2018/19 ROY/Rookie Discussion Thread (III)

[Oscar9992]

Deandre Ayton not jeaulous at Luka Doncic... wishes him the best & says 'Luka is my guy'!

This isn't directed at you, but trying to compare these two is an exercise in stupidity.

Who is comparing them?

Ayton just said he is glad Luka is doing well, and instead of caring about others success he is concentrated on himself...

[VCfor3]

JJJ had a rough go of it tonight until the 4th (started 1-8 then went 3/5 from the field and 2/2 from deep in the 4th to seal the game). Love how even not shooting well he still had no hesitation when he had a good look. His 10pts and solid defense in the 4th were huge.

[Jose7]

mitchell robinson... dont gotta say anything else..just know.

[Threezus]

Trae with another solid double double night at 20/11 Over his last 9 to 10 games he has played very well he's putting up something like

23 points 9.5 assits 4 rebounds a game on 40/50/85 on 31 min a game He's getting better and better every month as he gets more experience. He is way ahead of schedule for me on what i thought he would do in the nba which makes me quite happy and pleased.

[Bob8]

I wonder how you call people, who don’t understand how stats work and how small sample is 8 games?

From the season opener thru November 30 he shot 38.21% from 3's. Oh wait, you told me with %'s I have to "round" to use them so 38%.

Since you also determine which sample sizes are valid - does that work better for you? Still declining any way you want to slice it.

You were talking about 40% the whole conversation and he had 40% in November, 8 games.

I don’t even understand, what’s your point. Stats say he’s 35% 3 point shooter on big volume, that’s not great, but it’s not bad either, considering that he creates shots mostly by himself and how many difficult shots he takes. Shooting % normally goes up with years, if you have good shot mechanics. All advanced data tells you that he’s incredible offensive player, even if we forget how old he’s.

When you’re talking how good he’s because of his experience, you’re forgetting that almost all players from Europe were professionals for many years before they came in Nba, because they mostly came older in Nba and nobody was that good.

[sunsbg]

JJJ had a rough go of it tonight until the 4th (started 1-8 then went 3/5 from the field and 2/2 from deep in the 4th to seal the game). Love how even not shooting well he still had no hesitation when he had a good look. His 10pts and solid defense in the 4th were huge.

Still 3rbs in 27mins though. Now that Gasol is not around to steal them away what is the explanation ? It's just mind-boggling how a good defender is such poor rebounder. Blocks also seem down.

[sunsbg]

I wonder how you call people, who don’t understand how stats work and how small sample is 8 games?

From the season opener thru November 30 he shot 38.21% from 3's. Oh wait, you told me with %'s I have to "round" to use them so 38%.

Since you also determine which sample sizes are valid - does that work better for you? Still declining any way you want to slice it.

You were talking about 40% the whole conversation and he had 40% in November, 8 games.

I don’t even understand, what’s your point. Stats say he’s 35% 3 point shooter on big volume, that’s not great, but it’s not bad either, considering that he creates shots mostly by himself and how many difficult shots he takes. Shooting % normally goes up with years, if you have good shot mechanics. All advanced data tells you that he’s incredible offensive player, even if we forget how old he’s.

When you’re talking how good he’s because of his experience, you’re forgetting that almost all players from Europe were professionals for many years before they came in Nba, because they mostly came older in Nba and nobody was that good.

His numbers going down are mostly attributed to the different role now, compared to the start of the season. He was just more focused on outside shooting. Already mentioned Devin Booker as example in another post. At the start of his rookie season he was leading NBA at 3PFG% (for some time at 70% if I remember correctly). Then he was promoted to more than a spot up shooter and the number did go down immediately. This season he's the main ball handler and his 3PFG% is down from his career average. So it's probably quite tiring to run the offense, which leads to lower shooting percentages.

Btw, other players take last second shots too. Yesterday Curry had one of those that I remember in the game vs Suns for example.

[islanders11040]

Watch on YouTube

22 mins off the bench. 7-9 from the field.

Deandre Jordan mentoring him

[burek3]

Message to anyone, where can I find 3pt shots by distance?

https://stats.nba.com/player/1629029/shooting/

[Nuntius]

JJJ had a rough go of it tonight until the 4th (started 1-8 then went 3/5 from the field and 2/2 from deep in the 4th to seal the game). Love how even not shooting well he still had no hesitation when he had a good look. His 10pts and solid defense in the 4th were huge.

