Danny Darko wrote:A couple statistical observations:
1. min definitely followed player success in this game for the Lakeshow-
Nance 30 min
Randle 30 min
Clarkson 29
Ingram 27
Lou 26
Russell 22
Black, Mozgov combined 30 (didn't look great, Luke found ways to make Nance and Randle work instead).
Deng- missing wide open shots not playing team system offense and not killing it on D got 19 min... 8 less than Ingram who lead the team in +/-
2. Ingram is shooting like hell but consistently has a pretty legit +/- rating. That is awesome because he's influencing games and there is no way in hell he keeps missing open shots. His aggression tonight was something that didn't happen for D'Angelo for more than half his first season.
3. Clarkson is imo not playing great right now, but he did have 5 assists (most in this game for LA) which shocks me because he missed a ton of wide open guys to shoot the kind of contested crap I think of as Lou Williamson shots minus the ability to draw fouls or hit circus shots. I anticipate Clarkson will find his way again this year and I will guess that when he does he might have a 25 and 10 kind of aptitude on a few nights.
4.Nance has a knack for not missing shots when he's on.
6-6 shooting for 12 points with with 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, and 0 turnovers. Holy crap that's a good stat line and since summer league he's had a several games where he was perfect or almost perfect shooting. His championship caliber "it" factor reminds me of Horry and I hope we keep him, because this is the kind of guy Phil and Pop always seemed to prioritize finding and locking up.
Luke putting minutes with players who are showing the most IMHO. Our second unit is playing very well right now. The ball keeps moving with them unlike the starters where the ball is moving less and more shots are contested and deep.
I think Deng is not in shape and still being nagged by injury. Either that or he's fallen off more than I thought. He looks out of sync.
Clarkson is playing OK. He's had stretches this season that have kept us in games single handedly and he's had stretches where he's not in sync with the team. I don't mind him being a little selfish when he's going to the hoop. He's the best player we have at doing that and he can get easy baskets that way. I'll take him on a tough finish over kick outs to open 3 point shooters because we don't really have any consistent dead eye shooters from 3.
Russell is the one who seems to be lagging in our guard rotation. He's hit some 3's but he still struggles getting open looks. He's shooting below 40% on the season. His effort on D last night was good to start the game, the results were not but GS missed all of the open 3's for most of the game. His second stint on the floor he was back to sagging off his man and turning his back to the ball. He's going to be streaky on offense but the defense needs to be a consistent thing from him. It seems if he misses a couple of shots early he just goes through the motions on defense.
Ingram is struggling with the strength aspect of his game. He is unable to score after contact and seems hesitant to take some shots. This will change as he gets more burn. I do like his ability to see and understand the floor. He's got some of the best "court instincts" on the team actually.
Randle got dunks and tip-ins to work but everything else in the paint was pretty ugly. If he ever develops a go to shot in the paint that works he could be a 15ppg guy. He dribbles with his palm and it looks like he shoots it with his palm on the ball as well. Hard to get touch shots to go doing that.
Nance has the attitude of Mark Madsen with athleticism. He's going 100 miles an hour for every second he's in there. He's not a scorer or shooter by nature so I expect streaking performances but not streaky effort.
Williams is what he is... he's always been a pressure shooter.... he's always been a volume shooter.
Young is playing more under control than at any point in his career. He's trying to play Defense too.... and actually doing it pretty well at times. He's surprised me.
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