Game 43: Phoenix Suns (33-9) @ San Antonio Spurs (16-27) Monday, Januay 17

[RunDogGun]

The issue I have with Shamet is that he's by far a better all around player than Moore, Carter and Galloway were last year. He crashes the glass decently well for his size, hustles on defense, and has a solid handle on the ball.

But the number one thing he is being paid to do is hit shots...and he just isnt. It isn't like they are bad shots or his release is messed up, they look good every time he fires one up until DOINK.

I don't know how to fix that as a coaching staff, but it needs fixing soon. I'm not saying he needs to be a 18ppg scorer. But he needs to be able to consistently get you 8-10 every night. Not 0-4 like he has been.

Well said. He does play good defense, and keeps the offense moving, has good intangibles.

He just needs to knock down a few more shots. I'm surprised he's even shooting 35%. The last 10 games, he's been shooting 29% from three - absolutely terrible.

He does get to the line a fair bit, hopefully he can turn it around.

Is he though (good on defense)? Per 100 pos, he is the worst on our team at 109. That includes all the 10 day contract guys. I will give you that he hustles, but often it doesn't amount to much. Carter hustled last year too.

As far as getting to the line, its an average of 1.1 fts a game, which is just above Paris Bass at 1.0 per game, and 12th on the team. To be fair to Shamet, the Suns don't get near the calls they should.

If he doesn't "turn it around" he could cost us a chip, because Monty will keep letting him chuck and giving him minutes.

[spanishninja]

2 years ago was by far Book's most efficient season (62% TS%), followed by the year before and the year after (between 58% and 59%), but this year is barely above 4 year ago (56.3%), so his offensive production (overall efficiency) has really dropped off despite finally shooting well from 3, his #s inside the arc decreased dramatically and his trips to the line have really dropped off the last two years (highest was 2 years ago).

But his defensive effort has been much better and happens more and more often each of the last two years, which more balances all that out.

But given our record and all the injuries this year, as well as Lillard dropping off, etc, he definitely should get in along with Paul without having to be an injury replacement.

has Booker really dropped off though? If you look at his offense, raw scoring numbers are slightly down but offensive rating is the same as last year, scoring per 36 is virtually the same, assists are slightly up and turnover% is BY FAR A CAREER LOW despite similar usage. In fact, so far this season, everything other than shooting and PPG is improved from last year, including the career best defense you talked about.

As I mentioned, just in efficiency, so more shots needed to score the same # of points, so eats up more possessions to get to his scoring #s overall on the season. Just look at his 2pt% by season. Not sure why the huge dropoff here, and trips to the line from 2 years ago has trended down quite a bit.

I'm not saying he is overall worse as he has improved on his weaknesses, but his efficiency overall based on TS% is 56.3 while league avg is 57.7, so barely above league avg.

Ranked 87th this year here. https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2022_advanced.html#advanced_stats::ts_pct

Our team alone has 3 players above him.

as I said, efficiency is more than about shooting. he is averaging 0.6 less turnovers a game and 0.4 more offensive rebounds a game, both of which can help make up for the worse shooting. Before last night could you have ever imagined Book scoring 48 or even 40 points without a turnover?

the bigger issue is not any dropoff but inconsistency, which has been a theme for him over the years. if he can address that, he's got what it takes to aim for KD-like efficiency. Speaking of which, even KD's TS% has dipped this year (0.666 to 0.626) so it's probably related to a league-wide trend anyway.

[Saberestar]

Couple of things:
Good win guys, nice to do it away on the second night of a b2b without Ayton. And it feels good to torch the spurs.

Book is on his usual pre-allstar tear, "don't forget me, I'm not a replacement!" he did this for 3 years now - even tho he was a replacement previous years, despite the effort.

Our C rotation is nice. No matter what our starting C holds down the fort (or is straight out better than the opposition C), and our sub is better than the opposition sub. It might be our strongest position, especially when Frank comes back and we have a strech 5 possibility as well. This has never happened to the Suns, and I've been watching since 93.

