Boogie By the Numbers -- A Statistical Breakdown of DeMarcus Cousins

[Bricklayer]

This has been under construction for a week, uses a lot of graphical aids which only fit 4 per post according to our software settings, and so is probably going to end up being as much power point presentation worthy of getting a job with the Maloofs as normal post.

You see a lot of ignorance out there about DeMarcus Cousins and his game. I'm not talking about Tyreke Evans type issues where its just a question of not properly valuing a player/skillset, in Boogie's case I mean flat out IGNORANCE, as in people, especially non-Kings fans, not even knowing what makes up Boogie's game. Through the auspices of hoopdata.com and their nifty shot tracking statistics I'm aiming to shed a little light on the topic, so next time one of your non-Kings fans friends says something stupid about Boogie, or next time you see something stupid said about him around the net, you will be able to jump right in and say "nuh uh", and have the numbers to back it up.

Part I -- Boogie At The Rim

At The Rim -- A late surge saw DeMarcus pass up Griffith and Monroe and Reke to lead the league in shots at the rim this season (per 40 minutes he was 2nd to Pekovic). So next time some ignoramus takes a look at Cousins shooting % and tries to claim the reason the percentages are low at this stage is because he settles for jumpshots, just slap them. Hard. Nobody in the entire league gets on the rim more than Boogie does. You will note Reke there at #5, and 1st amongst all guards -- together we have the #1 rim attacking duo in the entire league, well ahead of the HOF Wade/LeBron duo in Miami. You may also note the low assisted shots percentage for our two guys -- basically lower than any other non-PGs. Our guys do the work themselves, they aren't being spoonfed.

At The Rim FG% -- Now of course here is the flipside of Boogie's At The Rim dominance: I sorted the table above by major minutes centers, and Boogie is right down at the bottom in FG% on those shots at the rim. He's got some pretty good company amongst other below the rim finesse type centers like Noah, Hibbert and Kaman, but with him throwing up so many shots at point blank range, its the single biggest factor in his FG% not being better than it is. If Boogie did no more than hit the league average for centers at the rim (65.1% -- you can see it at the top of the table) he would have scored 39 more FGs this season and raised his FG% to 48.8%.

Blocked -- now of course it is tempting to blame a nice chunk of that relatively low interior FG% on Boogie gettign his shots blocked, and as you can see above, Cousins led the entire NBA in getting his shot blocked this year (you can also note Reke on that list -- go inside a lot wihtout hops, blocked shots will ensue). BUT when you look at the next column over, blocks as a percentage of shots (presumably all shots, not just interior shots) you can see that Boogie's percentage, while still high, is not out of line and nowhere near the top. He in fact gets about the same percentage of his shots blocked as does Nene (Reke drops entirely off the list if you look at percentage blocked). Its just that Boogie takes so MANY shots in there, that there is a lot more opportunity for them to be blocked.

Offensive Rebounding -- another potential explanation of Boogie's At Rim numbers is of course his offensive rebounding -- and Boogie of course doesn't do anything partway, its all either best in the league or worst, and offensive rebounding is something that he led the league in (I left Varejao on the list, but he did not have enough games to qualify otherwise). This also BTW helps explain the low assist numbers on his at rim opportunities, since the scores he gets from his dominant offensive rebounding work are of course all non-assisted. For those who prefer their stats "advanced", you can see the rebounding rates there will tell you...well pretty much exactly what the non-advanced stats will tell you. Even if you count the guys who did not play enough games (Varejao, Camby's half season in Houston etc.) Boogie is 4th in Offensive Rebounding Rate, 7th in Defnsive Rebounding Rate, adn 4th in overall Rebouding Rate (*rebouding rates take into account minutes and pace). In other words, Boogie can rebound with anybody.

P.S. Also note the column circled on the right for the perils of mushing stats together to get an "advanced" efficicency stat: our own DeMarcus Cousins ranked #4 in the entire league in Defensive Efficiency this year. He must be First Team All Defense right? Er...not so much. "Defensive Efficiency" just adds up steals, blocks, and charges taken. All good things to do, and Boogie has great hands and led the league in charges taken. He did not however lead the league in defensive effectiveness. But hey, "defensive efficiency" sounds very impressive to those who don't know the formula, so be sure to drop it onto a Lakers fan touting Bynum sometime.

 

[Bricklayer]

Part II -- If You Call Him A Center...

