Lauri:' I can make the comeback'

[FriedRise]

Only 6 games so far (thanks COVID), but Lauri is averaging 19/7 on 55/41/83 shooting (almost in that elite shooting club!). He's also going to the line 5 times per game, and there's no reason that can't continue if he plays this aggressively attacking the basket. He's also playing the least amount of minutes in his career (29mpg); his P36 numbers are 24/9.

He's finally trending to be a positive player in terms of BPM (0.8) largely because of his 2.1 OBPM rating - also career best. Defensively, obviously he and the whole team can and need to be better.

Another nugget that coaching matters: in the Dallas game at halftime, Donovan pulled Lauri aside telling him that the way his defenders are flying at him, there's gonna be drives open all over the place. So even though he was making some of his contested threes, he was encouraged to keep attacking the basket and not settle. And that's exactly what we saw.

[Chi town]

When you look at all of Lauri's stats, most of them are in line with his career averages. As an example, his usage rate is 24.0 this year and his career is 22.8. Same with blocks, assists, rebounds, etc. His 3p% is at a career high but what really sticks out is his 2p% and number of free throws. IMO, what has really changed with Lauri's game is his frequent willingness to put the ball on the floor and drive into traffic. He is going to the line a lot and hitting a high percentage on the inside.

I have always been one of Lauri's bigger critics but I'm not one to ignore reality. Lauri has played well this year and is a net positive player. Hopefully this continues.

His improvement is real on many levels. You’d think a better playmaking/passing wing or PG would help him a bit too.

I’ve been really impressed with his D. He has contested lots of shots at the rim which lead me to believe he could be a valuable backup C for 20mpg. He also destroys 5s attacking them on offense.

His biggest win thus far has been the FT line. If he can keep that up he stabilizes the starting unit when shots aren’t falling and is def a 20ppg efficient scorer.

[coldfish]

When you look at all of Lauri's stats, most of them are in line with his career averages. As an example, his usage rate is 24.0 this year and his career is 22.8. Same with blocks, assists, rebounds, etc. His 3p% is at a career high but what really sticks out is his 2p% and number of free throws. IMO, what has really changed with Lauri's game is his frequent willingness to put the ball on the floor and drive into traffic. He is going to the line a lot and hitting a high percentage on the inside.

I have always been one of Lauri's bigger critics but I'm not one to ignore reality. Lauri has played well this year and is a net positive player. Hopefully this continues.

His improvement is real on many levels. You’d think a better playmaking/passing wing or PG would help him a bit too.

I’ve been really impressed with his D. He has contested lots of shots at the rim which lead me to believe he could be a valuable backup C for 20mpg. He also destroys 5s attacking them on offense.

His biggest win thus far has been the FT line. If he can keep that up he stabilizes the starting unit when shots aren’t falling and is def a 20ppg efficient scorer.

Defense: His biggest issue is help defense. As some fans might be picking up on, its really important for every player to help when appropriate. In his first game back, I caught him getting lost a bunch of times. Hesitating and ending up getting caught in no man's land. That being said, he is actually trying on help defense for the first time in his career. I think its a good first step and hopefully doing it over and over will improve his timing.

His playmaking is better but its still only marginal. When he drives, he is looking to shoot only.

As far as teammates, the whole team is still learning the offense. Spacing is poor and timing is frequently off. Its causing all of the turnovers. Lauri shares some of the blame, even as a receiver. He needs to be more decisive on cuts which will give better passing lanes. That said, I agree that Coby in particular has been a problem. He isn't even an average passer and doesn't anticipate anything.

Just in general, a lot of this is the problem with tanking. You end up trying to teach a bunch of players at the same time and these learning curves make it harder for others to learn. Its a snowball of stupidity. BD really is going the right direction though.