Just like last year we kinda have a glaring hole in our rotation: bench guard play. It could be a PG, an SG, a combo guard, heck even a playmaking wing(ish) player, but Payne and Shamet are not cutting it. JJ, do something about it! Monty, do something about it! Draw up different plays, experiment with the rotation a bit so these two play a bit more with more of the starters, and they have less responsibilities, more room to operate, whatever. But this ain't working optimally for sure. Could we still win it all like this with no changes? Sure. But we still have a trade deadline and buyouts and half a season to practice and experiment, so DO IT. Its your job.

2 years ago was by far Book's most efficient season (62% TS%), followed by the year before and the year after (between 58% and 59%), but this year is barely above 4 year ago (56.3%), so his offensive production (overall efficiency) has really dropped off despite finally shooting well from 3, his #s inside the arc decreased dramatically and his trips to the line have really dropped off the last two years (highest was 2 years ago).

But his defensive effort has been much better and happens more and more often each of the last two years, which more balances all that out.

But given our record and all the injuries this year, as well as Lillard dropping off, etc, he definitely should get in along with Paul without having to be an injury replacement.

Absolutely.

He is gonna be the Suns player with most All Stars ever. I expect him to be an All Star at least the next 7-8 years consecutively.

Regarding his extension, he deserves the supermax and he is gonna get it from us. It is not even debatable at this point, just a question of time.

[Ghost of Kleine]

Glad that Payne seems to be recovering some form.

Shamet on the other hand - I just don't see the point of him. I don't know if we'll get any meaningful playoff minutes from him and that worries me.

I said this at the time we signed him (and note this maybe isn't worth $10m a year), but even if shamet disappoints, he is a guy who could come into a playoff game and hit three straight threes.

Think back to the Milwaukee series and imagine the few times where a few consecutive buckets may have got us over hump.

Wishful thinking perhaps, but I still think he will play an important role.

Well, Galloway can do that while being paid 2M. Much more is expected from Shamet than have a good game once in a while.

[bwgood77]

I think Booker can sign an extension this offseason. What are people's thoughts on this?
Will we offer it to him? Would he accept it? Likely a 2-year extension for prob around 40 or 45mil per.

There’s no reason why wouldn’t offer it - I think whatever it takes to keep him in a Suns uniform, you do. Booker seems like a guy that would never want to leave, but you never know.

Loyalty is rare nowadays in the NBA from both sides - I’d say you extend and include a no trade clause.

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you know how loved Dame is in Portland? And he hasn't even made it to finals. Phoenix is a basketball town that now has the opportunity to immortalize Book as one of the all-time greats despite countless attempts to wear out his loyalty. The minute we let this guy walk, that's when I stop being a Suns fan.

I think there is probably a good chance we do, but many of those who have gotten it hampered their team's flexibility to build enough to be a contender. Maybe Utah is a contender, but Rudy's contract makes it tougher to add quality pieces, etc. Same with Lillard's. Wall isn't worth mentioning since he got injured, but those contracts are just very very tough.

Others did take less, like Curry, for example, so their teams could keep great cores together and remain contenders, but not everyone would be as selfless as Curry. Duncan too I believe.

Many would just make it priority #1 to get their money. Curry was rewarded later but could have gotten a much bigger 3rd contract.

[bigfoot]

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[bwgood77]

Couple of things:
Good win guys, nice to do it away on the second night of a b2b without Ayton. And it feels good to torch the spurs.

Book is on his usual pre-allstar tear, "don't forget me, I'm not a replacement!" he did this for 3 years now - even tho he was a replacement previous years, despite the effort.

Our C rotation is nice. No matter what our starting C holds down the fort (or is straight out better than the opposition C), and our sub is better than the opposition sub. It might be our strongest position, especially when Frank comes back and we have a strech 5 possibility as well. This has never happened to the Suns, and I've been watching since 93.

Just like last year we kinda have a glaring hole in our rotation: bench guard play. It could be a PG, an SG, a combo guard, heck even a playmaking wing(ish) player, but Payne and Shamet are not cutting it. JJ, do something about it! Monty, do something about it! Draw up different plays, experiment with the rotation a bit so these two play a bit more with more of the starters, and they have less responsibilities, more room to operate, whatever. But this ain't working optimally for sure. Could we still win it all like this with no changes? Sure. But we still have a trade deadline and buyouts and half a season to practice and experiment, so DO IT. Its your job.

