I don't know if it has much to do with Kinsey.  Personally, I think that people are high on him just because we are very low on Pavs and Wally.

Kinsey did show some real promise two years ago.  Look at his box scores from the later part of the 2006-2007 season:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/players/419 … ?year=2006

Also, on March 27th of that season, he guarded Kobe Bryant at the Staples Center and put an end to his 50 point game streak.  He guarded the Laker's best player who was unstoppable at the time and managed to put up 24 that night.

I don't think he is a starter in this league, but he can defend, can score and has lateral speed (which is something all of our other wing players lack).  I think he is a very solid pickup and could potentially win the starting job.  I definitely do not think that Kinsey starting on the Cavs is a very good thing, but neither is Sasha or Wally.  At the very least, he can defend.

Also, considering we now have Mo Williams and LeBron out on the wing, we really just need a shooting guard who is a good defender and can keep the defense honest.  A Michael Finley type player would be perfect.  If the Cavs do somehow manage to get a stud of a shooting guard, I think the best thing to do is go the Spurs route and bring him off the bench.  There simply are not enough shots to go around for three prolific scoring wing players on this team.

I am not saying Kinsey is better than Pavs.  That is a big question mark.  I think that we should at least entertain the idea that Kinsey may be better than Pavs right now.  Pavs has improved his defense significantly, but there is one thing Kinsey has that Sasha does not that no amount of effort can change:  Speed.  No matter how hard Sasha tries, he will not have the speed that Tarence Kinsey has.  I know Mike Brown is a defensive specialist, but that is one thing that you cannot teach to anybody.

The bottom line is that Sasha phoned it in last year.  He took a big step backwards from two years ago, which was by no means a perfect year for a player starting on a finals team.  I am not of the belief that Kinsey will be better than Sasha and start over him, but I think that there will be an open competition for the starting 2 job and that Kinsey could potentially win that job on merit alone.  It's not like we are talking about Manu Ginobli here, it's Sasha Pavlovic.  His starting job is not locked up by any means.

Also, two years ago Kinsey put up 7.7 points on 45.7% shooting.  Sasha put up 7.4 points on 36.2% last year.

Despite Sasha's decline last year, he is still a much better shooter than Kinsey.  I consider Sasha a good shooter and last year his 29% from beyond the arc was a fluke. 

If you want shooting, Pavs is your guy.  If you want better defense, speed and more proficient scoring, Kinsey is your guy.  Neither one is a lock for the starting job, and that does not bode well for the Cavs guard depth chart.

Kinsey is an interesting pick up. I do agree that he showed promise two years ago, it just seems he lost his niche when Memphis hired a new coach. That's what led him to playing overseas. The key for him is defense if he wants to see minutes.

Last year was a complete fluke for Sasha.  He held out, came in out of shape, and was repeatedly injured.  If he repeats that, I'll want him off the team as much as everyone else.

Everyone forgets that Pavs is our second most athletic player besides Lebron.

I hope he comes in and distinguishes himself from the crowd, I just can't see a guy that other teams let go overseas coming in and making as dramatic an impact as some are expecting.  I hope he is that missing piece, but you don't get missing pieces at the league minimum unless they are veterans going ring hunting.

I see Kinsey as insurance for Sasha more than anything.  If Sasha is in his '07-'08 funk this season, then they will probably give Kinsey a shot.  It is also pretty evident that we need our SG to be a defensive stopper with Mo or Gibson out there.  I could see Ferry thinking he may have the next Bruce Bowen?  Bowen was a bit of a journeyman before he landed in San Antonio.