[ChettheJet]

I think it's obvious Lauri is capable of being a serious part of the Bulls on both ends and that makes you want to resign him. What I need to see is consistency. Not 29 points every game for a month but not the high peaks and low valleys he's constantly shown us. If he can stay in the lineup and have average games with the occasional explosion, that's the guy I want to sign long term. Let's see how the next 10 games look following his huge night, back down in single digits for a few looking lost or 12-15 and good rebounding.

[DroseReturnChi]

Defense: His biggest issue is help defense. As some fans might be picking up on, its really important for every player to help when appropriate. In his first game back, I caught him getting lost a bunch of times. Hesitating and ending up getting caught in no man's land. That being said, he is actually trying on help defense for the first time in his career. I think its a good first step and hopefully doing it over and over will improve his timing.

His playmaking is better but its still only marginal. When he drives, he is looking to shoot only.

These are team issue not just Lauri. And hes barely shooting over 13 shots a game, you have guys claiming he is too passive.

[coldfish]

Defense: His biggest issue is help defense. As some fans might be picking up on, its really important for every player to help when appropriate. In his first game back, I caught him getting lost a bunch of times. Hesitating and ending up getting caught in no man's land. That being said, he is actually trying on help defense for the first time in his career. I think its a good first step and hopefully doing it over and over will improve his timing.

His playmaking is better but its still only marginal. When he drives, he is looking to shoot only.

These are team issue not just Lauri. And hes barely shooting over 13 shots a game, you have guys claiming he is too passive.

The whole team has varying levels of issues with defense. That said, you can see when people are making mistakes. Lauri definitely does. The Bulls are among the worst defenses in the NBA. While its certainly not Lauri's fault, he hasn't helped either.

I'm perfectly happy with Lauri's shot volume. My complaints about his aggressiveness in the past were based on him not attacking enough. He is now attacking instead of settling.

[sco]

Defense: His biggest issue is help defense. As some fans might be picking up on, its really important for every player to help when appropriate. In his first game back, I caught him getting lost a bunch of times. Hesitating and ending up getting caught in no man's land. That being said, he is actually trying on help defense for the first time in his career. I think its a good first step and hopefully doing it over and over will improve his timing.

His playmaking is better but its still only marginal. When he drives, he is looking to shoot only.

These are team issue not just Lauri. And hes barely shooting over 13 shots a game, you have guys claiming he is too passive.

The whole team has varying levels of issues with defense. That said, you can see when people are making mistakes. Lauri definitely does. The Bulls are among the worst defenses in the NBA. While its certainly not Lauri's fault, he hasn't helped either.

I'm perfectly happy with Lauri's shot volume. My complaints about his aggressiveness in the past were based on him not attacking enough. He is now attacking instead of settling.

Yeah, I'm cutting Lauri some slack on his defense for another month or two. Learning a new scheme (and this is different) makes everyone a step slow because they are thinking about their responsibility, and that step cascades and impacts everyone's assignments. Right now, Pat seems to have the best sense of how the defense is supposed to work and his responsibilities. Zach and Carter sorta come and go in terms of knowing where to be. Lauri and Coby are furthest behind.

[Indomitable]

When you look at all of Lauri's stats, most of them are in line with his career averages. As an example, his usage rate is 24.0 this year and his career is 22.8. Same with blocks, assists, rebounds, etc. His 3p% is at a career high but what really sticks out is his 2p% and number of free throws. IMO, what has really changed with Lauri's game is his frequent willingness to put the ball on the floor and drive into traffic. He is going to the line a lot and hitting a high percentage on the inside.

I have always been one of Lauri's bigger critics but I'm not one to ignore reality. Lauri has played well this year and is a net positive player. Hopefully this continues.

His improvement is real on many levels. You’d think a better playmaking/passing wing or PG would help him a bit too.

I’ve been really impressed with his D. He has contested lots of shots at the rim which lead me to believe he could be a valuable backup C for 20mpg. He also destroys 5s attacking them on offense.