2 years ago was by far Book's most efficient season (62% TS%), followed by the year before and the year after (between 58% and 59%), but this year is barely above 4 year ago (56.3%), so his offensive production (overall efficiency) has really dropped off despite finally shooting well from 3, his #s inside the arc decreased dramatically and his trips to the line have really dropped off the last two years (highest was 2 years ago).

But his defensive effort has been much better and happens more and more often each of the last two years, which more balances all that out.

But given our record and all the injuries this year, as well as Lillard dropping off, etc, he definitely should get in along with Paul without having to be an injury replacement.

Absolutely.

He is gonna be the Suns player with most All Stars ever. I expect him to be an All Star at least the next 7-8 years consecutively.

Regarding his extension, he deserves the supermax and he is gonna get it from us. It is not even debatable at this point, just a question of time.

I think he probably will too unless it's more important to him to remain a contender and take less to have better pieces around him, but he probably will first and foremost want to get paid.

He should make the most all stars despite not making it other than injury replacement his first six years because I think there is a good chance he ends up playing more years than any other Sun in history, giving him more chances. Unless he wants out at some point, like if we take a drastic decline after Paul is too old to play anymore, but as others reach their prime hopefully we can remain elite. Maybe Book can move to PG

[SkyBill40]

Wait, what? Booker just started into his big money contract. Is he even eligible for an extension yet? Isn't he only into year two of that gig?

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[Saberestar]

2 years ago was by far Book's most efficient season (62% TS%), followed by the year before and the year after (between 58% and 59%), but this year is barely above 4 year ago (56.3%), so his offensive production (overall efficiency) has really dropped off despite finally shooting well from 3, his #s inside the arc decreased dramatically and his trips to the line have really dropped off the last two years (highest was 2 years ago).

But his defensive effort has been much better and happens more and more often each of the last two years, which more balances all that out.

But given our record and all the injuries this year, as well as Lillard dropping off, etc, he definitely should get in along with Paul without having to be an injury replacement.

Absolutely.

He is gonna be the Suns player with most All Stars ever. I expect him to be an All Star at least the next 7-8 years consecutively.

Regarding his extension, he deserves the supermax and he is gonna get it from us. It is not even debatable at this point, just a question of time.

I think he probably will too unless it's more important to him to remain a contender and take less to have better pieces around him, but he probably will first and foremost want to get paid.

He should make the most all stars despite not making it other than injury replacement his first six years because I think there is a good chance he ends up playing more years than any other Sun in history, giving him more chances. Unless he wants out at some point, like if we take a drastic decline after Paul is too old to play anymore, but as others reach their prime hopefully we can remain elite. Maybe Book can move to PG

No one cares about that "injury replacement" thing. He has been a two-time All-Star and he doesn't have any asterisk.

When a player is 10 times All Star sometimes he goes as a starter, sometimes at the last minute, sometimes as a replacement, sometimes as a bench player...but no one takes notes about it. They say that he is a 10×All-Star and period.

[bwgood77]

Absolutely.

He is gonna be the Suns player with most All Stars ever. I expect him to be an All Star at least the next 7-8 years consecutively.

Regarding his extension, he deserves the supermax and he is gonna get it from us. It is not even debatable at this point, just a question of time.

I think he probably will too unless it's more important to him to remain a contender and take less to have better pieces around him, but he probably will first and foremost want to get paid.

He should make the most all stars despite not making it other than injury replacement his first six years because I think there is a good chance he ends up playing more years than any other Sun in history, giving him more chances. Unless he wants out at some point, like if we take a drastic decline after Paul is too old to play anymore, but as others reach their prime hopefully we can remain elite. Maybe Book can move to PG

No one cares about that "injury replacement" thing. He has been a two-time All-Star and he doesn't have any asterisk.

When a player is 10 times All Star sometimes he goes as a starter, sometimes at the last minute, sometimes as a replacement, sometimes as a bench player...but no one takes notes about it. They say that he is a 10×All-Star and period.

Yeah, I know, but more and more there are injury replacements, so you are not actually voted in by peers/media/coaches in the original top tier of all stars. But yes, of course he ended up getting in because fortunately or unfortunately (however you want to look at it), someone who did get originally picked got injured.

It is noted in places where it is tracked, but he still gets to call himself an all star and will be part of his resume later.

