Sportsline: Power Rankings: It's quality, not quantity of shots

[Revrag]

The buzz gets louder about Tyreke Evans and Brandon Jennings -- but Dave Del Grande isn't impressed with taking lots of shots for bad teams. He likes three rookies who shoot less and win more.

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[VF21]

I'm not sure who this guy is or what his credentials are, but with comments like this I have to wonder if he's actually watching the games or just looking at the stats.

Jennings and Evans are off to fabulous starts. No doubt about it. They rank 1-2 in scoring among rookies in the early going.

But have they been the most impactful first-year players so far? It says here: No.

Any NBA observer worth his meal-room credential will tell you it's easy putting up points for a bad team. And while the Kings and Bucks have surprised some in the first fortnight, make no mistake about it: They are bad teams.

Two numbers tell you everything you need to know about the efficiency of Evans and Jennings: 40.2 and 43.0. Those were their shooting percentages as they prepared to enter their third full week of pay-for-play.

In other words, they're scoring a lot because they're shooting a lot. It's a luxury afforded to rookies on talent-challenged teams.

As far as the bolded part goes, I don't think having a meal pass gives you particular insight to the NBA any more than having a yearly parking pass makes you an expert on building a parking structure.

 

[hrdboild]

Not to mention Evans and Jennings have both been primary factors in leading two of the most talent starved teams in the league to surprisingly good records so far. And the shooting percentages don't tell you that Evans is in the top 20 in the league in free throw attempts so far -- not amongst rookies, in the entire league. Lawson, Budinger, and Blair have all been playing an important role on winning teams but come on. It's not role-player of the year. None of those guys would be winning anything as the best player on their team.

 

[Bricklayer]

That's actually comical. I'm going to have shoot that tool an email. As a big fan of course.

 

[Kingsroots]

Yeah, that guy is terrible. He mentions the other, more "impactful" players while saying Jennings and Evans aren't. Is this guy even watching the games? If anything his logic points to the exact opposite conclusion. Jennings has led the Bucks to a hot start as well as Evans. The other guys have been fed the NBA on a silver platter going to playoff teams who already have proven leaders. There is much less pressure in those situations than what our situation is. Gaven said it best when he introduced Evans as the next coming of Michael Jordan. Yeah, no pressure on Evans to produce right? But, as we are all aware he HAS produced, and much more than just points. Great defense, blocks, steals, rebounds, assists, basketball IQ, etc. For a rookie it's rare to do what he is doing so early in the season.

I'm going to have to shoot this guy an email as well. What a d-bag.