Lets talk Isaiah Thomas..
- Thread starter ESP47
- Start date
- Status
The debate around Isaiah Thomas has gotten so inane its making my head hurt. Honestly, in terms of pure hyperbole surrounding the discussion, its just devolved into mind-numbing absurdity.
Here are the facts:
1. Isaiah is scoring at an elite rate. I mentioned before that the only players scoring at a higher volume (23 points per 36), at a higher usage (27.2) and higher efficiency (.59 TS%) this year are James Harden, Stephen Curry, Lebron James, Kevin Durant and Paul George. If you want to look at every player since 2000, you can add Shaq, prime Amare, Chris Bosh, Yao Ming, Dirk Nowitzki, Dwight Howard, and Kevin Martin to that list. In terms of pure scoring ability, Isaiah is in extremely select company. No, even flukey seasons like Mike James in 2005 and Flip Murray in 2001 don’t qualify at this level of production. And no, you can’t just assume that the 12th man on the Pelicans roster will be able to replicate Isaiah’s combination of volume and efficiency if you jack up his usage and number of shots. Its an absurd proposition.
2. The addition of Isaiah to the starting lineup along with the addition of a (healthy) Rudy Gay has ramped up the Kings offense into elite territory. Taking out the game when Rudy was suffering from knee issues, with Isaiah and Rudy as starters, the Kings’ offensive rating has jumped up a full 3 points to 110.2. If this number holds up for the entire season, that would be good for 4th in the entire NBA. It’s an extremely small sample size of 5 games, but considering that Rudy was essentially thrown out there without much practice or training camp, its highly encouraging. Just visually speaking, Isaiah has been able to play between the gaps in the defense caused by Cousins and Gay’s presence extremely well, repeatedly getting to the rim and finding space to pull up for his midrange jumper.
The stats for the last six games for the trio are as follows:
Thomas: 20.5 points, 3.2 rebounds, 6.7 assists, .577 TS%, 23.2 USG%
Gay: 18.8 points, 3.7 rebounds, 2.8 assists, .576 TS%, 25.1 USG%
Cousins: 22.5 points, 11.5 rebounds, 4.8 assists, .583 TS%, 30.2 USG%
That’s essentially roughly 60 points per game from three shot-creators using roughly 78% of the available possessions. There is really not much more you can ask for offensively from a “big three”.
So offensively at least, Isaiah isn’t just an expendable, replaceable commodity. He’s powering the team’s offense to new heights, Demarcus and Rudy play much better alongside him, and he’s still getting scoring points on his own at an elite level. Even looking at the entire season, the Kings have had a middle-of-the-pack ORtg despite only 2 (!!!) players (Cousins and Isaiah) above league average in TS%. That’s basically two guys making the offense NBA-average surrounded by chaff.
3. Defensively there are significant question marks as to whether Isaiah starting can work. There are concerns not only about his size but also his effort level. It seems to me that Isaiah tends to coast defensively to expend more energy on offense. When your guard-line includes a raw rookie beside you, that’s not going to get it done defensively. Not only are guards the first line of defense in half-court sets, but they are also critical to stopping leakouts in transition defense. Isaiah and McLemore is not going to get it done right now when McLemore is still a raw 20 year old learning the game. This is compounded with Cousins and Thompson frequently blowing rotations and fouling at unacceptable rates.
There some options for long-term solutions. The obvious one (that we’re going to have to make regardless of Isaiah’s situation) is to replace Thompson with a plus defender who can protect the rim and space the floor.
The next is to address the guard line of defense. In the long-term, we need a defensive specialist at one of those positions. One option is to develop McLemore into a low usage, defensive-oriented player. I’ve been impressed with his improvements on defense thus far. However that would be a waste of his natural talent to be left picking up the offensive scraps leftover when Isaiah, Gay and Cousins are done. Another option is to bring McLemore off the bench and get a Thabo Sefalosha-type of 3+D player to play next to Isaiah. The last option is to bring in a defensive oriented roleplaying PG (a Mario Chalmers type) to play next to McLemore and bring Isaiah off the bench in a gunner role. The last option would obviously be predicated on McLemore’s development as a legitimate third option behind Cousins and Gay.
