RealGM

I'm the dude who wrote this:

http://www.draftexpress.com/article/The ... lsap-1841/

How has his game advanced since the spring of 2007?
Has his offense improved? Does he have any good go-to moves yet?

don't have the time to look up particulars right now but...his jumper.

-Much better ball handler
-Better jump shooter
-Touch around the basket has gotten unbelievably good


He has this spin move and a bunch of fake spins and pump fakes to create his own shot now. They only work about once every five games, but when they do work, he's pretty unstoppable. He still mostly scores off of pick and roll, offensive rebounds, and cuts though (And really awesome at those)

His step-back jumper has improved a lot -- but it still makes me nervous. What you wrote back then still resonates with me as being accurate:

On offense, this tendency results in extraneous hesitations and double clutches, leading to him releasing many shots on the way down, even those within just a few feet. He compounds that problem by invariably falling away or worse, leaping away from the basket, even when there’s a just single defender barely challenging him…even when there’s no one challenging him at all. If his general hope is to create separation between himself and his defender, there are surely more effective ways he could do that.

HappyProle wrote:His step-back jumper has improved a lot -- but it still makes me nervous. What you wrote back then still resonates with me as being accurate:

On offense, this tendency results in extraneous hesitations and double clutches, leading to him releasing many shots on the way down, even those within just a few feet. He compounds that problem by invariably falling away or worse, leaping away from the basket, even when there’s a just single defender barely challenging him…even when there’s no one challenging him at all. If his general hope is to create separation between himself and his defender, there are surely more effective ways he could do that.

Yeah, it's amazing how spot on that is...... And it hasn't really changed since his rookie year......

But, Millsap has still progressed quiet a lot on the offensive end since his rookie year...... His midrange game which used to be non-existent, is now good to very good...... He has several fade-away moves that he uses effectively with regularity...... He is excellent around the rim, and he has deceptive explosiveness, kind of like Boozer...... Both of them sometimes perform things that you don't really expect from either one....... He's efficient and usually doesn't force things.......

It should be interesting to see how he does as the full time starter this year...... I used to think that would be a bad idea for the Jazz, but Millsap next to Al Jefferson, and with AK? I'm starting to like the sound of that.......

His offense still doesn't look very deliberate to me. It's mostly improv and scoring off of busted plays. Inside, he has learned to finish in strange ways because he lacks lenght, which usually involves going up with two hands with a mid-air adjustment to one side or the other, with his arms out to the side far enough away from his body to protect the ball. Still looks a lot like these:





It's not pretty, but he prevents the blocks that way. I wish he could just fully extend straight toward the hoop, but he just isn't long enough to do that in the paint against his typical defender, and it's working fairly well as is.

He's been getting a bit better at helpside blocks.

In the playoffs, he did show off a bit of offensive footwork (a spin move or two, drop step, actually looked planned, too!). That was very promising to me, but he only managed to do it a few times. Hopefully that can continue so he can beat his man to the rim and finish with confidence instead of contorting under the hoop for an ugly 2.

Teams still dare him to hit the jumper, which is perhaps more telling than any numbers on that subject. Defenses give that up because its a low threat shot. He's been improving in that respect, but for the foreseeable future, they still always guard for penetration and let him have his jumper. He even adds a little stepback once in a while.

In my estimation, he's a much more effective bench player than starter. He gets to play against smaller defenders, or tired defenders, as a 6th man. This fits his hustle, bruiser style game perfectly. For that reason, I don't think he'll ever be a dominant starter that can handle the heavy offensive responsibilities like Boozer could. But he's a game changer off the bench.

Millsap's finishes are gorgeous, one of the prettiest finishers in the game.

Obviously, as others have said, his biggest development has been the mid range J, which has gotten to the point of being a real weapon instead of just a keep-'em-honest tactic. He does have a few post moves. He uses the drop step from the right block from time to time. Mostly, though, we haven't seen what he's capable of since his role hasn't been expansive enough for him to get into an offensive rhythm. Consider that in last year's playoffs he averaged 18/9 in just 32mpg as a starter for the injured Mehmet Okur. Factor that out to 36mpg and that's 20/10 production IN THE PLAYOFFS. Paul Millsap might just be the best kept secret in the NBA right now. I think he has star potential, and if he ever gets the opportunity to be a 36mpg guy in a structured system that relies on him nightly with talent around him, he'll be making multiple All Star appearances.

