Jamaaliver wrote:kg01 wrote:tsherkin wrote:
Ya but he was trash in the semis and the ECF, and then in their last two first-round exits. Leastwise in his capacity as a volume scorer. So there are big questions. Like super, super, hot garbage kind of trash.
So it isnt unreasonable that people want to see him not-suck in the playoffs.
Lies detected.
Lies indeed.
Careful, tsherkin. You lose credibility making sweeping/inaccurate claims that are easily debunked.
NOTE: Your opinion does not constitute a fact.
Right. Volume.
And yet, in 2021:
+0.3% rTS (relative to playoff average) in the first round vs the Knicks (granted, 3rd-ranked defense). 34.1% from 3, overall pretty solid series. Atlanta's team O was pretty good as well.
But. After the first two games, he then shot 8/19 (42.1%) FG and 2/6 3P in Game 3. Then 9/21 (42.9%) and 4/14 (28.6%) 3P in Game 4. Then 10/28 (35.7% FG) and 3/11 (27.3%) in Game 5. They won all 3 of those games. Now, in game 5, he was at least getting to the line quite effectively and was 13/15 there (he is, of course, an excellent FT shooter). But that's pretty brutal.
That's 39.7% FG and 29.0% 3P over those 3 wins. Big volume, but chucking up like 01 Iverson.
-3.5% rTS vs the 76ers (2nd-ranked D). Shot like absolute dog crap. 39.2% FG, 32.3% from 3. Produced volume but was brutally inefficient. Shot under 40% FG in Games 2, 4 and 7. Shot a sterling 5/23 (21.7% FG) in the Game 7 win. 2/11 from 3. 9/11 from the foul line.
That was a trash, trash series.
Faced the Bucks (10th-ranked D) in the ECFs.
-2.7% rTS. "Only" 6.8" apg. 43.3% FG, 26.8% 3P, with 5 turnovers. He did miss two games with the bone bruise. And then he was useless in the final game, shooting 4/17 from the floor. Explicable, coming back after injury, but not a good series. He was also 6/16 in Game 2. He shot rather well in games 1 and 3, but that's him: incandescent and inconsistent. And size is a problem for him.
Okay. So that's 2021. That's his ECF run. So as far as "sweeping/inaccurate claims that are easily debunked," no, that isn't the case. He had some rough, rough games in those series, and the average performance who put together was considerably worse than his RS performance, and he was posting big volume on what was below average efficiency even by playoff efficiency standards (which are lower than the RS most often).
In 2022, he came out and shot 31.9% from the floor and 18.4% from 3. I don't think you want to try and defend that series. 10.6% below playoff league average TS% in that series. He was about as useless as it gets against Miami. He had one good game, in Game 2. But he OPENED the series shooting 1/12. Then in game 3, he was 6/14. Then 3/11 and 2/12. He was brutally ineffective and it tanked their series.
In 2023, -4.5% rTS vs playoff league average. Again, volume stats. Consistently passing well, but so did Rondo, and it means only so much. It means even less when you're the primary volume scorer and you're blowing goats. 5/18 (27.8%), 9/22 (40.9%), 12/22 in Game 3, 11/26 (42.3%), 14/33 (42.4%), 9/28 (32.1%).
This is stank-ass crap. This isn't about opinion. This is about him attempting to shoulder a level of offensive load he hasn't proven capable of managing, and being far too helio for what his body and skill set can manage.
Trae is a very skilled player. He's basically maxing himself out as a small guy with elite shooting ability and wonderful playmaking. But his playoff scoring isn't good. He's a 53.3% TS guy in the playoffs, and that isn't a compliment, and is also influenced by him posting 55.1% in 2021, before following that with 46.1% and 52.1%. That's universally quite a bit below playoff league average in those second two seasons, and just a shade over average in that first run (and even that is largely predicated on the Knicks series).
So yeah. YMMV on how much you want to factor in his playmaking, and that's fair. Trae remained a very good playmaker in the playoffs. But he was super trash in the focal scorer role. And unless that changes, Atlanta has a systemic problem and rating him will always err on the side of lowering beneath guys who do better in the playoffs in a similar role.
