Pillendreher wrote:hardenASG13 wrote:I know it's hard to believe that a competent 2 guard would make things easier on the stars offensively, and thrive offensively since the other teams can't focus on him, but it's true.
See, this is something you don't realize: Variance is part of the game, but it's not something you can rely on. Right now, the Russ-Brewer-George-Adams is at 61.6 TS%. If that were the shooting numbers for a team, that team would rank 1st in the league. We are 24th in 3P% on the season. This is not gonna last. They're shooting 44 % from 3 as a group with only one guy that has been close to 40 % individually this season: George. And he's at 37 %, so you know the great shooting is coming from somewhere else. Melo is capabable of providing shooting, but he's not a 50 % 3pt shooter. Corey Brewer is shooting 47 % from 3, basically 20 points above his career average.
Let's do a though experiment: Corey Brewer is 8/17 from 3 with the starters. Last season in the Playoffs, Andre Roberson shot 7/17 against the Rockets in the 1st round. Would you be on here praising Roberson for his shot making and that the Thunder finally got a competent shooter at the 2? No, because that goes against your agenda and is also nonsense because Roberson is a non-shooter. So why doesn't this apply to Brewer as well? He's a 31 % career 3pt shooter from the corners. He's at 54 % for us. Deep down, you know it is not gonna last. But of course you won't let an opportunity like this go to waste.
I don't think the 3 point percentages are going to last, but I do think they will improve for everyone, across the board compared to what they were playing with Roberson or the others. That's a good thing.
Brewer may be a career 31% shooter from the corners, but as I've always tried to tell you, if given Roberson looks, any competent NBA player would look like a great shooter. Your point with last year's playoffs is a major stretch. Roberson got looks like that his whole career (thankfully he stopped taking them this year). He often passed them up, killing the flow of the offense, missed badly, or allowed the defense to reset as they wouldn't even close out on him. Brewer must be loving the ease and quality of looks he's getting. He won't shoot 50% most likely, but he will continue to thrive with the easy opportunities he gets (NBA wings are supposed to be able to make layups off the dribble) and the stars will benefit from playing heavy minutes with a wing who the defense has to respect. As a team, they are far more dangerous in my opinion.