Call Boogie a center, and here is how he stands against other centers. Obviously his leading the pack at the rim hasn't changed, but the interesting stats to look at there are first, pan to the right until you hit the 16-23 foot jumper range. What you will notice there is that there are NO other centers who get on the rim as much as Boogie does that are even remotely as effective as he is from the perimeter. That makes him potentially the very best inside/outside center in the game.


The other column there of interest is the 3ft-9ft column just to the right of the at rim column. 3-9ft shots would normally be the tradional post shots. Hooks, short turnaround jumpers etc. You will notice in the modern NBA with every tall kid wanting to put on frilly diapers and shoot jumpers there are only a handful of major centers with significant games in this traditional post move area, and it just so happens the guys who do -- Howard, Bynum, Jefferson -- are the same guys who stand between Boogie and claiming the crown of league's best center. Boogie himself takes a fair number of shots in that range, but he does not hit them. It would be easy to conclude that he is therefore not a post player. However watch the following video which I tried to queue up to the relevant area, but it doesn't appear that you can tiemstamp a vid while embedding it via this software, so from 2:45 onward specifically:

[video=youtube;0ju2B2h_A4c#t=2m47s]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ju2B2h_A4c#t=2m47s[/video]


The key I think is that Cousins is just rampantly aggressive. He absolutely DOES have a post game, including some nasty stuff with those spins. But all of his post moves, in fact almost all of his any kind of moves, are designed to get right to the rim (note for your non-Kings fans friends, Boogie is a left block player -- that's the side he wants to post from). What he is lacking is the passive post moves that let you score from a little further out on hooks or turnarounds. Most of his shots in that 3-9ft areas aren't post attempts at all, but rather those ugly offbalance prayers he throws up when he gets blocked away from the rim. Along with the at rim efficiency, this is a clear area where Boogie could improve, and dramatically. He's got the hands, feet, coordination and strength for it. He just needs a good coach to work with him on one or two short post area moves and its hard to imagine it not coming.

As a Center 16-23ft -- just resorting the centers by their attempts from 16-23 feet, and you can see that Cousins is up there amongst the elite shooting centers in the game. Bargnani aside, and you really don't want your center emulating that weenie anyway. Otherwise Mullens is an irrelevancy -- the jumper is all he has. Duncan is nearing retirement. And only Big Al, who is a great offensive player, looms as a major legitimate center with range to match Boogie. Note that even on long jumpers Boogie does it more on his own than virtually any other center, and has the assist rate to prove it.

Just a hot babe in case all of these charts and tables were causing anybody's attention to wander. Now that I have your undivided attention back, onto Boogie as a PF!

 

[Bricklayer]

Part III -- If You Call Him a PF...

Which I think is silly, or at least was this past season. But hoopdata for whatever reason embraced that silliness, calling Cousins our PF and Jason our C. And besides, there is the issue of what to do with DeMarcus if the best shotblocker we can get is a center himself. So thought I would compare his same numbers to the PFs this time.

PFs At Rim Attempts -- notable here is the extreme similarity right down the line of Boogie's shot distribution, and that of Blake Griffith, Kevin Love (sans 3pt shooting), and David Lee. In essense Boogie's game is built like that of one of the elite PFs, except he's bigger.

PFs At Rim Per 40 Min -- ok, and threw this one in just to show that the above raw stat table could be a little deceptive. All those PFs played a lot more minutes than did Boogie, so you take a look at their attempts per 40 min, and no PF attacks the rim remotely like Boogie.

PFs 16-23ft -- on the other hand Boogie, who is an exceptional outside shooter for a center, becomes merely average if you call him a PF. Of course as noted that averageness places him right in some pretty damn good company alongside Blake and Lee and Love (if you ignore the 3pt shooting). But he's still just another good outside shooter if that's what you call him. Not surprisingly as a PF his advantage is inside. As a C, its his ability to play inside-out.

 

[ParniValjak]

All these stats show us is that Cuz is a beast whichever way you slice it and dice it! He is a unique talent and we are lucky to have him.

Now if we could just have a coach who can get the best out of Cousins and Tyreke at the same time then we would be rocking.

 

[upinsmoke]

Mila Kunis always comes through in the clutch! But seriously this is why I bealive CUZ can be as good as he wants to be, first ballot HOF'er or frindge all-star depending on how bad he wants it.

