That's a shootist chart. He's good from almost all the points on the floor you shoot from. Right corner, left corner, right wing, left wing...doesn't matter because he is a shootist. The most question mark raising thing about Ben right now, aside from just looking like he's never played defense before, is the shooting. Everything looks great right up until he releases the ball. Then he's John Salmons.
On the positive side I am reminded of another scrawny ballhandling challenged shooting guard who struggled to actually shoot as a rookie who we had once. After his rookie season, you just didn't know. It wasn't translating. 8 years later Kevin Martin's hit a lot of shots.
Yes, but Klay's shooting chart also looked much different his first two months in the league. IMO, they're the same type of player although slightly different. Ben obviously is more athletic, more of a high flier who leaks out in transition while Klay relies more on his size rather than athleticism. While Klay is a superior defender and at this point is without a doubt smarter on that end, I think MLM's athleticism provides more upside and versatility on that end, a higher ceiling. Both are heavily reliant on movement to get their shots and neither are great ball handlers. Klay is superior taking an escape dribble or two and combined with his size going right up and rising over the defender. But I'd also say MLM has occasionally shown more ability to get to the rim and in the paint than Klay.
I've watched most of Klay's games and followed his progression, being here in the Bay Area and getting all the GS games on tv and Klay's initial struggles are similar to MLM's. Very good shooter reputation wise who struggled finding his spots, his windows in the NBA game. That slowly improved but let's not forget Klay was quite poor, even labelled a bust by some after his first few months.
Klay's rookie year:
Dec-4 games: 3 PPP, 2.0 RPG, .267 FG%
Jan-15 games: 7.7 PPG, 1.3 RPG, .448 FG%
Feb-13 games: 8.1 PPG, 2.1 RPG, .488 FG%
March- 18 games: 16.4 PPG, 2.6 RPG, .421 FG%
April- 16-games: 18.6 PPG, 3.8 RPG, .459 FG%
His first 32+ games he looked pretty lost, even arguably more lost than MLM currently looks. The adjustment really came in early March where the speed of the game appeared to slow down for him.
Ben in comparison:
Nov-13 games: 9.5 PPG, 3.1 RPG, .393 FG%
Dec- 4 games: 13.3 PPG, 4.5 RPG, .373 FG%
Remains to be seen if sometime in Feb/March the game really slows down for MLM but in comparison to Klay's first year I don't see much worry at this point and we are seeing an uptick in Ben's production. Giving what we have with Jimmer it's always risky declaring a college shooter will have his shot translate to this level sooner or later, but I don't see MLM having trouble getting off shots. It's the the rhythm of those shots and finding out where and when they'll come which takes time. Confidence comes into play as well. Maybe I'll end up being wrong but I do generally see a number of similarities between Klay/MLM in their style of play and many times there is an adjustment period for off the ball players. Peja went through it too. I would not at all be surprised if by Feb or March, MLM is putting up 15-17 PPG on 42-45% FG and getting around 5 RPG. I think he'll look less error prone on defense by that point too. That would compare favorably to a rookie Klay. And at that point it's more the game slowing down and knowing where your spots and and getting to them quicker, as well as the confidence of your teammates to find you quicker, at least imo.
Of course, comparing players like this isn't an exact science and involves some speculation, but I am one who's made the comparison between the two after watching most of Klay's games.
