arusinov wrote:Rui, Deni and Corey productivity with Beal and Kuz out:
It's said that when stars are out, the role players or youngsters may produce numbers... but usually it will mean that as their minutes per game and USG% go up - their efficiency goes down
Now with Beal and Kuz out (but KP still playing by the way) the three last years lottery picks got their chance to show up. So did they produce numbers and what happened with their efficiency?
Corey
season: 23.0 MIN , 14.1 USG% - 7.9 PTS, 2.6 RBS, 1.1 AST on 57.6 TS%
last 10 games: 33.5 MIN , 13.5 USG% - 11.9 PTS, 2.1 RBS, 1.5 AST on 61.8 TS%
last 5 games: 35.6 MIN , 13.2 USG% - 11.8 PTS, 1.8 RBS, 1.6 AST on 59.4 TS%
Deni
season: 23.8 MIN , 15.5 USG% - 8.1 PTS, 5.2 RBS, 1.9 AST on 53.9 TS%
last 10 games: 28.1 MIN , 20.2 USG% - 13.0 PTS, 6.5 RBS, 3.2 AST on 59.4 TS%
last 5 games: 28.1 MIN , 21.4 USG% - 14.2 PTS, 7.4 RBS, 3.8 AST on 60.2 TS%
Rui
season: 21.3 MIN , 20.5 USG% - 10.9 PTS, 3.6 RBS, 1.2 AST on 59.5 TS%
last 10 games: 26.5 MIN , 21.0 USG% - 13.5 PTS, 5.0 RBS, 1.6 AST on 57.6 TS%
last 5 games: 27.8 MIN , 20.9 USG% - 15.2 PTS, 5.0 RBS, 2.0 AST on 62.3 TS%
So, they did provided good numbers almost across the board - and the efficiency went up too.
Sure one way to look at it is to just ignore saying that end of the season is anyway the season's garbage time, but other way to look at it is acknowledge that young players can't develop and can't produce when not given minutes or/and significant role on offense
When Beal went down, Wes Jr. installed the motion offense and everyone got more touches, with Kuzma being assigned the role of primary offensive threat and bail-out shot creator. Even then, there was modest improvement among our role players as they got more involved, but the shot efficiency just wasn't there. The only guy who made a real step up in shooting efficiency was Kispert, and I think that was less about Beal/Kuzma and more about him just adjusting to the speed of the NBA game. The problem was that Kuzma wasn't particularly efficient, and though he tried to get others involved, he was too turnover prone to be a hub of the offense.
But when Porzingis replaced Kuzma, everything changed. Putting Porzingis in the high post allowed him to be involved with every step of the offense. He sets all the screens, and with every screen, he is a threat to roll or pop. It put a lot more strain on opposing defenses as they had to make difficult defensive decisions multiple times on every possession. The key with Porzingis is that, with his height and midrange shooting touch, he just can't be guarded by some 6-7 forward. Defenses are being penalized for switching those high screens, so either they avoid switching, which allows guys like Deni, Sato and Ish to gain the advantage as the ball handler, or they do switch, which allows Porzingis to post up a smaller player. And if they bring double team help, Porzingis is tall enough to not get flustered so he can make the correct pass leading to Kispert, Rui and KCP getting wide open looks from the corner.
The key to everything is Porzingis. He is switch-proof and that has made all the difference.