Mr Peanut wrote:Fair points. I think the inefficiency aspect is a little bit overblown though - definitely in his first and second seasons that was a fair criticism, but he is getting better. His TS is 55.1% this season with the NBA average being 58%, and that overall number is generally inflated by C/PFs and I suspect he is close to average for guards.
No, this is also isn't an argument I tend to respect because the good scorers of the league are positive rTS guys. Being that far below league average is bad, big men notwithstanding; in fact, it is hot dog ass, one of only 9 of those dudes who is actually below league average (which is 57.4% TS at the moment). Among guys who have played 20+ games and are scoring 20+ ppg this season so far, Cade is 33rd of 37. That is terrible, and is not the product of his draw rate by proportion. He does have trouble getting a whistle, but he also isn't good at getting to the rim, and isn't good when he gets there. That is a much larger factor, though obviously the unfavorable whistle contributes.
Obviously, I would expect his specific numbers to improve with more passing support, better spacing, etc, etc. That seems natural. But guys who have the tools to be dominant scorers don't typically struggle this badly even on bad teams. What this does is illustrate a dearth of ability to sustain that volume. Obviously, someone needs to do it for the Pistons and no one else has even the tools that he's got, which is fine. He's better than he looks (as a scorer, since again, the rest of his game is very much of a different quality), to one degree or another, but that's still not terribly encouraging.
I don't want to harp on this too much because he's doing a lot of other positive things and he's a net-positive offensive player in a bad situation anyway. But no, arguing that position is a factor isn't really a helpful angle for him.
There are many reasons to be optimistic about him, and about his play over the first quarter of the season. His 3pt shooting has been quite good, and we've been sort of waiting for that for a while now based on his shooting ability elsewhere. He's a career 84.5% FT shooter with a strong mid-range game, he's over 40% on long 2s over his career and he's a career 37% shooter from the corners. The markers that he SHOULD be able to hit a decent percentage from 3 have been there for a minute. And last year he made a pretty big step forward up to 35.5%, which wasn't amazing, but was very encouraging. And seems to be carrying forward plus this year, which is nice to see.
There is a lot of talent among East guards so I appreciate the path is difficult. He certainly deserves it over guys like Haliburton. Brunson likely gets it over him, which will also be influenced by reputation/team record. Lillard will get a spot. It might come down to him and LaMelo.
Brunson is a better player. If he gets in over Cade, it will be well-earned. Between him and Ball, LaMelo has been having a considerably better offensive season. He has his own issues, of course, but is likewise playing in a bad situation. We'll see if he stays on the court enough to be around for an AS selection, though. Haliburton has been a huge disappointment compared to his last two seasons. His shot has just vanished and he hasn't been the same dynamo as a playmaker, which is interesting. And he remains... less than ideal on defense. xD Definitely not his year so far.
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