As for this season, there really are no other options beside starting Isaiah and McLemore together. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t questions for Kings fans to monitor throughout the season. Namely, does the offense continue to power on at the rate that it has? Does Isaiah continue to score efficiently without squeezing out Gay and Cousins? How fast does McLemore develop offensively? Defensively, what is Isaiah’s effort like? How fast is McLemore improving on defense?
The answers to these questions are going to determine whether Isaiah is the right fit for the franchise as a starter moving forward. As for the significant anti-Isaiah animus prevalent in the Kings fandom, it appears to feed off of preconceived notions of what kind of PG a championship team demands. The truth is that almost every type of PG under the sun has won a championship. You have your first options offensively (Tony Parker, Chauncey Billups, Isiah Thomas). You have defensive-oriented roleplayers (Mario Chalmers, Derek Fisher). You have pass-first PGs (Jason Kidd, Rajon Rondo). If you open it up to teams who have made the finals, the results become even more scattered. You add Russell Westbrook (score-first athletic behemoth), Jameer Nelson (score-first quick midget), John Stockton (pass-first with elite shooting ability), Allen Iverson (SG in PG’s body), etc. etc.
Essentially there’s no archetype to a championship-winning PG. And if you waste all of your resources looking for what your favored style of play is while ignoring clear talent on your own roster, you waste away years of Cousins’ career due to brainless inflexibility. There is zero inherent reason why Isaiah can’t be the starting PG on a championship caliber team if that team is constructed correctly. The only reason will be if his play doesn’t support it, which so far has not been the case. It may be moving forward, but at this point in time it simply hasn’t.
Here are the facts:
1. Isaiah is scoring at an elite rate. I mentioned before that the only players scoring at a higher volume (23 points per 36), at a higher usage (27.2) and higher efficiency (.59 TS%) this year are James Harden, Stephen Curry, Lebron James, Kevin Durant and Paul George. If you want to look at every player since 2000, you can add Shaq, prime Amare, Chris Bosh, Yao Ming, Dirk Nowitzki, Dwight Howard, and Kevin Martin to that list. In terms of pure scoring ability, Isaiah is in extremely select company. No, even flukey seasons like Mike James in 2005 and Flip Murray in 2001 don’t qualify at this level of production. And no, you can’t just assume that the 12th man on the Pelicans roster will be able to replicate Isaiah’s combination of volume and efficiency if you jack up his usage and number of shots. Its an absurd proposition.
2. The addition of Isaiah to the starting lineup along with the addition of a (healthy) Rudy Gay has ramped up the Kings offense into elite territory. Taking out the game when Rudy was suffering from knee issues, with Isaiah and Rudy as starters, the Kings’ offensive rating has jumped up a full 3 points to 110.2. If this number holds up for the entire season, that would be good for 4th in the entire NBA. It’s an extremely small sample size of 5 games, but considering that Rudy was essentially thrown out there without much practice or training camp, its highly encouraging. Just visually speaking, Isaiah has been able to play between the gaps in the defense caused by Cousins and Gay’s presence extremely well, repeatedly getting to the rim and finding space to pull up for his midrange jumper.
The stats for the last six games for the trio are as follows:
Thomas: 20.5 points, 3.2 rebounds, 6.7 assists, .577 TS%, 23.2 USG%
Gay: 18.8 points, 3.7 rebounds, 2.8 assists, .576 TS%, 25.1 USG%
Cousins: 22.5 points, 11.5 rebounds, 4.8 assists, .583 TS%, 30.2 USG%
That’s essentially roughly 60 points per game from three shot-creators using roughly 78% of the available possessions. There is really not much more you can ask for offensively from a “big three”.
So offensively at least, Isaiah isn’t just an expendable, replaceable commodity. He’s powering the team’s offense to new heights, Demarcus and Rudy play much better alongside him, and he’s still getting scoring points on his own at an elite level. Even looking at the entire season, the Kings have had a middle-of-the-pack ORtg despite only 2 (!!!) players (Cousins and Isaiah) above league average in TS%. That’s basically two guys making the offense NBA-average surrounded by chaff.
