The Gradey Dick Thread Part 3

[LoveMyRaps]

In no world should Gradey be playing double the minutes of Battle.

[tsherkin]

Okay, whatever you're saying. It's normal for there to be a drop off from very good to average from wide open to open shots.

Yes there is, but when that is literally the only thing a player can do at a competent level, his utility drops off precipitously when he's merely average. A 35% shot has only so much value.

Cam Johnson Wide Open 42.2 Open 36.6 wasn't hurting his team out there on offense. He's on every scouting report.

Cam Johnson isn't an oxygen thief on defense and completely useless besides his 3pt shooting, though. He's not a good comparison.

I don't know what we're deluding ourselves with here, but he does draw defensive attention and he had a promising 2nd year leap in development. If defenses leave him alone and he gets more wide open shots, I think that will work out really well for us.

We'll see what happens. Right now, he's horrible at everything, so it's hard to be patient. Last year, he was good when he was wide open on C+S looks and useless at everything else. As the season wears on, we'll have a better idea of if he has any real hope of being worth further investment.

Right now, though, he's about the most useless thing on the court imaginable. I agree that no hasty moves should be made, but Gradey isn't good right now. And any utility extracted from his spacing is matched off by his defensive issues right now, because he's not hitting any shots regardless of defensive coverage.

[UnbelievablyRAW]

Any 3 contested tends to be a step back, which isn't his game. He doesn't take a lot of contested shots at all, unless he's driving into the paint.

Last year, 2.9 3PA/g with a defender within 4-6 feet, an additional 0.9/g with the defender 2-4 feet. Shot 14.3% on the latter, and 35.3% on the former. 43% when the defender was more than 6 feet from him.

Literally any defensive pressure/proximity significantly impacted his performance. He needs to be WIIIIIIIIDE open.

Why would we want him taking tightly contested 3s? That's what the one dribble pull up is for.

Of course, when you're dealing with young players it's never a sure thing, but his % on open and wide open shots were good for someone that young.

It'd be nice if we had a 3pt shooter that was resilient against light defense and forced defenders to not help off them at all. I have the same issue with Ochai as a fake shooter. Any sort of defender within 6 ft and its a brick but that "40% from 3" looks nice on paper

If guys don't have to make aggressive closeouts to defend the shot, the closeout drives don't produce anything.

[tsherkin]

It'd be nice if we had a 3pt shooter that was resilient against light defense and forced defenders to not help off them at all. I have the same issue with Ochai as a fake shooter. Any sort of defender within 6 ft and its a brick but that "40% from 3" looks nice on paper

If guys don't have to make aggressive closeouts to defend the shot, the closeout drives don't produce anything.

Well put!

[UnbelievablyRAW]

Yet most of our best lineups have him in it.

I pointed this out elsewhere, but he has benefitted from teams shooting the 3 VERY poorly when he is on the floor. I think we can all admit that is noise and not anything to do with Gradey as a defensive player.

As long as teams still guard him like he’s a top 5 shooter in the world, our offence is better off with him on the court.

On the other hand, we have shot the 3 VERY well with Gradey on the floor. Which again, is small sample noise and will normalize. We cannot realistically expect us to shoot 42% from 3 when Gradey plays. To go deeper, non "dick" 3's when DIck is on the floor are going in 46.4% of the time. Just utterly unsustainable

He’s the only player on the team that gets 2 defenders sent at him when he’s on the perimeter coming off a screen or relocation outside of Ingram.]

As soon as teams realize he isn’t that good of a shooter to warrant attention like that, he’ll quickly become one of the worst players in the league with his impact. We’re not at that point yet.

I think you are overrating how much defensive pressure teams are sending at Dick.

Oh don’t get me wrong, I believe GD is probably our worst defender. I just do believe in his spacing gravity and what it gives us.

If you watch him on the court, the defence is hyper aware of his presence in my opinion. Why? I don’t know but they respect his shooting prowess.

I think these are mores examples of bad defense and miscommunication by young players vs any gravity Gradey will naturally bring to every game tbh

[Harcore Fenton Mun]

I wonder how much of his bad defense, is really on the HC. Like, I know he's bad...but a good Coach can figure things out. I think Darko exacerbates things with his piss poor defense.

[MEDIC]

I wonder how much of his bad defense, is really on the HC. Like, I know he's bad...but a good Coach can figure things out. I think Darko exacerbates things with his piss poor defense.

Are you serious? Now we are going to blame Dick's horrible defense on Darko?

Jakobe & CMB don't seem to have these issues & they haven't been in the league as long as Gradey has.

[YogurtProducer]

I pointed this out elsewhere, but he has benefitted from teams shooting the 3 VERY poorly when he is on the floor. I think we can all admit that is noise and not anything to do with Gradey as a defensive player.

On the other hand, we have shot the 3 VERY well with Gradey on the floor. Which again, is small sample noise and will normalize. We cannot realistically expect us to shoot 42% from 3 when Gradey plays. To go deeper, non "dick" 3's when DIck is on the floor are going in 46.4% of the time. Just utterly unsustainable

I think you are overrating how much defensive pressure teams are sending at Dick.

Oh don’t get me wrong, I believe GD is probably our worst defender. I just do believe in his spacing gravity and what it gives us.