See the bottom of this page for example

https://www.basketball-reference.com/allstar/NBA_2020.html

or the notes by players and at bottom of this one

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_NBA_All-Star_Game

All NBA is the more impressive thing and he should start getting those soon. There is a very good chance this year. Maybe Curry, Ja, Luka, Paul, Booker...not sure about Mitchell, Lillard, etc or others.

[bwgood77]

Wait, what? Booker just started into his big money contract. Is he even eligible for an extension yet? Isn't he only into year two of that gig?

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Yeah, this is his 2nd year into it. Someone asked about being eligible for an extension this summer (which I responded to in another thread since it isn't game related) and then we mentioned Super Max (the 35% of cap one) and whether or not he would get that.

[lilfishi22]

I think Booker can sign an extension this offseason. What are people's thoughts on this?
Will we offer it to him? Would he accept it? Likely a 2-year extension for prob around 40 or 45mil per.

I think we max him out, years and dollars. We may not be as good once CP3 rolls off but Booker doesn't turn 26 until the start of next season and he's someone we can still build around. A max extension would take him into his early 30's which is still in his prime so it's an absolute no-brainer.

[Saberestar]

I think he probably will too unless it's more important to him to remain a contender and take less to have better pieces around him, but he probably will first and foremost want to get paid.

He should make the most all stars despite not making it other than injury replacement his first six years because I think there is a good chance he ends up playing more years than any other Sun in history, giving him more chances. Unless he wants out at some point, like if we take a drastic decline after Paul is too old to play anymore, but as others reach their prime hopefully we can remain elite. Maybe Book can move to PG

No one cares about that "injury replacement" thing. He has been a two-time All-Star and he doesn't have any asterisk.

When a player is 10 times All Star sometimes he goes as a starter, sometimes at the last minute, sometimes as a replacement, sometimes as a bench player...but no one takes notes about it. They say that he is a 10×All-Star and period.

Yeah, I know, but more and more there are injury replacements, so you are not actually voted in by peers/media/coaches in the original top tier of all stars. But yes, of course he ended up getting in because fortunately or unfortunately (however you want to look at it), someone who did get originally picked got injured.

It is noted in places where it is tracked, but he still gets to call himself an all star and will be part of his resume later.

See the bottom of this page for example

https://www.basketball-reference.com/allstar/NBA_2020.html

or the notes by players and at bottom of this one

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_NBA_All-Star_Game

All NBA is the more impressive thing and he should start getting those soon. There is a very good chance this year. Maybe Curry, Ja, Luka, Paul, Booker...not sure about Mitchell, Lillard, etc or others.

Yeah, All NBA is more impressive because they are basically the Top 15 players in the season and All Stars are around 25 players.

That is his next stop, being All NBA player.

[bwgood77]

has Booker really dropped off though? If you look at his offense, raw scoring numbers are slightly down but offensive rating is the same as last year, scoring per 36 is virtually the same, assists are slightly up and turnover% is BY FAR A CAREER LOW despite similar usage. In fact, so far this season, everything other than shooting and PPG is improved from last year, including the career best defense you talked about.

As I mentioned, just in efficiency, so more shots needed to score the same # of points, so eats up more possessions to get to his scoring #s overall on the season. Just look at his 2pt% by season. Not sure why the huge dropoff here, and trips to the line from 2 years ago has trended down quite a bit.

I'm not saying he is overall worse as he has improved on his weaknesses, but his efficiency overall based on TS% is 56.3 while league avg is 57.7, so barely above league avg.

Ranked 87th this year here. https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2022_advanced.html#advanced_stats::ts_pct

Our team alone has 3 players above him.

as I said, efficiency is more than about shooting. he is averaging 0.6 less turnovers a game and 0.4 more offensive rebounds a game, both of which can help make up for the worse shooting. Before last night could you have ever imagined Book scoring 48 or even 40 points without a turnover?

the bigger issue is not any dropoff but inconsistency, which has been a theme for him over the years. if he can address that, he's got what it takes to aim for KD-like efficiency. Speaking of which, even KD's TS% has dipped this year (0.666 to 0.626) so it's probably related to a league-wide trend anyway.

Different people's efficiency go up and down. Cam's went way up and Bridges has gone down, though still very good overall. TS% has dipped quite a bit overall, possibly due to the ball change, but interesting that Book and Cam's 3pt% went way up from like under 35% to over 40%....but league wide TS% dropped from 57.2% to 55.7%....and it had gradually been trending up...56.5% 2 years ago, 56% 3 years ago.