3. Defensively there are significant question marks as to whether Isaiah starting can work. There are concerns not only about his size but also his effort level. It seems to me that Isaiah tends to coast defensively to expend more energy on offense. When your guard-line includes a raw rookie beside you, that’s not going to get it done defensively. Not only are guards the first line of defense in half-court sets, but they are also critical to stopping leakouts in transition defense. Isaiah and McLemore is not going to get it done right now when McLemore is still a raw 20 year old learning the game. This is compounded with Cousins and Thompson frequently blowing rotations and fouling at unacceptable rates.
There some options for long-term solutions. The obvious one (that we’re going to have to make regardless of Isaiah’s situation) is to replace Thompson with a plus defender who can protect the rim and space the floor.
The next is to address the guard line of defense. In the long-term, we need a defensive specialist at one of those positions. One option is to develop McLemore into a low usage, defensive-oriented player. I’ve been impressed with his improvements on defense thus far. However that would be a waste of his natural talent to be left picking up the offensive scraps leftover when Isaiah, Gay and Cousins are done. Another option is to bring McLemore off the bench and get a Thabo Sefalosha-type of 3+D player to play next to Isaiah. The last option is to bring in a defensive oriented roleplaying PG (a Mario Chalmers type) to play next to McLemore and bring Isaiah off the bench in a gunner role. The last option would obviously be predicated on McLemore’s development as a legitimate third option behind Cousins and Gay.
As for this season, there really are no other options beside starting Isaiah and McLemore together. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t questions for Kings fans to monitor throughout the season. Namely, does the offense continue to power on at the rate that it has? Does Isaiah continue to score efficiently without squeezing out Gay and Cousins? How fast does McLemore develop offensively? Defensively, what is Isaiah’s effort like? How fast is McLemore improving on defense?
The answers to these questions are going to determine whether Isaiah is the right fit for the franchise as a starter moving forward. As for the significant anti-Isaiah animus prevalent in the Kings fandom, it appears to feed off of preconceived notions of what kind of PG a championship team demands. The truth is that almost every type of PG under the sun has won a championship. You have your first options offensively (Tony Parker, Chauncey Billups, Isiah Thomas). You have defensive-oriented roleplayers (Mario Chalmers, Derek Fisher). You have pass-first PGs (Jason Kidd, Rajon Rondo). If you open it up to teams who have made the finals, the results become even more scattered. You add Russell Westbrook (score-first athletic behemoth), Jameer Nelson (score-first quick midget), John Stockton (pass-first with elite shooting ability), Allen Iverson (SG in PG’s body), etc. etc.
Essentially there’s no archetype to a championship-winning PG. And if you waste all of your resources looking for what your favored style of play is while ignoring clear talent on your own roster, you waste away years of Cousins’ career due to brainless inflexibility. There is zero inherent reason why Isaiah can’t be the starting PG on a championship caliber team if that team is constructed correctly. The only reason will be if his play doesn’t support it, which so far has not been the case. It may be moving forward, but at this point in time it simply hasn’t.
When you let your bias in an argument lead you to ridiculous conclusions, based solely on your desire to be right, you've just lost the argument. Entity pointed a gun at you, and you pointed back with your finger. The word bang never hurt anyone.
Before the politically correct have a heart attack, I was merely creating a metaphor which has nothing to do with reality.
Before the politically correct have a heart attack, I was merely creating a metaphor which has nothing to do with reality.
Bravo! This has been what the Pro-IT (absurd that the label even exists. We should want ALL Kings to succeed.) have been saying all along, despite the massive amount of distortion that has developed from this debate. IT-Gay-Cousins stats is especially impressive. Small sample size concerns obviously, but that would be in play for the best offensive threesome in the NBA. Probably only Steph/Klay/Lee and Bron/Wade/Bosh would have similar numbers.