 

[The_Jamal]

Great thread! What sticks out to me/makes me happy is how much work Boogie has to do on his own, which accounts for a lot of his efficiency problems. Kevin Love is the only guy who has to do it on his own as much as Boogie, and he gets away with doing so because he's such an elite shooter from everywhere on the floor. We need to make it a priority to get Boogie in better positions to score and not rely on him to only create for himself. Obviously, he needs to work on his shot selection as well, but getting him easier shots will turn him into a 20 PPG scorer next season

 

[mac]

Mila Kunis always comes through in the clutch! But seriously this is why I bealive CUZ can be as good as he wants to be, first ballot HOF'er or frindge all-star depending on how bad he wants it.

I think eventually he'll reach a point where he'll need a HOFer to mentor and teach him for him to really dominate in the league. Like Brick said - those "passive" post moves are what he really needs, and the great bigs can teach him the footwork and how he can use his body to create space. Spending time with a HOF big may actually turn out to be less about the post moves, and more about learning to have the mentality and dedication of a great basketball player.

 

[The_Jamal]

I think eventually he'll reach a point where he'll need a HOFer to mentor and teach him for him to really dominate in the league. Like Brick said - those "passive" post moves are what he really needs, and the great bigs can teach him the footwork and how he can use his body to create space. Spending time with a HOF big may actually turn out to be less about the post moves, and more about learning to have the mentality and dedication of a great basketball player.

Well, he's been offered the help. Shaq invited him to his big-man camp, and I'm sure C-Webb would work with him if Boogie approached him.

 

[upinsmoke]

Yea your right MAC I'll admit I did not know who Clifford Ray is but after doing a little homework on who he is I think he's a good place to start. I heard Shaq invited him to his camp and Webber had developed a relation with him but either way his ceiling is higher than ever. Thank you MINN/NJ/PHI especially.

 

[The_Jamal]

Yea your right MAC I'll admit I did not know who Clifford Ray is but after doing a little homework on who he is I think he's a good place to start. I heard Shaq invited him to his camp and Webber had developed a relation with him but either way his ceiling is higher than ever. Thank you MINN/NJ/PHI especially.

Clifford Ray was an absolutely perfect find for our bigs. He's one of the most fundementally sound defensive bigs in NBA history and a lot of the improvement we saw out of JT and Cousins at the end of the year was directly correlated with the hiring of Ray. I'm really excited for him to have a full-offseason with Cousins, JT, Whiteside, and potentially a rookie big.

 

[MassachusettsKingsFan]

Yea your right MAC I'll admit I did not know who Clifford Ray is but after doing a little homework on who he is I think he's a good place to start. I heard Shaq invited him to his camp and Webber had developed a relation with him but either way his ceiling is higher than ever. Thank you MINN/NJ/PHI especially.

Side question - For all the 'Smart haters' out there (half joking! I don't love Smart, but I like him more than some others around here do) .. does he get any credit for bringing Clifford Ray in?

 

[bajaden]

Yea your right MAC I'll admit I did not know who Clifford Ray is but after doing a little homework on who he is I think he's a good place to start. I heard Shaq invited him to his camp and Webber had developed a relation with him but either way his ceiling is higher than ever. Thank you MINN/NJ/PHI especially.

In general, players that wern't particularly gifted height wise or athleticly, tend to be the best coaches. They had to work hard to get the most out what they had. It didn't come easy to them. As a result, they have more patience as a teacher, and usually have more tricks up their sleve on how to play a position. Clifford Ray falls into that catagory. The problem with great players as teachers, and not all of them of course, is that the game came easy to them and they have a hard time understanding why someone else can't just do what they did.

I'm not saying that Shaq or Webb, couldn't be of great help. But as far as I know, neither has a reputation of being a teacher. Teaching isn't about what you know as a teacher, its about how well you can communicate that information. Example: Ted Williams was one of the best hitters of all time, but he was terrible hands on teacher. He wasn't a very good manager either. Again, I'm not trying to discredit Shaq or Webb. I have no idea how good they would be.

 

[bajaden]

Side question - For all the 'Smart haters' out there (half joking! I don't love Smart, but I like him more than some others around here do) .. does he get any credit for bringing Clifford Ray in?

I'm willing to reserve my judgement on Smart until he has another season, and hopefully, a season with a more balanced lineup. I'll admit that I wasn't very pleased with some of his lineups, or his substitution patterns. But I do think it would have been a lot more palatable if he hadn't been following Westphal, who had already poked every sore spot available in that area. One thing I think we can all agree on, is that the play of Cousins and Thompson improved under Smart, as well as the atmostphere. Some attributable to Smart taking a different approach to Cousins, and some to Ray, by teaching basic fundamentals, and patience. So we need to give credit where credit is due.