Also, he's become very good facing the basket and taking his man off the bounce. We'll see a lot of that this year, I believe.

erudite23 wrote:Obviously, as others have said, his biggest development has been the mid range J, which has gotten to the point of being a real weapon instead of just a keep-'em-honest tactic. He does have a few post moves. He uses the drop step from the right block from time to time. Mostly, though, we haven't seen what he's capable of since his role hasn't been expansive enough for him to get into an offensive rhythm. Consider that in last year's playoffs he averaged 18/9 in just 32mpg as a starter for the injured Mehmet Okur. Factor that out to 36mpg and that's 20/10 production IN THE PLAYOFFS. Paul Millsap might just be the best kept secret in the NBA right now. I think he has star potential, and if he ever gets the opportunity to be a 36mpg guy in a structured system that relies on him nightly with talent around him, he'll be making multiple All Star appearances.

Also, he's become very good facing the basket and taking his man off the bounce. We'll see a lot of that this year, I believe.

Thanks for all the feedback so far, y'all. I still can't believe your coaches haven't had him develop a simple baby/half hook. Christ. Such an unguardable move for a dude with his width. What the hell. You're right about him being the best kept secret. I'm stunned that he hasn't made more progress playing-time wise. He should have been starting every game a long, long time ago. Now, you might say that Boozer was better. Sure. But give Millsap the consistent experience, and I guarantee you he would have surpassed Boozer quickly. Well, unless your coaches would have been too busy catering to older players with bigger roles at the time, or babysitting lesser players who have bigger holes in their game and not enough talent to make up for it off the bat -- meanwhile, Millsap has enough skill and talent to be useful right away and is probably mature enough to not need much babysitting or catering, and so it looks for those reasons maybe (just speculating, I might be wrong) like the coaches have been oblivious to or definitely at least not-aware-enough of the All-NBA-to-be goldmine right under their nose. That might only get worse with Big Al. Or it might get way, way, way better. Jefferson'll need some intense one-on-one development, so maybe they can save two birds with one big man coach. Too bad we've still got Cliff Ray.

Good posts so far. The thing that everyone loves about Millsap is that with seemingly average physical attributes he continues to improve and surprise. He has not become complacent. I do worry a little about how much of his game will be taken away as a starter with teams preparing defensively for him better. He will likely still struggle with some of the longer, bigger PFs. I love the Jefferson pick up though as other teams will be forced to focus defensive efforts on Al and Millsap can still fly under the radar a bit and pick up the garbage points easily. We'll see how well they can dump off to one another. Hopefully Okur comes back quickly giving other teams some match up nightmares against our big three.

"seemingly average physical attributes"

Huh???

wigglestrue wrote:

erudite23 wrote:Obviously, as others have said, his biggest development has been the mid range J, which has gotten to the point of being a real weapon instead of just a keep-'em-honest tactic. He does have a few post moves. He uses the drop step from the right block from time to time. Mostly, though, we haven't seen what he's capable of since his role hasn't been expansive enough for him to get into an offensive rhythm. Consider that in last year's playoffs he averaged 18/9 in just 32mpg as a starter for the injured Mehmet Okur. Factor that out to 36mpg and that's 20/10 production IN THE PLAYOFFS. Paul Millsap might just be the best kept secret in the NBA right now. I think he has star potential, and if he ever gets the opportunity to be a 36mpg guy in a structured system that relies on him nightly with talent around him, he'll be making multiple All Star appearances.

Also, he's become very good facing the basket and taking his man off the bounce. We'll see a lot of that this year, I believe.

Thanks for all the feedback so far, y'all. I still can't believe your coaches haven't had him develop a simple baby/half hook. Christ. Such an unguardable move for a dude with his width. What the hell. You're right about him being the best kept secret. I'm stunned that he hasn't made more progress playing-time wise. He should have been starting every game a long, long time ago. Now, you might say that Boozer was better. Sure. But give Millsap the consistent experience, and I guarantee you he would have surpassed Boozer quickly. Well, unless your coaches would have been too busy catering to older players with bigger roles at the time, or babysitting lesser players who have bigger holes in their game and not enough talent to make up for it off the bat -- meanwhile, Millsap has enough skill and talent to be useful right away and is probably mature enough to not need much babysitting or catering, and so it looks for those reasons maybe (just speculating, I might be wrong) like the coaches have been oblivious to or definitely at least not-aware-enough of the All-NBA-to-be goldmine right under their nose. That might only get worse with Big Al. Or it might get way, way, way better. Jefferson'll need some intense one-on-one development, so maybe they can save two birds with one big man coach. Too bad we've still got Cliff Ray.