But Book had a great year at near 62% and is now at 56%, so it's a big of a bigger drop.

But yeah, turnovers and defense were my biggest concerns. The decrease in turnovers is great. I know his assists are down from a couple years ago but his turnovers have gone down a lot. He may still have less than a 2 ast/to ratio but it's better than it used to be.

And his defensive effort has become more consistent. Well it used to be almost non existent and now he gives effort quite often and at times can be very good on that side of the ball.

[SkyBill40]

Wait, what? Booker just started into his big money contract. Is he even eligible for an extension yet? Isn't he only into year two of that gig?

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Yeah, this is his 2nd year into it. Someone asked about being eligible for an extension this summer (which I responded to in another thread since it isn't game related) and then we mentioned Super Max (the 35% of cap one) and whether or not he would get that.

Hard to believe this would even be a conversation at this point, but I suppose it's never too early to make sure your franchise face is satisfied with the player personnel, staff, and general vibe and direction of the franchise.

[lilfishi22]

has Booker really dropped off though? If you look at his offense, raw scoring numbers are slightly down but offensive rating is the same as last year, scoring per 36 is virtually the same, assists are slightly up and turnover% is BY FAR A CAREER LOW despite similar usage. In fact, so far this season, everything other than shooting and PPG is improved from last year, including the career best defense you talked about.

As I mentioned, just in efficiency, so more shots needed to score the same # of points, so eats up more possessions to get to his scoring #s overall on the season. Just look at his 2pt% by season. Not sure why the huge dropoff here, and trips to the line from 2 years ago has trended down quite a bit.

I'm not saying he is overall worse as he has improved on his weaknesses, but his efficiency overall based on TS% is 56.3 while league avg is 57.7, so barely above league avg.

Ranked 87th this year here. https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2022_advanced.html#advanced_stats::ts_pct

Our team alone has 3 players above him.

as I said, efficiency is more than about shooting. he is averaging 0.6 less turnovers a game and 0.4 more offensive rebounds a game, both of which can help make up for the worse shooting. Before last night could you have ever imagined Book scoring 48 or even 40 points without a turnover?

the bigger issue is not any dropoff but inconsistency, which has been a theme for him over the years. if he can address that, he's got what it takes to aim for KD-like efficiency. Speaking of which, even KD's TS% has dipped this year (0.666 to 0.626) so it's probably related to a league-wide trend anyway.

Efficiency is generally referring to scoring efficiency. There's passing efficiency and there's dribble efficiency etc but really, we're talking about scoring efficiency.

As much as I think this is Booker's best season, his scoring efficiency has objectively dropped. Falling below league average is not insignificant, especially when he's shown he can be ELITE in efficiency as just two seasons ago he was averaging 61.8% true shooting which is absolutely phenomenal. Just for reference, he was more efficient than everyone on the team, including Ayton, except for Bridges (62.0% TS) and Cheick Diallo (68.8% TS) and both of these guys are just finishers.

You mentioned KD's TS% drop but that's dropping from big man in the dunker spot efficiency down to well above league league average. Book's 2PT% is cratered and that's largely because he's not attempting nearly as much near the rim as previous seasons. He's taking about 10% of his shots from within 3ft which is a career low and a big reduction from his 20% career average. He's also taking more mid range shots slightly further away than in previous seasons. He's taking almost 40% of his attempts between 10ft and the 3PT line when his career average from there is about 34%. So he's taking fewer shots closer to the rim and overall shooting a lower percentage inside the arc.

The positive as we all know is that he's finally shooting above 40% from the 3PT line which is a pretty major step forward.

[Barkley6]

The issue I have with Shamet is that he's by far a better all around player than Moore, Carter and Galloway were last year. He crashes the glass decently well for his size, hustles on defense, and has a solid handle on the ball.

But the number one thing he is being paid to do is hit shots...and he just isnt. It isn't like they are bad shots or his release is messed up, they look good every time he fires one up until DOINK.

I don't know how to fix that as a coaching staff, but it needs fixing soon. I'm not saying he needs to be a 18ppg scorer. But he needs to be able to consistently get you 8-10 every night. Not 0-4 like he has been.