Still 3rbs in 27mins though. Now that Gasol is not around to steal them away what is the explanation ? It's just mind-boggling how a good defender is such poor rebounder. Blocks also seem down.

Rim protectors who aren't absolute athletic freaks usually have low rebounding numbers. It's the result of having to leave their guys to go out and defend drives to the rim from guards. They will contest the shot and force a miss but they aren't going to be able to recover quickly enough for the board unless they are absolute athletic freaks and have a lighting-quick second jump. Just looking at my own team, Roy Hibbert and Myles Turner were exactly like that. Different players of course (Roy was huge and lumbering while Turner is smaller but more athletic) but they both shared the attribute that they were amazing rim protectors who didn't post great rebounding numbers.

JJJ is very similar to Myles Turner, imo. The two share a skill-set. Great defensive instincts and timing, a very good face-up offensive game but not great rebounders. Granted, I believe that JJJ is on a higher tier than Turner talent-wise (and I think that Myles is going to make All-Star teams, that's how highly I think of JJJ) but the skill-set is quite similar.

[Nuntius]

I know that Luka didn't play tonight but I want to talk about one of his great attributes that can sometimes be lost when you talk about all the things he does. That attribute is his consistency.

How many bad games has Luka had in his NBA career so far? Looking at his box score (looking at box scores is obviously not a great way to judge one's game but I do try to watch as many Mavs games as I can and I usually watch those that don't take place at the same time that my Pacers are playing) one would see that there really aren't a lot of them.

There was a game against Chicago back in November while he had 11 points on 3/12 shooting and also had 6 boards and 3 assists. Not a good game by any means. But he also had a big 3 with 3 minutes to push the difference back to 8 points and his team won the game. Good game? No. But it wasn't a horrible outing either.

There was the following game against the Jazz where he posted a 13/6/2/2/1 stat-line on 5/13 shooting. Not an impressive game, for sure. But the Mavs beat Utah by 50 points that game. He only had to play 24 minutes since the game was such a blowout. That brings the stat-line in perspective.

Then there was a game against the Lakers in LA where he had his lowest scoring total of his career so far. 6 points on 2/13 shooting. But he also had 6 boards, 5 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks in that game. The Mavs lost and Luka struggled offensively in that game but he still filled up the stat-sheet a bit.

Then there was the game against the Pelicans in New Orleans. Luka had 8 points in 2/8 shooting. But he also had 6 assists and 4 boards and he only played 22 minutes because the game was a blowout ever since the 2nd quarter.

Then there was the game against Orlando. He only scored 7 points on 2/11 shooting. But he also had 11 boards and 9 assists in that game. Is 7/11/9 really a bad game? For a player of Luka's caliber, it is. For a normal rookie? It definitely isn't.

Finally, there was the game against Indiana. He only scored 8 points on 3/14 shooting. But he also had 6 assists, 5 rebounds and 3 steals in that game. And he also only played 24 minutes and a half because he got ejected for kicking a ball (not out of frustration, it looked to be more like out of habit). And it's also important to note that Indiana is one of the best defenses in the league (2nd in DRTG) that has managed to keep some other star wings (Giannis, LeBron etc.) to low numbers both this year and traditionally.

How many games do the above make? 6. 6 games out of 50. In other words, that's only 12% of his games.

Someone could claim that he didn't have a good game against Charlotte because he shot 5/20. Yes, he wasn't efficient with his shot, that's true. But he also had a triple-double in this game with 19 points (went to the line 7 times, hit 5 of them), 11 assists and 10 boards. And he led a post-trade Dallas team to a win over the Charlotte Hornets who are a team in the playoff picture (granted, the bottom of the playoff picture in the West is a lot weaker than its Western counterpart).

Another person could claim that he struggled against Milwaukee because they limited his all-around game, He only had 2 assists after all (and he only grabbed 3 boards). But he did score 20 points on 7/14 shooting and that's pretty good.

Even his "bad" games lately aren't actually bad games. They are just bad games for a guy like Luka. His overall numbers keep improving by the month. His December was better than his November. His January was better than his December. His February is better than his January so far. His consistency is there and his numbers are on an upward trajectory. He is showing no signs of hitting the rookie wall.