Boozer was the better player because of his superior size and skill. Also, I don't think you can overstate the value--in the mind of coach Sloan--of a guy who will accept his role and come off the bench and produce the way that Paul has. I think that's the reason why they didn't push Boozer out.

Still, I worry that Al Jefferson will provide a similar road block for his development. Paul needs a guy like 2004 Rasheed (someone with length and defensive acumen who can also spread the floor with his offense) to play the 5 next to him in order to maximize what he can do. The biggest positive I saw at the Boozer departure was finally getting to see what Paul could do. If we could have used that exception to acquire a defensive 5 or a high scoring swingman I would have liked it a lot better. I love Jefferson, but I *really* want to see what Millsap can do as "the guy" for the Jazz. He showed a superior ability to deal with length against the Lakers as compared to Carlos. I think he can take it to the next level.

erudite23 wrote:He showed a superior ability to deal with length against the Lakers as compared to Carlos. I think he can take it to the next level.

Yeah Millsap was much better at dealing with the Laker's length than Boozer was...despite being even shorter.

It's too soon to really make any conclusions, at least for me. But It seems to me that Jefferson has a higher ceiling than Millsap...especially in a system that stimulates his growth and actually uses him effectively. I feel like he could average 25p 11r 2b per game when healthy...and the guy has always flourished vs. length, whether it's Yao or Gasol.

I was really excited at see Millsap too, and you're right about putting him next to a solid, long defensive 5. That would be the ideal situation for him. I'm with those of you who think Millsap is a potential star in this league; but who really knows?

If he IS that good, I hope he gets the opportunity to hit his ceiling - whether in Utah or elsewhere.

Millsap improves every year, last year he added the midrange that everyone is talking about. I wouldn't be surprised if he shows a baby hook or a better face up game this year. I can see his back to the basket game getting better practicing against Jefferson too.

Luigi wrote:His offense still doesn't look very deliberate to me. It's mostly improv and scoring off of busted plays. Inside, he has learned to finish in strange ways because he lacks lenght, which usually involves going up with two hands with a mid-air adjustment to one side or the other, with his arms out to the side far enough away from his body to protect the ball. Still looks a lot like these:

It's not pretty, but he prevents the blocks that way. I wish he could just fully extend straight toward the hoop, but he just isn't long enough to do that in the paint against his typical defender, and it's working fairly well as is.

He's been getting a bit better at helpside blocks.

In the playoffs, he did show off a bit of offensive footwork (a spin move or two, drop step, actually looked planned, too!). That was very promising to me, but he only managed to do it a few times. Hopefully that can continue so he can beat his man to the rim and finish with confidence instead of contorting under the hoop for an ugly 2.

Teams still dare him to hit the jumper, which is perhaps more telling than any numbers on that subject. Defenses give that up because its a low threat shot. He's been improving in that respect, but for the foreseeable future, they still always guard for penetration and let him have his jumper. He even adds a little stepback once in a while.

In my estimation, he's a much more effective bench player than starter. He gets to play against smaller defenders, or tired defenders, as a 6th man. This fits his hustle, bruiser style game perfectly. For that reason, I don't think he'll ever be a dominant starter that can handle the heavy offensive responsibilities like Boozer could. But he's a game changer off the bench.

Excellent post. Millsap is a fantastic hustler/post player, one of the best in the league. He's a great 6th man and is a good starter. I too, would like to see millsap as "the guy" to see what he can do. He isn't on the same skill level or talent level as a boozer, but maybe with an entire season as a starter would clear that up for me.

Paul makes rebounds

Best in the Nba at playing with stiches. He now has a rhythem to his game. He is smooth and now has a jumper that is going to fit perfectly with Big Al.

i see him as the perfect 6th man in the playoffs, whre he'll benefit to have has half a season as a starter.

Clifford Ray is not with the Celtics anymore so now you guys can scoop him up to groom Al + Paul.