The jury is still out with Tyreke, and how Smart handled him. But what Smart did do, is take Tyreke out of his comfort zone and make him play a different type of game. In the short term it had mixed reviews. But in the long term, especially if Tyreke can end up at the SG position, it should make him a better all around player. It appears, and I'm using the word, appears, that Smart actually has a plan. Whereas Westphal seemed to have a kneejerk approach to the game. While Smart seemed to like playing with the perimeter players where the rotations were concerned, he did pencil in Cousins and Thompson in the frontcourt and stuck with it. And I think he would have played Cuz close to 40 minutes a game if he could have stayed out of foul trouble, and had the stamina. So he might not be quite as big a fan of small ball as one would think.

 

[VF21]

My only question is: Was it Smart's decision or Petrie's to bring in Clifford Ray? I don't remember if the choice was attributed to one or the other.

 

[upinsmoke]

Great point on Evans BAJADEN. Numbers aside all you have to do watch rookie season DMC film and compare it to this season's to see how much his game has improved. Today he is much more comfortable on the court and is learning to find his balance on offense that led to alot of turnovers early on.

 

[Section 101]

My only question is: Was it Smart's decision or Petrie's to bring in Clifford Ray? I don't remember if the choice was attributed to one or the other.

Smart. He coached with him in the CBA and Cavs.

 

[gunks]

I'm willing to reserve my judgement on Smart until he has another season, and hopefully, a season with a more balanced lineup. I'll admit that I wasn't very pleased with some of his lineups, or his substitution patterns. But I do think it would have been a lot more palatable if he hadn't been following Westphal, who had already poked every sore spot available in that area. One thing I think we can all agree on, is that the play of Cousins and Thompson improved under Smart, as well as the atmostphere. Some attributable to Smart taking a different approach to Cousins, and some to Ray, by teaching basic fundamentals, and patience. So we need to give credit where credit is due.

The jury is still out with Tyreke, and how Smart handled him. But what Smart did do, is take Tyreke out of his comfort zone and make him play a different type of game. In the short term it had mixed reviews. But in the long term, especially if Tyreke can end up at the SG position, it should make him a better all around player. It appears, and I'm using the word, appears, that Smart actually has a plan. Whereas Westphal seemed to have a kneejerk approach to the game. While Smart seemed to like playing with the perimeter players where the rotations were concerned, he did pencil in Cousins and Thompson in the frontcourt and stuck with it. And I think he would have played Cuz close to 40 minutes a game if he could have stayed out of foul trouble, and had the stamina. So he might not be quite as big a fan of small ball as one would think.

The thing that really frustrated me about Smart putting Reke at the 3, is that while smart was working with Reke teaching him the nuances of being a lead guard, there appeared to be rapid improvement in that aspect of Rekes game. A lot of us have given up on the Reke is a PG thing, but I really saw some strides there. And then Reke got moved to SF and it all went poof!

Also, I can see Smart moving away from extended smallball lineups if we actually get a decent 3 next season (or if we see improvement from one of Outlaw or Honeycutt, I've given up on Salmons and Greene). Smart was initially running a full sized lineup, but the suckiness of our SF rotation forced his hand. Then one has to wonder about Magoof tampering with the IT for ROTY garbage.


On topic: Cousins is a monster. Clifford Ray seems to be a really good bigman coach (if the strides we've seen from our bigs is any indication). Bigs usually make a large jump in their third season. If Cousins works hard this offseason, and I have no reason to think he wont - he put in the work last year, I expect big things. I honestly think that 20/12 is a lowball prediction. He's going to turn some heads next year.

 

[gunks]

Smart. He coached with him in the CBA and Cavs.

That doesnt surprise me at all considering Petrie's idea of developing young players is bringing in Coachie to turn everyone into a 3pt shooter

 

[The_Jamal]

The thing that really frustrated me about Smart putting Reke at the 3, is that while smart was working with Reke teaching him the nuances of being a lead guard, there appeared to be rapid improvement in that aspect of Rekes game. A lot of us have given up on the Reke is a PG thing, but I really saw some strides there. And then Reke got moved to SF and it all went poof!

Also, I can see Smart moving away from extended smallball lineups if we actually get a decent 3 next season (or if we see improvement from one of Outlaw or Honeycutt, I've given up on Salmons and Greene). Smart was initially running a full sized lineup, but the suckiness of our SF rotation forced his hand. Then one has to wonder about Magoof tampering with the IT for ROTY garbage.


