Let’s just ask the question that everyone is wondering the answer to: what’s so wrong with Kenneth Faried that he can’t even get pity minutes for the Nets? Just for the record, I don’t have the answer. Maybe someone else does, like the Nets coaching staff, but I sure don’t.
He still looks like a good player to me. He can still jump and run and stuff, which is all the tools he needed to look like a monster in Denver. I guess you could say that his player type, the “undersized energy big” has fallen out of favor in the NBA since he came onto the season, but that hardly explains why he doesn’t get to play at all.
Just watch this video. 21 points don’t happen by accident, most of the time. Usually, the player scoring the points earns those points in some way, like Faried did tonight. The Bucks are not the easiest team in the world to score against, but he did so with ease. He even hit a jumper, proving wrong the critics who claim that he cannot space the floor. Kenny Atkinson gets a lot of praise for what he’s doing with the Nets, but where’s the criticism for his maltreatment of The Manimal? And it’s not like he had a sudden brainwave that made him decide to give him some minutes. No, injuries forced his hand. Maybe, after tonight, the undeniable skill of Faried will force his hand some more. Right into his stupid face, at a high velocity.