If you watch him on the court, the defence is hyper aware of his presence in my opinion. Why? I don’t know but they respect his shooting prowess.

I think these are mores examples of bad defense and miscommunication by young players vs any gravity Gradey will naturally bring to every game tbh

Was gonna say this. That’s just horrible defence

[tsherkin]

I wonder how much of his bad defense, is really on the HC. Like, I know he's bad...but a good Coach can figure things out. I think Darko exacerbates things with his piss poor defense.

This isn't a valid stance. He's a crap defender. That is not Darko's fault at all.

[HumbleRen]

Oh don’t get me wrong, I believe GD is probably our worst defender. I just do believe in his spacing gravity and what it gives us.

If you watch him on the court, the defence is hyper aware of his presence in my opinion. Why? I don’t know but they respect his shooting prowess.

I think these are mores examples of bad defense and miscommunication by young players vs any gravity Gradey will naturally bring to every game tbh

Was gonna say this. That’s just horrible defence

Isnt that just basketball in a nutshell? Capitalizing possessions off of bad lapses of judgement by the defence?

Anyways, glad he hit his shots today, played great.

[YogurtProducer]

I think these are mores examples of bad defense and miscommunication by young players vs any gravity Gradey will naturally bring to every game tbh

Was gonna say this. That’s just horrible defence

Isnt that just basketball in a nutshell? Capitalizing possessions off of bad lapses of judgement by the defence?

Anyways, glad he hit his shots today, played great.

Sure, but those were more examples of MEM not switching properly, and not MEM purposely loading up on Dick

[MEDIC]

Decent game by Gradey tonight, but this needs to be his baseline moving forward.

[HumbleRen]

Decent game by Gradey tonight, but this needs to be his baseline moving forward.

I think 105%TS will be a pretty hard baseline.

But yeah, this is the role he needs to play for us.

[Thaddy]

Decent game by Gradey tonight, but this needs to be his baseline moving forward.

I think 105%TS will be a pretty hard baseline.

But yeah, this is the role he needs to play for us.

Playing him over Agbaji is a better long term move. He's on a cheaper contract and he could give us a great year next year in a competitive season. We could have a bench player making a strong case to be a starter.

[Appostis]

Decent game by Gradey tonight, but this needs to be his baseline moving forward.

I think 105%TS will be a pretty hard baseline.

But yeah, this is the role he needs to play for us.

Playing him over Agbaji is a better long term move. He's on a cheaper contract and he could give us a great year next year in a competitive season. We could have a bench player making a strong case to be a starter.

Agbaji is playing in a position we don't really have needs and will demand a contract bump that would hurt the team.


If they have wiggle room that money should go to retaining RJ and Sandro.

[Thaddy]

I think 105%TS will be a pretty hard baseline.

But yeah, this is the role he needs to play for us.

Playing him over Agbaji is a better long term move. He's on a cheaper contract and he could give us a great year next year in a competitive season. We could have a bench player making a strong case to be a starter.

Agbaji is playing in a position we don't really have needs and will demand a contract bump that would hurt the team.


If they have wiggle room that money should go to retaining RJ and Sandro.

I was hoping we trade him for a big. I think we could get a project like Zikarsky from the Wolves. Maybe Miller would be better but we desperately need a young big we can develop.

[Appostis]

Playing him over Agbaji is a better long term move. He's on a cheaper contract and he could give us a great year next year in a competitive season. We could have a bench player making a strong case to be a starter.

Agbaji is playing in a position we don't really have needs and will demand a contract bump that would hurt the team.


If they have wiggle room that money should go to retaining RJ and Sandro.

I was hoping we trade him for a big. I think we could get a project like Zikarsky from the Wolves. Maybe Miller would be better but we desperately need a young big we can develop.

I mean potentially it would be great to have that not of roster balance. Depending on how high you are on Sandro. Hard to see where they get the money to do everything.

[ATLTimekeeper]

Cam Johnson isn't an oxygen thief on defense and completely useless besides his 3pt shooting, though. He's not a good comparison.

The statistical comparison is only relevant to the coverage he sees on offense. A 35% shot from Cam is still something the defense doesn't want, same with Gradey. Teams don't react to those kinds of percentages strategically. They still guard the shooter tight, because of the potential to go off and rapidly change a game. And especially with a guy who can do some positive things when run off the line.

We'll see what happens. Right now, he's horrible at everything, so it's hard to be patient. Last year, he was good when he was wide open on C+S looks and useless at everything else. As the season wears on, we'll have a better idea of if he has any real hope of being worth further investment.

Right now, though, he's about the most useless thing on the court imaginable. I agree that no hasty moves should be made, but Gradey isn't good right now. And any utility extracted from his spacing is matched off by his defensive issues right now, because he's not hitting any shots regardless of defensive coverage.

Maybe for you. For a lot of us it's just early season results for a young player.

[tsherkin]

Maybe for you. For a lot of us it's just early season results for a young player.

Great, wonderful. You're a guru.

Anyway. his offense was very nice against the Bucks. Maybe he'll be able to build on that going forward.

[Thaddy]

He is getting to the FT line at a crazy rate. I don't think his body will be able to keep that up but it's a good sign for what he should do later on.

As others mentioned he does have shooting gravity and opposing teams stay aware of him