His biggest win thus far has been the FT line. If he can keep that up he stabilizes the starting unit when shots aren’t falling and is def a 20ppg efficient scorer.

Defense: His biggest issue is help defense. As some fans might be picking up on, its really important for every player to help when appropriate. In his first game back, I caught him getting lost a bunch of times. Hesitating and ending up getting caught in no man's land. That being said, he is actually trying on help defense for the first time in his career. I think its a good first step and hopefully doing it over and over will improve his timing.

His playmaking is better but its still only marginal. When he drives, he is looking to shoot only.

As far as teammates, the whole team is still learning the offense. Spacing is poor and timing is frequently off. Its causing all of the turnovers. Lauri shares some of the blame, even as a receiver. He needs to be more decisive on cuts which will give better passing lanes. That said, I agree that Coby in particular has been a problem. He isn't even an average passer and doesn't anticipate anything.

Just in general, a lot of this is the problem with tanking. You end up trying to teach a bunch of players at the same time and these learning curves make it harder for others to learn. Its a snowball of stupidity. BD really is going the right direction though.

I wonder if we could get that Anfree sp Simons from Portland. He actually would help this team. Plus he has good size and potential.

[PaKii94]

I think the discussion boils down to what you think Lauri can do with USAGE. Last year he wasn't utilized well. period. It's like having a lambo and the only use you get out of it is clearing the snow off the driveway. It'd do a sh*t job of it but that doesn't mean it's not a highly valuable performance car.

The key to Lauri is above average volume offense on above average efficiency while being a neutral in everything else. If you park him in the corner as a spacer, you negate everything about him and hope he can make an impact in his "neutral" traits. Then if he gets injured the balance on the "neutral" traits tilts towards below average and you get the mess of a season that you saw last year.

Lauri has almost NEVER gotten #1 usage. We have done a disservice to him. At least give him the chance to crash and burn. Porzingis when he came in became the defacto #1 and was allowed to chuck up shots and learn his game. FFS Coby was allowed to chuck up shots! But when it comes to Lauri he needs to be a team player....and with Lauri's mentality, he will do what is asked even if it's a detriment to his individual performance.

To address FebruLauri, THAT WASN'T A HOT STREAK. His shooting percentages weren't HOT. That was Lauri finally getting #1 usage! If you go back and read the pressers from that year, going into training camp, hoiberg specifically said he geared the majority of the offense around Lauri as the totem pole. Unfortunately Lauri suffered that injury to his shooting elbow and was out for the first few months. The Bulls looked disorganized and undisciplined with Zach doing his usual hero ball game breaking things during that time.

By the time Lauri came back, Hoiberg was already fired. He never got the chance to fully implement his offense. If you remember that dark time when Boylen took over, the team was a mess. Boylen ground everything to a halt. He said the "team had to walk before they could run" etc. He started implementing his (flawed) boyball that we saw full force last season (shots in the paint and 3s)

In February, Boylen specifically said he put some of the offensive sets back in as an option...HOIBERG'S offensive sets. The offensive sets that FEATURED Lauri. and we saw what came of it. Then the fatigue stuff happened, everyone got shut down, and Bulls finally went full on tank.

Last year, the hope was Lauri would be FEATURED with lavine but that wasn't the case. Lauri did regress initially at the beginning of the season (and he did have that oblique injury but we've discussed that enough) but he recovered quite well after the initial troubles. The only problem was he didn't get USAGE. He was never featured. I think that changes this year with Billy.

p36:
First 20 games - 16.2ppg on 35/28 41.7 EFG%, 49.2 TS%, 14.0 FGA
Last 30 games - 18.8ppg on 47/38 58 EFG%, 60.6 TS%, 14.4 FGA

He started hitting his shots but his usage never went back up to a featured role. Give him a few more shots closer to a #1 usage role and you'll see him blossom again into an easily 20ppg scorer [16.1 FGA career average, 17 FGA soph year/FebruLauri]

Doug, I don't disagree with you on the importance of being good enough to game plan for. Lauri was game-planned for starting his rookie year. He and Zach were the only Bulls that were game-planned for his sophomore year. Even Rolo, who was doing great the 2nd half, was left to do as he pleased.