These aren't normal things for a rookie. But Luka is not a normal rookie. This year's rookie class has been outstanding. There are a lot of rookies that are having noteworthy seasons and all of them deserve major credit for the way they're playing. Some of them could have won the ROY award if they were in a different class. But, unfortunately for them, they were in the same class with Luka.

I want to close this post with this. Yes, I am definitely extremely high on Luka. But that doesn't mean that I'm not high on the rest of this rookie class. A lot of these guys (even going down to the early 20s and with some good 2nd round standouts) are going to be very, very good players. The NBA is in good hands.

[Bob8]

From the season opener thru November 30 he shot 38.21% from 3's. Oh wait, you told me with %'s I have to "round" to use them so 38%.

Since you also determine which sample sizes are valid - does that work better for you? Still declining any way you want to slice it.

You were talking about 40% the whole conversation and he had 40% in November, 8 games.

I don’t even understand, what’s your point. Stats say he’s 35% 3 point shooter on big volume, that’s not great, but it’s not bad either, considering that he creates shots mostly by himself and how many difficult shots he takes. Shooting % normally goes up with years, if you have good shot mechanics. All advanced data tells you that he’s incredible offensive player, even if we forget how old he’s.

When you’re talking how good he’s because of his experience, you’re forgetting that almost all players from Europe were professionals for many years before they came in Nba, because they mostly came older in Nba and nobody was that good.

His numbers going down are mostly attributed to the different role now, compared to the start of the season. He was just more focused on outside shooting. Already mentioned Devin Booker as example in another post. At the start of his rookie season he was leading NBA at 3PFG% (for some time at 70% if I remember correctly). Then he was promoted to more than a spot up shooter and the number did go down immediately. This season he's the main ball handler and his 3PFG% is down from his career average. So it's probably quite tiring to run the offense, which leads to lower shooting percentages.

Btw, other players take last second shots too. Yesterday Curry had one of those that I remember in the game vs Suns for example.

I don’t fight against stats, he’s 35% shooter. And that’s solid for his style of playing. But anybody, who is watching him, knows how he enjoys to take this impossible shots. Once he took a shot from his own court in last second of the game they have all ready won, because he was angry somebody made the basket without D, when game was over.

40+Ft. Luka 12 attempts, Curry 7, Booker 5, Harden 2, Durant 0.

[MemphisX]

Jaren Jackson is not the quick twitch athlete to be able to rebound well while defending on the perimeter and the Grizzlies have him defending a lot of stretch 4s right now. I think his rebounding will be passable once he is moved to the 5 and gets a little stronger. Will never be a great rebounder though.

[Archx]

No one talking about ATL rookies? I didn't watch the game but looks like they had a great night again. Don't know which one impresses me the most at this point, Trae or Huerter. They are slowly but surely becoming a dangerous duo.

[shakes0]

No one talking about ATL rookies? I didn't watch the game but looks like they had a great night again. Don't know which one impresses me the most at this point, Trae or Huerter. They are slowly but surely becoming a dangerous duo.

No one's done better than ATL in the past 2 drafts. Between Trae/Huerter and John Collins they have 3 guys playing great in their rookies/2nd year. Spellman is still a work in progress, but he really just needs to get in shape to be a productive NBA player. Either way they hit 3 home runs in the past 2 drafts, how many teams can say that?

[Ballerhogger]

For 2nd pick I got tra young .AS my ROY luka .. no surprise

[Paradise]

Dzanan Musa - 30 Pts, 11 Rebounds, 6 Assists, 6-12 3PT.

Watch on YouTube

He’s approaching 220 pounds after entering the season at 197 pounds.

[Oscar9992]

Damn, Luka looks terrible lately shooting nothing but bricks... He is playing worse after trades...

[Petergrifindor]

Damn, Luka looks terrible lately shooting nothing but bricks... He is playing worse after trades...

He just turned around a very difficult game against a great team.

28 pts, 9 rb, 6st, W

What do you want????

[LukaMagic]

Damn, Luka looks terrible lately shooting nothing but bricks... He is playing worse after trades...

He just turned around a very difficult game against a great team.

28 pts, 9 rb, 6st, W

What do you want????

He really does look quite terrible out there lately, but at the end of the game the stats are still there, which is crazy! I can't wait to see one perfect game from him in the next couple of weeks..