On topic: Cousins is a monster. Clifford Ray seems to be a really good bigman coach (if the strides we've seen from our bigs is any indication). Bigs usually make a large jump in their third season. If Cousins works hard this offseason, and I have no reason to think he wont - he put in the work last year, I expect big things. I honestly think that 20/12 is a lowball prediction. He's going to turn some heads next year.

thus, why it's logical to give Smart another season to see what he does with actual NBA talent at the 3 position. Where I would get worried is if we were able to secure an MKG or Batum type and we start seeing IT/Thornton/Reke/New "SF"/Cousins lineups for a majority of the game.

 

[Section 101]

The thing that really frustrated me about Smart putting Reke at the 3, is that while smart was working with Reke teaching him the nuances of being a lead guard, there appeared to be rapid improvement in that aspect of Rekes game. A lot of us have given up on the Reke is a PG thing, but I really saw some strides there. And then Reke got moved to SF and it all went poof!

I see it differently. Was he playing better after Smart took over. Definitely YES !!!! Ok, hear me I said yes. He was moving the ball more and not dribbling in place as much. He was improved in that area. He was not better at pushing the ball. He was still taking too long to get into the offense. I don't think he was making the right calls when initiating the offense either, ie, when to go to Cuz, JT etc and was missing mismatches. When Smart realized that Evans doesn't have the court vision and instincts of a PG he moved him. And since SF was our weakest position that's where he got moved.

I don't get where everyone is putting it as Evans vs IT when the real issue is Evans vs MT. One of them needs to move to the bench.

And to stay on topic, whoever is out there needs to realize Cuz is the first option !

 

[gunks]

I see it differently. Was he playing better after Smart took over. Definitely YES !!!! Ok, hear me I said yes. He was moving the ball more and not dribbling in place as much. He was improved in that area. He was not better at pushing the ball. He was still taking too long to get into the offense. I don't think he was making the right calls when initiating the offense either, ie, when to go to Cuz, JT etc and was missing mismatches. When Smart realized that Evans doesn't have the court vision and instincts of a PG he moved him. And since SF was our weakest position that's where he got moved.

I don't get where everyone is putting it as Evans vs IT when the real issue is Evans vs MT. One of them needs to move to the bench.
And to stay on topic, whoever is out there needs to realize Cuz is the first option !

Totally agree. But I still think it couldnt hurt to have Reke improve on those PG skills. Even as a SG he is probably going to have the ball a lot more than say, a Kevin Martin type guard. Also agree that Big Cuz needs to be option #1. I think Reke is the type to defer and be happy with a #2 role. MT as 6th man could be an issue, Thornton comes off as thinking he's the next coming (of who, I dont know) and would probably gripe if he was sent to the 2nd unit. Maybe Smart can sell it by comparing him to Harden or Ginobili?

IT/Reke/???*/JT/Cousins, 6th man MT isnt a bad lineup. If those guys are given roles and start to jell we could get a lot better.


*lets hope for MKG or Batum, even though its probably going to be Outlaw or Salmons.

 

[mac]

In general, players that wern't particularly gifted height wise or athleticly, tend to be the best coaches. They had to work hard to get the most out what they had. It didn't come easy to them. As a result, they have more patience as a teacher, and usually have more tricks up their sleve on how to play a position. Clifford Ray falls into that catagory. The problem with great players as teachers, and not all of them of course, is that the game came easy to them and they have a hard time understanding why someone else can't just do what they did.

I'm not saying that Shaq or Webb, couldn't be of great help. But as far as I know, neither has a reputation of being a teacher. Teaching isn't about what you know as a teacher, its about how well you can communicate that information. Example: Ted Williams was one of the best hitters of all time, but he was terrible hands on teacher. He wasn't a very good manager either. Again, I'm not trying to discredit Shaq or Webb. I have no idea how good they would be.

What about Hakeem?

 

[Gary]

Gotta love the Boogie! Have been praising him ever since I saw his first college game. I had seen HS clips, but didn't see a full game until I saw Kentucky play. I knew right then and there he would be an NBA star. Felt the same about Kevin Love, and look where he is!

