The George Karl Decision Flow Chart

Ok, one last follow-up on Kenneth Faried. Lately, I cannot help thinking that Kenneth Faried and Kevin Love both have a ton in common. Both players were insanely gifted rebounders in college. But everybody thought that they'd be "rotation players" at best. Both players then went on to be insanely gifted rebounders in the pros (SHOCKING! WHO COULD HAVE GUESSED!?) during their rookie seasons. And yet, both had trouble getting respect from pundits or minutes from their coach. Sure, this year, every commentating crew in the NBA loves to say "Kevin Love is the best power forward in the game". Real controversial there, now, pal. Some of us were saying so way back before the 2010-11 season. Most of you are the same buffoons who were skeptical about him even making the all-star team at all last year, even while watching him tear up your team for 25 & 15.

A similar story is happening with Kenneth Faried. So, I present to you:

The George Karl Decision-Making Flow Chart:

(Hat-tip to Canishoopis, who did something similar with Kurt Rambis and Kevin Love last year. Yes, it was only last year that Love was the most under-appreciated star in the league, all you bandwagon fans).

I suspect this is probably going to change soon. Unfortunately, Karl really screwed up recently and left Faried in the game for more than 20 minutes, and Faried luckboxed his way into 18 points, and somehow miraculously grabbing 16 boards, was perfect from the field and the stripe, grabbed an assist, a block, and, well, basically the hearts of all of Denver. If Karl messes up too much like this, he'll basically make the same mistake Kurt Rambis made, when he accidentally left Kevin Love in the game so long that he went off for 31 and 31. And after that, the secret was out, and it became, shall we say, politically unwise to bench Kevin Love. Karl is in danger of making the same grave error with Faried.

In addition, for your reading pleasure, here are all the arguments you will hear about why Faried is not truly a star. Coincidentally, I heard each and every one of these about 18 months or so ago about Kevin Love:

  • He's not really good at grabbing offensive boards, all he does is grab his own misses (no, seriously, someone said this to me AFTER his 5-for-5 game with 6 ORB game the other night)
  • He only grabs so many boards because he's bad at defense and lets players by him so he can grab the rebound (apparently the players he lets by always miss their dunks and layups because it's not like they are, you know, NBA-caliber players)
  • He can't create his own shot (neither can, you know, Dwight Howard)
  • He's under-sized (Read: it doesn't matter if he actually produces as if he were 6'10", he has to actually be 6'10". Cause, you know. Whatever, dude.)
  • He's just an energy guy. He won't produce like this when he gets minutes

Just remember, I said it before, I am repeating it now: when he gets minutes, he'll be a superstar. And they'll all be chanting "WHO COULD HAVE POSSIBLY KNOWN!?" And we will be right here mocking them. Seriously, bookmark that page and this one so that in two years you can try to mock me for saying Faried is a superstar. I dare you.

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