Still going to take a little more time to draw definitive conclusions for me due to how few games IT has started, lack of practice with Gay and riding out the turbulence of ben's rookie campaign. IT and Demarcus particularly have some kinks to iron our. As far as I'm concerned we may have achieved the same results if you took our IT and plugged in a random top 15 pg. the team unit has ways to go, and I hope there is a way for isaih to hold his own on d
On offense, sure. On defense, your point guard still needs to be able to carry his freight if you want to win playoff series consistently (much to Golden State's chagrin). I agree with you that Thomas is a very skilled offensive guard. I have seen enough over the past three seasons to conclude that his height and mentality make him a one-way player. That isn't without value, but it is not going to bring you championships in a big minutes role.
Which is something that exactly no one is suggesting.
Hypothetically speaking, there are ways to build a team where Jimmer could be a starting point guard. I think you can slot him in place of Derek Fisher on the Lakers championship teams without much problem. The key is that he doesn't handle the ball, he only shoots wide open threes, and gets the benefit of every referee whistle because of purple and gold.
Hypothetically speaking, there are ways to build a team where Jimmer could be a starting point guard. I think you can slot him in place of Derek Fisher on the Lakers championship teams without much problem. The key is that he doesn't handle the ball, he only shoots wide open threes, and gets the benefit of every referee whistle because of purple and gold.
False! I suggest that Jimmer be our starting PG (I'm serious here)! But I only mean that in terms of our team now, not something long-term. IMO we would have better balance letting Jimmer be the starter while Cousins and Gay are on the floor rather than have him or Derrick Williams be a 6th man forcing the offense. We've already seen that IT has success coming off the bench.
Much of that is true. What is obscured though is this: how IT's "magic" works, and its likely inescapable attachment to our defensive woes.
IT is a scat back. As is, and will always be, mentioned, he's tiny. About average sized for a human male. A little gnat on an NBA court. This has consequences. Some are actually good, most are not so But the huge huge one for all his effectiveness, is IT comes into the game, or starts the game, and your pace skyrockets. It has to. There is no other way for a 5'9" guy to play. There have been no 5'9" halfcourt specialists in NBA history that I am aware of. When you are that small, the open court is your friend, you need space, scattered play. IT is very good at thriving in that chaotic corner of the NBA world, all kinds of fancy numbers get put up...on both sides of the ball. Once again for casual fans its all fun, and neat, and lots of numbers flipping on the scoreboard -- its like being in Vegas! Woot!
The problem is, that's not how you win in the end. You can become a decent team if you get that done well enough. Rack up some regular season wins. But in the end, when the game gets serious, it slows down, becomes a slugfest, and your 5'9" scatback isn't going to cut it anymore. And if the hypothesis is correct, it makes it exponentially harder to be a good defensive team, for the same reasons that in American football its hard to be a good defensive team with a run n gun (duck n chuck) wide open offense. Scrambling the game constantly may be good for IT. It might even get other players some offensive numbers, but it can simultaneously be very bad for your defense or long term serious prospects. It all stems from the same process. This is also why the idea of little guys as "change of pace" guards has been such a staple. They do come in, give you a jolt, change things up. But its a change from the more controlled system that serious teams normally run. And those systems, that pace, do not cater to IT's strengths at all. Its hard for him to function in a crowded set halfcourt. Its hard for him to feed the ball inside against defenders 6 inches taller than him. And so boom! Step on the accelerator and its off to the races again! Whee!! Numbers!! Ching! Ching! But the problem is that basketball, nor any sport, has never been about putting up numbers. Its about your team putting up BIGGER numbers than your opponents. You could score 1000 pts in a game, but if your opponents score 1010 in return, then your system still sucks and you lose.
IT is a scat back. As is, and will always be, mentioned, he's tiny. About average sized for a human male. A little gnat on an NBA court. This has consequences. Some are actually good, most are not so But the huge huge one for all his effectiveness, is IT comes into the game, or starts the game, and your pace skyrockets. It has to. There is no other way for a 5'9" guy to play. There have been no 5'9" halfcourt specialists in NBA history that I am aware of. When you are that small, the open court is your friend, you need space, scattered play. IT is very good at thriving in that chaotic corner of the NBA world, all kinds of fancy numbers get put up...on both sides of the ball. Once again for casual fans its all fun, and neat, and lots of numbers flipping on the scoreboard -- its like being in Vegas! Woot!