Well said. He does play good defense, and keeps the offense moving, has good intangibles.

He just needs to knock down a few more shots. I'm surprised he's even shooting 35%. The last 10 games, he's been shooting 29% from three - absolutely terrible.

He does get to the line a fair bit, hopefully he can turn it around.

Is he though (good on defense)? Per 100 pos, he is the worst on our team at 109. That includes all the 10 day contract guys. I will give you that he hustles, but often it doesn't amount to much. Carter hustled last year too.

As far as getting to the line, its an average of 1.1 fts a game, which is just above Paris Bass at 1.0 per game, and 12th on the team. To be fair to Shamet, the Suns don't get near the calls they should.

If he doesn't "turn it around" he could cost us a chip, because Monty will keep letting him chuck and giving him minutes.

I REALLY don't want to get into the sample size conversation with you again, but Paris Bass has played 7 minutes for the Phoenix Suns this year, whereas Shamet has played nearly 800.

When I said 'good defense' I meant he's an upgrade on Moore and Galloway, and yes, even Carter because while Carter was a great on ball defender, he can only guard 1s whereas Shamet can at least guard some 2s and 3s without being completely physically outmatched.

[spanishninja]

As I mentioned, just in efficiency, so more shots needed to score the same # of points, so eats up more possessions to get to his scoring #s overall on the season. Just look at his 2pt% by season. Not sure why the huge dropoff here, and trips to the line from 2 years ago has trended down quite a bit.

I'm not saying he is overall worse as he has improved on his weaknesses, but his efficiency overall based on TS% is 56.3 while league avg is 57.7, so barely above league avg.

Ranked 87th this year here. https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2022_advanced.html#advanced_stats::ts_pct

Our team alone has 3 players above him.

as I said, efficiency is more than about shooting. he is averaging 0.6 less turnovers a game and 0.4 more offensive rebounds a game, both of which can help make up for the worse shooting. Before last night could you have ever imagined Book scoring 48 or even 40 points without a turnover?

the bigger issue is not any dropoff but inconsistency, which has been a theme for him over the years. if he can address that, he's got what it takes to aim for KD-like efficiency. Speaking of which, even KD's TS% has dipped this year (0.666 to 0.626) so it's probably related to a league-wide trend anyway.

Efficiency is generally referring to scoring efficiency. There's passing efficiency and there's dribble efficiency etc but really, we're talking about scoring efficiency.

As much as I think this is Booker's best season, his scoring efficiency has objectively dropped. Falling below league average is not insignificant, especially when he's shown he can be ELITE in efficiency as just two seasons ago he was averaging 61.8% true shooting which is absolutely phenomenal. Just for reference, he was more efficient than everyone on the team, including Ayton, except for Bridges (62.0% TS) and Cheick Diallo (68.8% TS) and both of these guys are just finishers.

You mentioned KD's TS% drop but that's dropping from big man in the dunker spot efficiency down to well above league league average. Book's 2PT% is cratered and that's largely because he's not attempting nearly as much near the rim as previous seasons. He's taking about 10% of his shots from within 3ft which is a career low and a big reduction from his 20% career average. He's also taking more mid range shots slightly further away than in previous seasons. He's taking almost 40% of his attempts between 10ft and the 3PT line when his career average from there is about 34%. So he's taking fewer shots closer to the rim and overall shooting a lower percentage inside the arc.

The positive as we all know is that he's finally shooting above 40% from the 3PT line which is a pretty major step forward.

i dont know one person who only considers shooting efficiency when talking about offensive efficiency overall. things like turnovers are baked into all the main efficiency metrics, including tpm, bpm and raptor.

anyway, the proof is in the pudding that despite shooting %s being down, he is contributing to team success as well as ever. per36 he is making 1.3 fewer 2FGs (2.6 points) but making 1 more 3FG (3 points). getting to the line a bit less than last year, but that may be a product of shooting less in the paint and/or the rule changes.

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[spanishninja]

As I mentioned, just in efficiency, so more shots needed to score the same # of points, so eats up more possessions to get to his scoring #s overall on the season. Just look at his 2pt% by season. Not sure why the huge dropoff here, and trips to the line from 2 years ago has trended down quite a bit.

