I was actually thinking this to myself.
The young man is 22 years old w/ no consistent offensive guard to pass to since Timmy went down and brehs are killing two birds w/ one stone - shytting on both Melo & KP at the same time. Wow.
If I were gonna rank the variables, I'd go
1. Fatigue...this is a yearly occurrence and Berman's got him admitting to being tired in a new article but since he uses provocative click-bait type frames I won't help him out with links.
2a. Defenses adjusting to him. Blindside doubles are a problem for him and while he's a willing passer when he sees the double; he's still not seeing the doubles fast enough to always make a pass let alone make the best pass available.
2b. THJ is out, which makes it easier to double him and limits his kickout options. They're leaving Lance wide open (I have references to it in a handful of recent recaps including the Christmas game for an example). So now they can double him more easily which is his weakness and he can't punish them because the ball ends up in Lance's hands who just won't make 'em pay consistently enough.
3a. Coaching...KP and Frank are still posting a positive net rating but not playing together enough unless Frank plays mistake-free ball for his 10 second half minutes, that way he sticks around for when KP checks back in during the fourth.
3b. The system, an extension of the coaching. It sets up elbow ISO's that are easy to double off of as one of the key plays for KP. He's rarely getting the ball in motion because Kanter is our main screen guy. Combine that with KP's fatigue and he's not gonna attack off the dribble like he did early when his FTA's were up. Now he's settling and asking for foul calls on jumpers which rarely works out.
4. PG play...you take those factors and then throw in that none of our PG's are consistently breaking down the defense right now, you've got KP rarely getting easy looks. Unless he's got the hot hand, he's taking challenging jumpers trying to find that hot streak. Would more Frank/KP improve that? Not sure, Frank hasn't been great on drives. But I think that Frank pushes the pace a bit more and that might get KP into position before the defense is ready to time their doubles; at worst it's worth a try since we'll get more stops and fast breaks at minimum.
He should ease up on the international play though as it's becoming consistent.