The problem is, that's not how you win in the end. You can become a decent team if you get that done well enough. Rack up some regular season wins. But in the end, when the game gets serious, it slows down, becomes a slugfest, and your 5'9" scatback isn't going to cut it anymore. And if the hypothesis is correct, it makes it exponentially harder to be a good defensive team, for the same reasons that in American football its hard to be a good defensive team with a run n gun (duck n chuck) wide open offense. Scrambling the game constantly may be good for IT. It might even get other players some offensive numbers, but it can simultaneously be very bad for your defense or long term serious prospects. It all stems from the same process. This is also why the idea of little guys as "change of pace" guards has been such a staple. They do come in, give you a jolt, change things up. But its a change from the more controlled system that serious teams normally run. And those systems, that pace, do not cater to IT's strengths at all. Its hard for him to function in a crowded set halfcourt. Its hard for him to feed the ball inside against defenders 6 inches taller than him. And so boom! Step on the accelerator and its off to the races again! Whee!! Numbers!! Ching! Ching! But the problem is that basketball, nor any sport, has never been about putting up numbers. Its about your team putting up BIGGER numbers than your opponents. You could score 1000 pts in a game, but if your opponents score 1010 in return, then your system still sucks and you lose.
Last edited:
I think that there are possible ways to win in sort of typical unique, underdog fashion. In about every field there's always that rarity that comes along and succeeds where nobody thought it would. But that's not going to happen if only one guy excels in that chaotic setting. Assemble an entire team of 5'9 guys, take the league by surprise just running and win a bunch of games 160-158. It might just get you deep into the playoffs for a season. Of course you'd be screwed the next season once other teams adjust and you wouldn't be able to actually build a proper team for another 10 years or something. Just keeping that tiny possibility open (pun intended) 
Well, you get points for creativity. Definitely an interesting spin on the run-of-the-mill "he's 5'9 so he's icky" line of thinking.
Engaging vignette aside, the truth is that Isaiah isn't very good in transition. According to Synergy, he's only scoring 1.12 points per possession in transition, which ranks him a paltry 71st in the entire league. And that makes perfect sense. Why? Because the kind of player that excels in transition isn't the 5'9 with quicks and medicore end-to-end speed. Its the big, long, athletic freaks of nature that do best. The Derrick Rose, John Wall, Russell Westbrook, Tyreke Evans type. Ben McLemore, Rudy Gay, Derrick Williams. Etc. Etc. Truth is, you have a 5'9 guy of Isaiah's dimensions running against one of these athletic monsters in an open court, my money's on the bigger, badder dude getting the best of the little guy. Unless, of course, you get a brain like Steve Nash or Jason Kidd. Or if you're end-to-end among the fastest players in the league like Ty Lawson (which Isaiah is not).
The truth is that Isaiah's best in the halfcourt. He's best in a set pick-and-roll with the floor spaced out; Synergy supports this (0.9 points per possession as the pick-and-roll ballhandler, good for 14th in the NBA). His size gives him the ability to have excellent ball control, even in traffic, and allows him to slip around and through tightly congested areas that bigger players otherwise would not be able to. This is Isaiah's favored element. Not the open court where more naturally gifted players have the advantage. Truth is that the Kings are a middle-of-the-pack team in terms of pace.
And the funny thing about pace is that offensive rating actually adjusts for pace (estimated points scored per 100 possessions). Its a neat little trick the stat nerds built into the rating to control for things like wildly fast paced teams. The team's offensive rating grades pretty nicely with Isaiah and Rudy in the lineup.
So while the "he's 5'9 ergo he must play fast ergo not built for playoffs" story is an innovative way to disguise the "he's 5'9 so ew" thought, it doesn't really hold up when actually examining whats happening on the court. So it ought to be shelved with the rest of the fairy tales spinning yarn.
