Masai: "Scottie isn't a shot maker right now but that will grow. You build around him for his winning mentality"

[HiJiNX]

I think what you describe in your second paragraph is where the focus needs to be.

Yep. Based on his athletic tools and skill set, that's about the best we can hope from him, even though he hasn't been a stunner in those sets to date (as a scorer). As you say, he's a skillful transition playmaker, and he's a good defensive rebounder, so he can key the break well enough.

Anyway, I think utilizing him the way you describe still allows him to get 20ppg at efficiency good enough to unlock his passing.

Christ, I hope we stop thinking of him as a 20 ppg scorer. He's one of the worst scorers I've seen. Like, he isn't quite Larry Hughes bad, but he's not far off. He needs to shoot less, only as often as is strictly necessary to keep the defense honest, at least without a LARGE change in his overall efficacy.

He has to shoot the ball if he’s going to continue being a high usage player. Just as it has been in the past, he will accumulate most of his points within the flow of the game simply because he has the ball a lot, in advantageous positions. He just has to convert those, which he’s very capable of. Watching him play this year, a lot of inefficiency was a result of him trying to create or get downhill against a half-court defence, which isn’t where most of his shots were coming from before.

Nobody is saying he needs to go out there and start gunning like prime Kobe haha. But he has to be a useful scorer if he’s going to be on the court at all.

He can’t help the overall offense if he drastically reduces his shot attempts.

[AbC?]

Hopefully we just saw his last game as a Raptor

[tsherkin]

He has to shoot the ball if he’s going to continue being a high usage player.

I don't agree with that, no. I mean, in the mathematical sense, propping up actual USG% would require that, sure, but I imagine you meant that if we're funneling the ball to him a lot, he'll need to. And with the latter, I can't say I agree. I think that offensively, he has more of a future as a lower-usage guy unless he shows that he isn't incompetent at it. Because otherwise, he's simply wasting possessions.

Just as it has been in the past, he will accumulate most of his points within the flow of the game simply because he has the ball a lot, in advantageous positions. He just has to convert those, which he’s very capable of.

We shall see. Aside from his 3pt shooting, his other shooting numbers were pretty close to his usual stuff, and that's not a good thing.

Watching him play this year, a lot of inefficiency was a result of him trying to create or get downhill against a half-court defence, which isn’t where most of his shots were coming from before.

I mean, the properly incompetent shooting while wide open was also a major contributor. And him missing gimmes, too.

Nobody is saying he needs to go out there and start gunning like prime Kobe haha. But he has to be a useful scorer if he’s going to be on the court at all.

Within the parameters of constrained usage, I agree. I have zero faith that he'll be useful to us in a role which asks of him 20+ ppg, but if we can get him down to 10-12 FGA/g, then he can hopefully be useful at that level, sure.

He can’t help the overall offense if he drastically reduces his shot attempts.

Yes he can. The season he just authored was a flagrant violation of good quality, lol. He was awful (as a scorer). Having him continue to use that many scoring possessions is directly negative for us. His actual utility comes from moving the ball, not shooting it.

With BI incoming, and with RJ, Quick and potentially with our pick, maybe Battle and Gradey... we have lots of choices as far as guys who can AT LEAST match Scottie's crappy scoring.

Remember, he's managed 98, 90, 98 and 91 TS+ over his career to date. He's been below average the entire time. His scoring is EASILY replaced, but in 2 of the last 3 seasons, he's been a horrible, horrible waste of scoring possessions.

And honestly, he doesn't project well. If you give him his career best in 3P%, FG% and FT%, with his best FTr to date, he actually STILL doesn't even reach league average efficiency.

Anyway, there's no real reason he needs to shoot 15+ times per game in order to impact the offense positively. He could shoot less, run more PnR and in general move the ball more regularly and he would be just fine. We have PLENTY of players who can match or exceed his scoring utility.

[mihaic]

19 7 5 1 n 1 & ppl act like he fell off a cliff

Scotty Bons up next

It's not the stats. It's a perceived inability to score against an average defender, even when defended 1 on 1.