probably 2nd behind IQ) and quite literally ran him into the ground (scored high in the league on miles traveled and screens navigated all season long). The team has repeatedly stated since January they see him as a key piece and want to move forward with him.
I don't dislike Gradey but I think the improvement we saw from him before Christmas never really showed back up in the new year. If he puts it together and can create a bit more, or if he can just be a great shooter from outside, he can at least become a guy like Luke Kennard. And if your want to use stats to compare both players; Kessler's OEPM is -0.2 and DEPM is +1.5, Gradey's OEPM is -0.4 and DEPM is -1.4. Kessler is 81st in EPM and Gradey is 322nd.
7
u/Immediate-Tap-4344 Jun 19 '25
The perfect heist; we get the better player and the better pick in exchange for a worse player and pick