Engaging vignette aside, the truth is that Isaiah isn't very good in transition. According to Synergy, he's only scoring 1.12 points per possession in transition, which ranks him a paltry 71st in the entire league. And that makes perfect sense. Why? Because the kind of player that excels in transition isn't the 5'9 with quicks and medicore end-to-end speed. Its the big, long, athletic freaks of nature that do best. The Derrick Rose, John Wall, Russell Westbrook, Tyreke Evans type. Ben McLemore, Rudy Gay, Derrick Williams. Etc. Etc. Truth is, you have a 5'9 guy of Isaiah's dimensions running against one of these athletic monsters in an open court, my money's on the bigger, badder dude getting the best of the little guy. Unless, of course, you get a brain like Steve Nash or Jason Kidd. Or if you're end-to-end among the fastest players in the league like Ty Lawson (which Isaiah is not).
The truth is that Isaiah's best in the halfcourt. He's best in a set pick-and-roll with the floor spaced out; Synergy supports this (0.9 points per possession as the pick-and-roll ballhandler, good for 14th in the NBA). His size gives him the ability to have excellent ball control, even in traffic, and allows him to slip around and through tightly congested areas that bigger players otherwise would not be able to. This is Isaiah's favored element. Not the open court where more naturally gifted players have the advantage. Truth is that the Kings are a middle-of-the-pack team in terms of pace.
And the funny thing about pace is that offensive rating actually adjusts for pace (estimated points scored per 100 possessions). Its a neat little trick the stat nerds built into the rating to control for things like wildly fast paced teams. The team's offensive rating grades pretty nicely with Isaiah and Rudy in the lineup.
So while the "he's 5'9 ergo he must play fast ergo not built for playoffs" story is an innovative way to disguise the "he's 5'9 so ew" thought, it doesn't really hold up when actually examining whats happening on the court. So it ought to be shelved with the rest of the fairy tales spinning yarn.
I've always thought of Isaiah to be an Avery Johnson type of player...minus a bit of the true PG skills. I think if we end up holding on to him during the duration of rebuilding and making him a big part of the future, he probably will reap more benefits once fruition from the rebuild has hopefully happened. Only problem Isaiah has right now is he thinks he's an Allen Iverson-type, which I think he will grow out of once we get stronger, team-wise. I'll take a 'little general' on my team anyday.
I don't know if I'd bet the mortgage on that: http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/2013/12/qa-isaiah-thomas-2/
waste of a perfectly good Christmas eve. Nonetheless, observe:
Transition attempts as percentage of offense with NBA conversion % rank, all starting PGs:
24.7% 83rd Wall
24.6% 22nd Dragic
24.2% 118th Westbrook
22.5% 114th Lawson
22.3% 66th Bledsoe
21.3% 71st IT
21.3% 66th Teague
19.8% 163rd Rose
19.8% 148th Williams
19.4% 160th Chalmers
18.4% 91st Parker
17.9% 150th Jennings
16.7% 71st Beverly
16.7% 149th Carter Williams
16.3% 138th Walker
16.0% 140th Curry
15.9% 105th Hill
15.3% 109th Crawford
15% 79th Lowry
14.3% 38th Irving
14.2% 42nd Lillard
13.8% 103rd Nelson
12.7% 105th COnley
12.3% 170th Rubio
12.1% 154th Holiday
11.8% 66th Paul
11.2% unranked Felton
10.6% unranked Blake
9% 2nd Calderon
IT up there amongst the run n gunners in percentage of his offense coming in transition
Now, not bothering whole league, just WC, here's those pick and roll numbers, which I presume are supposed to represent halfcourtness:
PnR attempts as percentage of offense with NBA conversion % rank, all WC starting PGs:
Paul 49.5% 14th
Holiday 46.1% 67th
Lillard 43.8% 8th
Parker 43.0% 21st
Rubio 43.0% 81st
Conley 41.6% 6th
Blake 41.3% 113th
Curry 39.5% 14th
Bledsoe 37.8% 35th
Dragic 37.7% 8th
Calderon 37.7% 5th
Thomas 35.5% 14th
Westbrook 30.5% 95th
Beverley 13.9% 13th
Note in particular that basically every one of Boogie's big man competitors aside from Howard, who is not built for pnr and refuses to run them anyway, has a PG more pnr forcused/halfcourt focused than Isaiah.