Lauri was mostly not game-planned for last year... because there was nothing to game plan for. You knew exactly where he'd get the ball (at the elbow 3), and you had a pretty good idea what he'll try to do with it (let fly a semi-contested 3 most of the time or try to awkwardly back down from there, which would never work).

Defending him wasn't that different than defending anybody on the 'spacer' brigade. You tell the defense to soft close and stay disciplined inside the paint and live with the consequences. That's how most smart teams played us after the Raps exposed our O for the underthought disaster that it was... in one of the first games of the year.

A Lauri that will likely shoot >20 times and can drop 25-30 on any given night if you don't body him up, including 4-5 3s, is somebody you've got to account for. A Lauri that can score 10 in the first quarter, then sit for 20 min of real time, and only touch the ball 4 times in the second half is every bit as inconsequential as a random journeyman role-playing specialist. So, back to my point. The one I described first is what Lauri's fans on here believe he can be. A 21/8 borderline all-star that is at these stats despite being game-planned for, high volume shooter who plays 33 min/game. The second is a role-playing guy at 15/6 guy who plays 29. These are not the same animal.

The point I was trying to make with Jae Crowder in my previous post is that not everybody can scale up their usage without hurting the team. Hell, even Zach hasn't been able to. Lauri has shown that he can.

Whether it's cultural or not, somebody needs to drill it into his head that he is a top 2 athletic talent on that team, with the potential to be the best of the bunch. The effin' alpha. None of that share the ball with everybody crap they had going on where Coby, Denzel and Thad get to shoot more than him per minute played. Zach I understand. The rest is poor leadership and poor coaching. If he doesn't speak up and demand the ball, nobody's going to give it to him. These guys are teammates, but points and assists earn you the big bucks in this league and if a guy isn't willing to go and get it, nobody's going to feel sorry for him, especially his teammates.

Chefo I appreciate and applaud your posts also! You put my ramblings into a much more coherent and eloquent wording.

Doug- what chefo said. Again a lambo being used for groceries doesn't lower it's performance potential. Noone is gameplanning for someone who is not being utilized.

I am going to bump this AGAIN because it still applies. More usage for Lauri = better things happen. We are starting to see it come to fruition.

Also this:

And to emphasize the lack of usage in the second half.

P36:
First half - 31p/9r on 71%TS, 26 USG% -> close to FebruLauri usage
Second half 15.3/11r on 69%TS, 13.5 USG% -> less than Boylen usage

He's getting nearly half the usage in the second half. Focal points should be getting MORE usage in the second half.
Albeit it is two blow outs and he was out early due to injury in the last game.

That was 3 games in. Yesterday's game was the closest we've come to featuring Lauri throughout the game. What did he put up?

P36: 32p/11r on 64%TS. Which is inline with his first half numbers when utilized. (when you factor in his initial 71TS% was pretty hot)

Lauri can do this stuff consistently!!! They just need to feature and utilize him consistently


Also here is the half breakdown now after 6 games:
P36:
First half - 29p/8r on 67%TS, 26.5 USG% -> close to FebruLauri usage still
Second half 17/10r on 61%TS, 17.6 USG% -> better than 3 games in


So the distribution has improved in balance but I'd still like lauri to be more involved in the second half

[GoBlue72391]

Lauri has clearly and notably improved in the following areas: his mentality, his jump shot release speed, his finishing on drives, his post scoring, his FT drawing, and his defensive effort/aggressiveness.

I mean, if he's consistently finishing against extremely lengthy rim protectors like Porzingas and Boban, he should be effective against just about anyone, even when his 3 isn't falling.

