[Grades] Grades v. Celtics 2/20/2015

[Kingster]

Ben??

Yeah, I've seen some nice passes off the dribble drive for a young player, but I'm not banking on him being above average as a passer in a couple of years. Maybe? I dunno.

 

[IfAt1st]

And a similarly careful analysis of his turnovers?

OK.

His turnovers are (vast majority) because he is being unselfish and seeing a pass that isn't there. The defenders are being hyper-vigilant (for some weird reason) whenever he has the ball and are getting lightning-quick hands to deflect and capture his passes. This isn't normal in the NBA. Go watch other teams - most of the time, when a big guy is down low, the cutters have nice lanes and if he passes the ball it leads to a good shot/assist. Teams are over-playing Demarcus' passes.

Demarcus could stop passing tomorrow, if he wanted.
It's not like anyone's putting a gun to his head and saying "pass to your teammates!" Hell, even Tyreke didn't respond to the virtual gun the fanbase was putting up to him back then.
Which means since this is a deliberate attempt by Boogie to get his teammates involved, he could stop doing it if he wanted.
I think as soon as the Kings get into competitive games they really want to win (like a playoff race or the playoffs themselves) Demarcus would start taking the ball himself more.
Of course, if the Kings were a winning team, it's probably because Demarcus IS taking the ball himself more and converting at a good rate, so there's a bit of a chicken/egg thing going on.

The one thing he can do today is : If he isn't double-teamed, DON'T PASS THE BALL.
He simply has to make his play (whether it works or not) when he is single-teamed if he wants to be a superstar in this league. Keep the passing for when he is double-teamed and having to react to the pressure he's putting on them.

Right now, he's passing before he's applying the unstoppable pressure to teams.
He seems to be a reluctant dominant big superstar-in-training. I hate it when he works to get position, they actually entry-pass to him, then he dribbles once or twice, then passes it back out (not a re-set/re-setting)- it's like "What are you working all game to get down there for, if you're single-covered and you give up the ball!"

 

[Bricklayer]

And a similarly careful analysis of his turnovers?

Nothing that complex there. A player of Cuz's ilk is always going to average maybe 3 a game just naturally. There will be offensive fouls, guys diving down to slap at the ball, occasional picked off kickout passes, of course they are often doubled and swarmed which ups the chances.

These are the per game TO averages for 6 of the greatest centers of the past 30+ years, up through their final year as a 20pt scorer (i.e. I stopped the count before the declining seasons when some of them might only have been playing 20min a night and averaging 8ppg):

Ewing 3.3
Moses 3.5
Mourning 3.2
O'Neal 2.9
Hakeem 3.2
Robinson 2.9

So 3.0 turnovers a game? Just happens. You don't even worry about it. cost of doing business in there.

And Boogie this season started off in November averaging 3.6TO/gm. That was it. A tad high, might ask him to be a little more careful, but then again he moves better than any of those other guys, there is no more illegal defense, he's frequently driving etc., so hey, 3.6 is really not an unreasonable thing.

But, BUT, when he returned to find Corbin at the helm, all of a sudden his role changed, and the weight of carrying the entire team fell heavy on his shoulders. We fell on our faces, and he started trying to make everything happen that was going to happen. Meanwhile we faced him up, took him away from the hoop, asked him to make passing decisions, and the turnovers skyrocketed to ridiculous levels. In January and February he averaged 5.2 and 5.1 TO, and almost all of the new TO that weren't there in November were purely him trying to make the offense go as a passer. You can see it very clearly in the numbers. In November he was averaging an ok 2.6ast with his 3.6TO. He comes back, the role is changed, and he averaged 4.0ast in Jan, 3.9in Feb to go with those 5TO a night. We, the franchise, the system, the coaching, created this TO plague by asking a 270lb center to do things you just don't normally ask 270lb centers to do. We can likely end it the same way.

 

[pshn80]

Thanks,Brick, I appreciate your take on the Cuz TO problem."