Transition attempts as percentage of offense with NBA conversion % rank, all starting PGs:
24.7% 83rd Wall
24.6% 22nd Dragic
24.2% 118th Westbrook
22.5% 114th Lawson
22.3% 66th Bledsoe
21.3% 71st IT
21.3% 66th Teague
19.8% 163rd Rose
19.8% 148th Williams
19.4% 160th Chalmers
18.4% 91st Parker
17.9% 150th Jennings
16.7% 71st Beverly
16.7% 149th Carter Williams
16.3% 138th Walker
16.0% 140th Curry
15.9% 105th Hill
15.3% 109th Crawford
15% 79th Lowry
14.3% 38th Irving
14.2% 42nd Lillard
13.8% 103rd Nelson
12.7% 105th COnley
12.3% 170th Rubio
12.1% 154th Holiday
11.8% 66th Paul
11.2% unranked Felton
10.6% unranked Blake
9% 2nd Calderon
IT up there amongst the run n gunners in percentage of his offense coming in transition
Now, not bothering whole league, just WC, here's those pick and roll numbers, which I presume are supposed to represent halfcourtness:
PnR attempts as percentage of offense with NBA conversion % rank, all WC starting PGs:
Paul 49.5% 14th
Holiday 46.1% 67th
Lillard 43.8% 8th
Parker 43.0% 21st
Rubio 43.0% 81st
Conley 41.6% 6th
Blake 41.3% 113th
Curry 39.5% 14th
Bledsoe 37.8% 35th
Dragic 37.7% 8th
Calderon 37.7% 5th
Thomas 35.5% 14th
Westbrook 30.5% 95th
Beverley 13.9% 13th
Note in particular that basically every one of Boogie's big man competitors aside from Howard, who is not built for pnr and refuses to run them anyway, has a PG more pnr forcused/halfcourt focused than Isaiah.
One thing I'd forgotten to mention about last night's game is that apparently our entire team is so afraid of being t'd up for foul language that they don't say a freaking word. They are mimes without the costumes out there, making no attempt to communicate with each other. The only time you hear anything is when someone from the bench yells something... Not sure why this is, but I sure wish they'd work on that.
Oh, and one more thing? Spacing is virtually non-existent. At least twice last night, I saw what appeared to me to be our own players setting picks that another one of our players would run into. And why? See above.
Oh, and one more thing? Spacing is virtually non-existent. At least twice last night, I saw what appeared to me to be our own players setting picks that another one of our players would run into. And why? See above.
Would it be too much to ask for you to deal with the now, for a moment?
I mean, let's suppose, for the sake of argument, that you get your wish, and we're in a position to, and actually draft, Marcus Smart. There are fifty-five more games between now and then: do you have any useful suggestions for the meantime?
I mean, let's suppose, for the sake of argument, that you get your wish, and we're in a position to, and actually draft, Marcus Smart. There are fifty-five more games between now and then: do you have any useful suggestions for the meantime?
I must be missing something. i guess i just feel that there is no reason to really discuss the PG situation because it is not going to last long. we all know Isaiah wont be the long term answer and this team is not going to play the next 55 games with Isaiah Thomas/Jimmer Fredette PG combo. And what we do in those 55 games is meaningless. we are building towards the future not building to make a Finals run this season
Yep.
Slim is saying, IMHO, that it's real easy to just toss out the name of a potential pick in the next draft. But it's not really germane to the discussion if you're one of the people who are looking for more moves now to address more of the team weaknesses.
What we do in the remaining games is anything but meaningless.
Slim is saying, IMHO, that it's real easy to just toss out the name of a potential pick in the next draft. But it's not really germane to the discussion if you're one of the people who are looking for more moves now to address more of the team weaknesses.
What we do in the remaining games is anything but meaningless.
- Status