Sent from my SM-S115DL using RealGM mobile app

[MrFortune3]

Donovan has done a lot for the players on this club.
Lauri clearly took this off-season to train and hone his skills. Donovan's offense is a far better fit for him and his skillset.

He's taken his aggression up a notch and that good. I think we are seeing with Lauri, Zach and WCJ why AK and Evs wanted to see development and look at the players with their own eyes and find out why there was regression.

[DroseReturnChi]

P36:
First half - 31p/9r on 71%TS, 26 USG% -> close to FebruLauri usage
Second half 15.3/11r on 69%TS, 13.5 USG% -> less than Boylen usage

He's getting nearly half the usage in the second half. Focal points should be getting MORE usage in the second half.
Albeit it is two blow outs and he was out early due to injury in the last game.

I am seeing a trend where Lauri gets benched in 2nd half a lot. I dont mind doing this to bolster defense but its crazy Lauri might be gone before even seeing him attempt 20 shots a game which I always wished seeing.
Literally the only bad shooting night with high volume was 2 days ago 5/14 but really want to see him as a number 1 option.
He has proved an entire month he could be that guy while the team is winning unlike Lavine, White.
And he is going to the line 5times a game which is extremely rare for a big men meaning he is just not some crappy spot up 5/80 guy.

[PaKii94]

What's a good benchmark this season to officially say he's made the comeback?

[PaKii94]

I think the discussion boils down to what you think Lauri can do with USAGE. Last year he wasn't utilized well. period. It's like having a lambo and the only use you get out of it is clearing the snow off the driveway. It'd do a sh*t job of it but that doesn't mean it's not a highly valuable performance car.

The key to Lauri is above average volume offense on above average efficiency while being a neutral in everything else. If you park him in the corner as a spacer, you negate everything about him and hope he can make an impact in his "neutral" traits. Then if he gets injured the balance on the "neutral" traits tilts towards below average and you get the mess of a season that you saw last year.

Lauri has almost NEVER gotten #1 usage. We have done a disservice to him. At least give him the chance to crash and burn. Porzingis when he came in became the defacto #1 and was allowed to chuck up shots and learn his game. FFS Coby was allowed to chuck up shots! But when it comes to Lauri he needs to be a team player....and with Lauri's mentality, he will do what is asked even if it's a detriment to his individual performance.

To address FebruLauri, THAT WASN'T A HOT STREAK. His shooting percentages weren't HOT. That was Lauri finally getting #1 usage! If you go back and read the pressers from that year, going into training camp, hoiberg specifically said he geared the majority of the offense around Lauri as the totem pole. Unfortunately Lauri suffered that injury to his shooting elbow and was out for the first few months. The Bulls looked disorganized and undisciplined with Zach doing his usual hero ball game breaking things during that time.

By the time Lauri came back, Hoiberg was already fired. He never got the chance to fully implement his offense. If you remember that dark time when Boylen took over, the team was a mess. Boylen ground everything to a halt. He said the "team had to walk before they could run" etc. He started implementing his (flawed) boyball that we saw full force last season (shots in the paint and 3s)

In February, Boylen specifically said he put some of the offensive sets back in as an option...HOIBERG'S offensive sets. The offensive sets that FEATURED Lauri. and we saw what came of it. Then the fatigue stuff happened, everyone got shut down, and Bulls finally went full on tank.

Last year, the hope was Lauri would be FEATURED with lavine but that wasn't the case. Lauri did regress initially at the beginning of the season (and he did have that oblique injury but we've discussed that enough) but he recovered quite well after the initial troubles. The only problem was he didn't get USAGE. He was never featured. I think that changes this year with Billy.

p36:
First 20 games - 16.2ppg on 35/28 41.7 EFG%, 49.2 TS%, 14.0 FGA
Last 30 games - 18.8ppg on 47/38 58 EFG%, 60.6 TS%, 14.4 FGA

He started hitting his shots but his usage never went back up to a featured role. Give him a few more shots closer to a #1 usage role and you'll see him blossom again into an easily 20ppg scorer [16.1 FGA career average, 17 FGA soph year/FebruLauri]

Doug, I don't disagree with you on the importance of being good enough to game plan for. Lauri was game-planned for starting his rookie year. He and Zach were the only Bulls that were game-planned for his sophomore year. Even Rolo, who was doing great the 2nd half, was left to do as he pleased.

