Killian is such a overrated defender. He plays good like 25% of the time and people just latch on to it. You’d think he was like Marcus smart or something. In reality he struggles to even stay in front of guys like Tyler hero. Ausar gives you everything killian does times 10

2 steals 1 block 3-1 assist to turnover ratio 4/6 from inside the arc solid defense (did well on hero), good energy and confidence plus it’s game one so stop being annoying about Killian already.

I like how you chose to not mention his 2 steals and a block and all around consistently solid defense throughout the night. You also left out the lack of turnovers by him but who cares about a guard having I think a single turnover in 30 minutes of play

His switchability due to his size, and making the most optimal pass in every situation

Teams play better when he is on the court

Why not start Burks and make Ivey the 6th man and just bench Killian? I get Killian has strong defense and intangibles, but his offense is just so bad. He might legitimately be the worst offensive player in the league in terms of volume and efficiency.

I think it is purely based in defense. I trust Monty but I also have far more faith in Ivey long term. I’d love to se him start next to Cade but I respect his vision. We will see if Ivey picks that up—I want Killian to do well but I don’t buy the preseason hype. It’s truly not far different from what we’ve seen, but I did see more confidence.

Ideally I’d like to see 5 more points on the same number of shots. And a lot more assists though that also depends on better team shooting.

Him and Stew were the only starters with a positive +/-.

This is probably one of his better games honestly. A lot of the stuff he did won’t show in the box score.

Of course everyone would like to see him better on offense, but nearly every other aspect of his game was solid last night