WiggOuts wrote:lilfishi22 wrote:WiggOuts wrote:If the refs don't like you they don't like you. Wood wasn't a well liked player plus his game was more away from the basket, context matters. Its like that guy that was complaining that Curry and the Warriors have the least amount of fta completely ignoring that Curry primarily shoots 3s. You clearly get less calls when your not going to the hoop
The Lakers CLEARLY get a beneficial whistle, watch them play against smaller market teams and you'll see
Given how few whistles DA has gotten over his career, you could probably put him in the same bucket as not well liked by refs then I guess? And considering how many middies and away from the basket attempts DA takes, it isn't some magnificent difference between Woods and DA when we're talking about their shot profile. The idea of Woods being playing more away from the basketball because he can shoot 3's and can create in space does paint a picture that he's shooting more often and further away from the basketball than DA but in reality, they are closer than you think.
Last 3 seasons, Woods took 30.2% of his FGA within 3ft of the basket. In that same time frame, DA was 29.9%. From 3-10ft, Woods took 21.1% of his attempts from there whereas DA took 31.8%. From 10-16ft, Woods was at 5% whereas DA was 23.5%. What % of their FG's were dunks? Woods was at 13.1%, DA 13.4%. DA was more efficient than Woods and I do expect his shot profile to look more like a traditional lob threat big man (ie between 2020-2022) but he's also gonna go to where he's comfortable which are those fadeaways, middy's and jump hooks; shot types that are usually not conducive to drawing fouls.
Interesting, I appreciate the stat breakdown. Off of the eye test I would not have guessed it would be so close, I tip my hat to you.
The only thing I can hold onto here is that Ayton hasnt been on a good team over that 3 year span which will also influence the calls you get but I'm kind of moving the goal posts here
To your point, I can absolutely see him getting to the line north of 4 attempts per game with ease, its literally getting fouled one more time...and I absolutely would point my finger at Laker privilege as the reason. Tbh I'd expect it to go a little higher than that. If you could bet on that I bet the odds would be pretty high
DA played his best, most impactful basketball alongside Chris Paul. We turned him into a versatile defensive C who just finishes. Essentially we took away those self creation he was working on in the first few seasons in order to simplify his game to one that made him more efficient and made the most impact on both ends of the court. If he was happy to be that guy and played with a consistent level of intensity, there's no doubt he would've stuck around in Phoenix. The problem is he fancied himself to be more than that and I don't blame him as a former #1 pick who does have some offensive skills. But the more we involved him in the offense, the more and more he went to what he felt comfortable with and that's avoiding the contact and shooting away from the basket. And as his efficiency fell because the steady diet of lob dunks and finishes around the basket changed to shooting more self created midrangers, more fadeaways etc, he was also wanting more of those kinds of touches which hurt offensive flow.
Over 8 years of basketball, you can see the type of shots he wants to take and is comfortable taking. And those shots aren't conducive to getting calls. Refs aren't being put into a position where they even have to give him the benefit of the doubt due to contact because there's rarely contact where he's taking his shots. Like, if you have a game where you regularly seek contact, there will be a whistle multiplier just by putting on the LA jersey. But if that isn't your game, what whistle is there? You look at Jaxon Hayes last season playing 55 games, he had 3 games the entire season where he had more than 5 FTA. In DA's first season with Portland where he played 56 games (so similar numbers), how many games did he have the entire season where he had more than 5 FTA? The exact same number (3). Hayes is also a far lower usage guy and he's basically played the DA role already.
The LA whistle is a real factor if getting to the line is a major part of your game and you force the refs to make a call. The thing with DA is that his low FTr isn't some consequence of playing for a bad team. It's a feature of his game and that goes back to his college days where he had a pretty low FTr for a high usage guy, and it was lower than his peers like Bamba, JJJr and Bagley. At the end of the day, that is who he is. Will he benefit from some calls that he wouldn't have gotten before if he wasn't a Laker? Yeah probably but is he going to more than double his FTAs? Will he even get enough touches to draw that many fouls?