Lauri was mostly not game-planned for last year... because there was nothing to game plan for. You knew exactly where he'd get the ball (at the elbow 3), and you had a pretty good idea what he'll try to do with it (let fly a semi-contested 3 most of the time or try to awkwardly back down from there, which would never work).

Defending him wasn't that different than defending anybody on the 'spacer' brigade. You tell the defense to soft close and stay disciplined inside the paint and live with the consequences. That's how most smart teams played us after the Raps exposed our O for the underthought disaster that it was... in one of the first games of the year.

A Lauri that will likely shoot >20 times and can drop 25-30 on any given night if you don't body him up, including 4-5 3s, is somebody you've got to account for. A Lauri that can score 10 in the first quarter, then sit for 20 min of real time, and only touch the ball 4 times in the second half is every bit as inconsequential as a random journeyman role-playing specialist. So, back to my point. The one I described first is what Lauri's fans on here believe he can be. A 21/8 borderline all-star that is at these stats despite being game-planned for, high volume shooter who plays 33 min/game. The second is a role-playing guy at 15/6 guy who plays 29. These are not the same animal.

The point I was trying to make with Jae Crowder in my previous post is that not everybody can scale up their usage without hurting the team. Hell, even Zach hasn't been able to. Lauri has shown that he can.

Whether it's cultural or not, somebody needs to drill it into his head that he is a top 2 athletic talent on that team, with the potential to be the best of the bunch. The effin' alpha. None of that share the ball with everybody crap they had going on where Coby, Denzel and Thad get to shoot more than him per minute played. Zach I understand. The rest is poor leadership and poor coaching. If he doesn't speak up and demand the ball, nobody's going to give it to him. These guys are teammates, but points and assists earn you the big bucks in this league and if a guy isn't willing to go and get it, nobody's going to feel sorry for him, especially his teammates.

Chefo I appreciate and applaud your posts also! You put my ramblings into a much more coherent and eloquent wording.

Doug- what chefo said. Again a lambo being used for groceries doesn't lower it's performance potential. Noone is gameplanning for someone who is not being utilized.

I am going to bump this AGAIN because it still applies. More usage for Lauri = better things happen. We are starting to see it come to fruition.

Also this:

And to emphasize the lack of usage in the second half.

P36:
First half - 31p/9r on 71%TS, 26 USG% -> close to FebruLauri usage
Second half 15.3/11r on 69%TS, 13.5 USG% -> less than Boylen usage

He's getting nearly half the usage in the second half. Focal points should be getting MORE usage in the second half.
Albeit it is two blow outs and he was out early due to injury in the last game.

That was 3 games in. Yesterday's game was the closest we've come to featuring Lauri throughout the game. What did he put up?

P36: 32p/11r on 64%TS. Which is inline with his first half numbers when utilized. (when you factor in his initial 71TS% was pretty hot)

Lauri can do this stuff consistently!!! They just need to feature and utilize him consistently


Also here is the half breakdown now after 6 games:
P36:
First half - 29p/8r on 67%TS, 26.5 USG% -> close to FebruLauri usage still
Second half 17/10r on 61%TS, 17.6 USG% -> better than 3 games in


So the distribution has improved in balance but I'd still like lauri to be more involved in the second half

Continuing this 11 games in:
P36:
First half - 23.5p/7.6r on 61%TS, 24 USG%
Second half 23p/7.5r on 71%TS, 20 USG%

The usage distribution difference is a bit better. I would like to see Lauri at like 25-26% USG though. Interestingly enough the efficiency has flipped. Lauri's hitting his shots more in the second half now

[LateNight]

Lauri looks fire on offense tonight. I’m wondering how much playing with Thad is contributing to this.

