Can we just take a second to marvel at Sacramento Kings rookie Tyreke Evans? Despite missing a few games at the end of the month with a sprained ankle, the 20-year-old just capped off a phenomenal December in which he posted 22.1 points, 5.3 rebounds, 5.1 assists, 1.6 steals, 0.7 blocks and 0.4 3-pointers. For the season, he's two assists shy of averaging 20 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists. To help put those numbers in perspective, consider that there are only two players in the NBA averaging 20/5/5 for the season. Their names? LeBron James and Joe Johnson. Dwyane Wade and Brandon Roy are also very close, while Kobe Bryant and Chris Paul are within shouting distance, but come up short. That's not bad company, kid. Not bad at all.
Now I know that he's doing all of this on a team that is void of true offensive weapons and without its top scorer in Kevin Martin, but a deeper look at the statistics reveals that Evans is a lot closer to stardom than we might think. One of the qualities that I typically like to look for in a player like Evans (i.e. explosive combo guard) is his ability to attack the rim and finish. And Tyreke does it with the best of them. In fact, according to statistics from Hoopdata.com, Evans leads the league in shots taken at the rim (dunks, layups and tip-ins) with 8.5 attempts per game (making 4.9 of those shots). Even more impressive is the fact that only 27.5 percent of those makes came off of assists. That means he's getting in the lane and creating his own shot more often than not. And guess what? His opponents know what he's trying to do, and they still can't stop him from getting to the rack.
Let's put those numbers in perspective, shall we? Below is a list of the league leaders in shot attempts at the rim. You'll notice two things about this list. First, these are some of the best players in the game and no, I don't think that is just a coincidence. Second, these are players that are well known for creating their own shots, getting to the basket, and finishing once they get there.
Carmelo Anthony -- 8.3 attempts, 48.8 percent assisted
Gerald Wallace -- 7.5 attempts, 48.8 percent assisted
Monta Ellis -- 7.4 attempts, 34.8 percent assisted
Dwyane Wade -- 7.0 attempts, 36.7 percent assisted
LeBron James -- 6.8 attempts, 50.9 percent assisted
Note that Zach Randolph (7.4 attempts) and Brook Lopez (7.3) also make the list of league leaders, but are excluded from the above discussion because big men are expected to take most of their shots close to the basket and I wanted to isolate explosive players to illustrate Evans' long-term upside. The fact that Evans gets to the rim at a higher clip than the superstars listed above is very, very impressive.
Shot location data is still a relatively new statistic to analyze, so I want to be careful about the conclusions I draw. I don't want to say definitively, for instance, that those who attack the rim are among the best players in the league (I do think there is a correlation, but I haven't done sufficient research to support that claim yet). I will say, however, that these numbers make me think twice about dropping Evans in the rankings once Martin returns. In fact, I think Tyreke's emergence will hurt Martin's value much more than Martin's return will hurt Tyreke. Given how dominant Tyreke has been at getting in the lane and creating (both his own shots and shots for others), it's hard to imagine the Kings taking the ball out of his hands. Of course we can expect a slight dip in his numbers when Martin returns, but probably not as much as most people think.
http://sports.espn.go.com/fantasy/baske ... tish100104
I thought this was pretty interesting. I don't agree or disagree with what was written, I'm just intrigued by the article.
Tyreke Evans has scored 582 points this year and 312 of them have come in the paint. That's impressive!
