Post#757 » by Robin Jones » Thu Oct 10, 2019 9:36 pm
Hey, this is just two PRESEASON games and many writers are already abandoning Lauri.
Anyway, if someone wants to make season long predictions based on these TWO PRESEASON games, let's crunch some numbers:
Chicago is -12 in these two games. Lauri is +8, and many of these minutes with Felicio, who has very bad +/- numbers. Not happending with Wendell.
Lauri has played on average 23:12 min. Let's adjust the numbers to 36 min per game and his stat line is:
20.2 PPG, 7.0 RPG, 4.7 APG(!) vs 1.6 TOPG, 0.8 SPG, 0 BPG, +12.4 in +/-. 3P% 42.9 and TS% 54.2.
Not so bad anymore.
I am not worried at all, especially with this sample size.
Three point shooting and assists are actually looking very good.
Rebounding could be slightly better and of course he needs to go inside more and get freethrows too.
He is stronger, which is good.
He will never be a shotblocker. Was someone really expecting him to be?
Only one thing is a question mark in my mind: It seems that everytime he has spent some training time with the Finnish national team, he runs much faster and seem to move quicker. After more time in Chicago, he seems to get a bit slower, or am I wrong in this ? If not, is this about relative amount of basketball training overall, different types of strenght programs, fatique, level of self-confidence, team's playing style, Lauri's role in the team, or something else?
In any case, I think that Lauri's strenght, when he plays well, is his quickness and ability to run the floor compared to most other 7-footers. He should try to maintain this, even improve.
To sum up, I am not worried at all with regards to Lauri's season 2019-20. Nothing indicates that he cannot be 20.0 - 22.0 PPG, 8.0-9.0 RPG, 2.0+ APG guy with 40+ 3P% and 55+ TS%. With this type of statline in his third year he is well on his way to become a star player in this league.