I'm not saying he is overall worse as he has improved on his weaknesses, but his efficiency overall based on TS% is 56.3 while league avg is 57.7, so barely above league avg.

Ranked 87th this year here. https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2022_advanced.html#advanced_stats::ts_pct

Our team alone has 3 players above him.

as I said, efficiency is more than about shooting. he is averaging 0.6 less turnovers a game and 0.4 more offensive rebounds a game, both of which can help make up for the worse shooting. Before last night could you have ever imagined Book scoring 48 or even 40 points without a turnover?

the bigger issue is not any dropoff but inconsistency, which has been a theme for him over the years. if he can address that, he's got what it takes to aim for KD-like efficiency. Speaking of which, even KD's TS% has dipped this year (0.666 to 0.626) so it's probably related to a league-wide trend anyway.

Different people's efficiency go up and down. Cam's went way up and Bridges has gone down, though still very good overall. TS% has dipped quite a bit overall, possibly due to the ball change, but interesting that Book and Cam's 3pt% went way up from like under 35% to over 40%....but league wide TS% dropped from 57.2% to 55.7%....and it had gradually been trending up...56.5% 2 years ago, 56% 3 years ago.

But Book had a great year at near 62% and is now at 56%, so it's a big of a bigger drop.

But yeah, turnovers and defense were my biggest concerns. The decrease in turnovers is great. I know his assists are down from a couple years ago but his turnovers have gone down a lot. He may still have less than a 2 ast/to ratio but it's better than it used to be.

And his defensive effort has become more consistent. Well it used to be almost non existent and now he gives effort quite often and at times can be very good on that side of the ball.

had a more thorough look at Book's shooting, and I see that he is shooting less well from 0-16 feet on fewer attempts, but better from beyond 16 feet on more attempts compared to last year. the biggest dropoff in frequency is around the rim, and that is where I'm thinking the rule changes are affecting him most.

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[bwgood77]

as I said, efficiency is more than about shooting. he is averaging 0.6 less turnovers a game and 0.4 more offensive rebounds a game, both of which can help make up for the worse shooting. Before last night could you have ever imagined Book scoring 48 or even 40 points without a turnover?

the bigger issue is not any dropoff but inconsistency, which has been a theme for him over the years. if he can address that, he's got what it takes to aim for KD-like efficiency. Speaking of which, even KD's TS% has dipped this year (0.666 to 0.626) so it's probably related to a league-wide trend anyway.

Efficiency is generally referring to scoring efficiency. There's passing efficiency and there's dribble efficiency etc but really, we're talking about scoring efficiency.

As much as I think this is Booker's best season, his scoring efficiency has objectively dropped. Falling below league average is not insignificant, especially when he's shown he can be ELITE in efficiency as just two seasons ago he was averaging 61.8% true shooting which is absolutely phenomenal. Just for reference, he was more efficient than everyone on the team, including Ayton, except for Bridges (62.0% TS) and Cheick Diallo (68.8% TS) and both of these guys are just finishers.

You mentioned KD's TS% drop but that's dropping from big man in the dunker spot efficiency down to well above league league average. Book's 2PT% is cratered and that's largely because he's not attempting nearly as much near the rim as previous seasons. He's taking about 10% of his shots from within 3ft which is a career low and a big reduction from his 20% career average. He's also taking more mid range shots slightly further away than in previous seasons. He's taking almost 40% of his attempts between 10ft and the 3PT line when his career average from there is about 34%. So he's taking fewer shots closer to the rim and overall shooting a lower percentage inside the arc.

The positive as we all know is that he's finally shooting above 40% from the 3PT line which is a pretty major step forward.

i dont know one person who only considers shooting efficiency when talking about offensive efficiency overall. things like turnovers are baked into all the main efficiency metrics, including tpm, bpm and raptor.

anyway, the proof is in the pudding that despite shooting %s being down, he is contributing to team success as well as ever. per36 he is making 1.3 fewer 2FGs (2.6 points) but making 1 more 3FG (3 points). getting to the line a bit less than last year, but that may be a product of shooting less in the paint and/or the rule changes.

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From what I've seen all over the realgm boards and twitter, when people are talking about efficiency, they are talking about scoring efficiency. Even if no one else did mean it that way, that's the way I meant it when I originally mentioned Booker's efficiency, which is why I was talking about shooting.