Totally agree. But I still think it couldnt hurt to have Reke improve on those PG skills. Even as a SG he is probably going to have the ball a lot more than say, a Kevin Martin type guard. Also agree that Big Cuz needs to be option #1. I think Reke is the type to defer and be happy with a #2 role. MT as 6th man could be an issue, Thornton comes off as thinking he's the next coming (of who, I dont know) and would probably gripe if he was sent to the 2nd unit. Maybe Smart can sell it by comparing him to Harden or Ginobili?

IT/Reke/???*/JT/Cousins, 6th man MT isnt a bad lineup. If those guys are given roles and start to jell we could get a lot better.


*lets hope for MKG or Batum, even though its probably going to be Outlaw or Salmons.

I would love Batum, but I doubt there is anyway we will get them. MKG if we have the 3rd pick, Barnes if we have the 6th-8th pick.

 

[pdizo916]

How about his defensive numbers? I'm more interested in those.

 

[Gary]

How about his defensive numbers? I'm more interested in those.

Yah.. That's not going to happen

His blocks were up and he's a big body.. Against opposing centers he does fine (except defensive centers), but against PFs he gets abused. Better to keep JT on them because he does pretty well defensively. I would rather get us a defensive minded PF though that can block some shots so we could keep Cousins on the C so his deficiencies aren't exploited as much.

 

[Spike]

Wait a sec, wasn't this thread about Mila Kunis? I are confused.

 

[Gary]

Wait a sec, wasn't this thread about Mila Kunis? I are confused.

My bad..

 

[The Hammer]

Off topic:

For those that are still confused on why Reke played the three.

1. MALOOFS were pushing the IT ROY thing, therefore IT could not be coming off the bench.

2. MT and Smart's family are tight. And, it may have been partly a basketball decision, to leave him in the starting line up.

3. You bringing Reke off the bench would not have worked for a ton of reasons. Have Salmons starting over him?

Smart was forced into a corner here basically having to choose to start MT at the 2 and Reke at the 3, or Reke at the two and Salmons, etc at the three, or MT at the 2 and Salmons at the three.

I think he tried to make lemonade here and give Reke time at the three in order to give him a different perspective on the game to try to help his court vision for later, hopefully when he puts him back at the lead guard role. Personally, after thinking about it, I think it was the best possible use of the IT campaign imposed by the Maloofs. Much better for his development to give Reke that experience than to have him come off the bench. Maybe not so good if you're trying to eek out as many wins as you can this season, but then again, we weren't going to make the playoffs anyway, so might as well try to develop your second best player, given the circumstances.

Of course, the Maloofs might have been dictating the starting lineup more than just IT. Would not be surprised if they disallowed Reke to come off the bench... and Thornton for that matter. In any case, I think there were some uniquely productive things to come out of it in terms of Reke's development. Hopefully which will show up later.

 

[Tyndel]

Not really on the thread topic but Smart chose to have a 3 guard lineup he wasn't required too. That's why some of us don't see a good future with him and this team. He also chose to start Salmons for months without production and doesn't show any inclination to defense.

Cousins made good progress this year but its like he was told don't pass cause you got a few turnovers last year. Hopefully we take advantage of his very good passing in the future. We already know he will get more efficient as he matures as a player. he is very much below the rim so his efficiency will be more in line with a smaller position till he figures it out and starts using the right moves at the right time. He already has more moves then most centers will or have ever had.

 

[The Hammer]

Not really on the thread topic but Smart chose to have a 3 guard lineup he wasn't required too. That's why some of us don't see a good future with him and this team. He also chose to start Salmons for months without production and doesn't show any inclination to defense.

Cousins made good progress this year but its like he was told don't pass cause you got a few turnovers last year. Hopefully we take advantage of his very good passing in the future. We already know he will get more efficient as he matures as a player. he is very much below the rim so his efficiency will be more in line with a smaller position till he figures it out and starts using the right moves at the right time. He already has more moves then most centers will or have ever had.

Did you even read my post? My main point is that there were circumstances being dictated by the Maloofs that at least forced the three guard thing as an option. That's exactly my point. That it may not have been his choice. We at least know one of the cogs was the choice of the owners. You think the Maloofs would have allowed Tyreke to come off the bench? Yeah right. He could have made Thornton come off the bench, but if the Maloofs are already meddling in the starting line up with IT, it's not hard to see them telling Smart to not have Thornton come off the bench.

Now, in my opinion, if you're forced to start IT by the owners, then you find a way to have Thornton come off the bench, that would be the next logical step. But then there's that family connection between Smart and Thornton too so.... we don't have all the info.