[Wingy]

When you look at all of Lauri's stats, most of them are in line with his career averages. As an example, his usage rate is 24.0 this year and his career is 22.8. Same with blocks, assists, rebounds, etc. His 3p% is at a career high but what really sticks out is his 2p% and number of free throws. IMO, what has really changed with Lauri's game is his frequent willingness to put the ball on the floor and drive into traffic. He is going to the line a lot and hitting a high percentage on the inside.

I have always been one of Lauri's bigger critics but I'm not one to ignore reality. Lauri has played well this year and is a net positive player. Hopefully this continues.

I was looking at some Lauri stats earlier today because I honestly didn’t realize what a polarizing figure he had become. Last PG thread was an eye opener. I’ve spent little time in this thread, and that might explain part of that.

While I’m not a stats guru, a quick peek at b-ball reference gave me the same impression as you for the most part...nothing jumped out as a huge pure numbers improvement, except he’s shooting it better. Though, it’s such a small sample size, it’s too early to draw bigger conclusions (e.g. - Lauri close to being an elite shooter).

I’m curious about what you mean re: “going to the line a lot.” His FTr is almost literally the average of his previous two seasons. This is similar for his raw FTA avg. Is there another way to measure that shows this?

[coldfish]

When you look at all of Lauri's stats, most of them are in line with his career averages. As an example, his usage rate is 24.0 this year and his career is 22.8. Same with blocks, assists, rebounds, etc. His 3p% is at a career high but what really sticks out is his 2p% and number of free throws. IMO, what has really changed with Lauri's game is his frequent willingness to put the ball on the floor and drive into traffic. He is going to the line a lot and hitting a high percentage on the inside.

I have always been one of Lauri's bigger critics but I'm not one to ignore reality. Lauri has played well this year and is a net positive player. Hopefully this continues.

I was looking at some Lauri stats earlier today because I honestly didn’t realize what a polarizing figure he had become. Last PG thread was an eye opener. I’ve spent little time in this thread, and that might explain part of that.

While I’m not a stats guru, a quick peek at b-ball reference gave me the same impression as you for the most part...nothing jumped out as a huge pure numbers improvement, except he’s shooting it better. Though, it’s such a small sample size, it’s too early to draw bigger conclusions (e.g. - Lauri close to being an elite shooter).

I’m curious about what you mean re: “going to the line a lot.” His FTr is almost literally the average of his previous two seasons. This is similar for his raw FTA avg. Is there another way to measure that shows this?

More like old information on my part. In his first 7 games this year, he took 33 free throws. In his last 4 games he has 4. Its really brought his number down and I hadn't looked recently.

[AKfanatic]

One thing Lauri, and others, are benefiting from playing under Donovan is the allowance to “play basketball”. While he and guys like Zach, and even Carter, aren’t taking a ton of midrange shots, they are being allowed to do so.

I mentioned numerous times last season how you’d see guys, particularly Lauri, get the ball in midrange and look panicked as they tried to find someone to kick the ball back out to instead of using the midrange game that they used in previous seasons to keep defenders off-balance as well as using it to get their rhythm.

Boylen beat it into their heads that every shot was a 3 or a layup and that harmed both individual and team offense. A lot of fans agreed with the overall concept of midrange = bad, but anyone that’s ever really played competitive basketball knows that eliminating a giant chunk of shots makes it harder on the offense and easier for the opposition to defend you.

Boylen’s idiocy hurt development and player confidence. Most of what was seen out of guys like Lauri and Wendell last season needs to be tossed out the window.

[PaKii94]

What's a good benchmark this season to officially say he's made the comeback?

I guess if he has games line tonight continuously

[fleet]

Alright, only one bumped thread at a time from now on. Start saving bullets.