Post#69 » by GimmeDat » Tue Nov 26, 2019 10:10 am
Was watching the game. It was very impressive.
He was going up against a team with some fringe NBA guys - Scott Machado was the opposition PG, who is a good defender and had a 10 day with the Lakers last year. They're starting C is Cam Oliver, who you guys might remember from draft talk a few years back, I like him back then, and he's one of the NBL's best bigs. etc.
That said, Cairns have been up and down, and that was an extremely poor defensive effort from them all game. You'll notice several of those baskets the seas parted for LaMelo to drive in. Also out of his 4 three's, I think 2 or 3 were some ridiculous off balance/off dribble iso shots, which he can get hot with, but are not 'good shots' per se. Would feel better about him just hitting his spot up looks consistently.
He's a very crafty finisher when he has space to load up, and he has a high level floater with range. Great handles and change of pace - a number of very good hesi's in that game.
But, for all the talk about his shooting percentages, he's shooting 37.8% over his last 5 games. He's getting his lower body into his shots more and it's paying dividends.
His defense was also improved in that game. Went from terrible to just bad/below average, which I say very positively.
The passing vision is elite - Trae-esque.. and his assist/TO ratio is really strong - he rarely makes mistakes or tries to force things/do too much.. his passing, as fun as it is, is always functional and the excecution is always on point. The rebounding is also exceptional from the guard spot. All that stuff is going to translate.
His shot selection and general decision making is improving.. he's picking his spots better, learning when not to hoist up a shot, what reads to make, etc. . All involved with him stress that this is the first time he's played properly in an organized, pro setting like this, and so many concepts of play on both ends of the floor he's been completely oblivious too before this stint in the NBL - and you can see it on the court, he's coming along in leaps and bounds.
I think the biggest limitation right now is making things happen in the half-court at the NBA level. That means shooting, it also means diversifying the general scoring package and learning to use his size a bit more. When he can break out and play a free flowing, open running game, he's going to be great, but when the game settles down certain limitations may present themselves more. He's a bit Lonzo-esque in that regard.
But seriously - he just put up 32-11-13, with 2 TO's, in 40 minutes in a professional league. This isn't Euroleague obviously, but it's a very solid pro league, and that's an insane line.
I think he's a ball of clay prospect that needs the right development, but he's got a lot of unteachable gifts already. If he can get his defense to a passable level and tighten up the shooting (to what degree he can, I don't know), then the sky is the limit in terms of ceiling. Obviously if those 2 things remain big liabilities than that's always going to hold him back considerably as a guy you want to run your offense through at the next level.
