Ghetto Gospel wrote:NoDopeOnSundays wrote:Ghetto Gospel wrote:
55% around the rim is nowhere near average considering league average is 66%. I just hesitate to cater to his every need since I have trouble seeing the value he brings. He's a negative player on defense and if he doesn't have the ball, he's a negative on offense because he can't shoot. Considering his lack of shooting, he's forced to be a primary ballhandler to bring anything of value to this offense and I just don't see him operating like a prime dwayne wade could as that ballhandler.
League average includes bigs, wings especially young ones don't necessarily shoot that well at the rim right away, Booker shot 58% at the rim his 2nd season. There's no doubt in my mind that with better spacing RJ would be over 60% finishing at the rim, because there'd be more chances to pass out of failed drives and less help rotating over. I'm more worried about the regression he's had at the foul line the last few games, that is one spot that I can't look away from, he had a lot of time off to fix that and if he can't be a 75% freethrow shooter by the end of the season I will be extremely worried about him.
It's not about catering the offense to RJ specifically, I want Obi to start when healthy because he's going to space to the corner, which will also help Mitch as a result because we'll be able to run more PnR with the ball handler. I just think RJ is more likely to be able to play off the ball as a cutter, then he is now in a system that is requiring him to take catch and shoot 3s which is something he's clearly not good at.
Including bigs fg% at the rim is still relevant to the discussion because we're talking about offense as a whole. Finishing 60% at the rim for RJ would be good for him, but bad for an offense. With regards to Devin Booker, he also shot 64% his first year around the rim and ~42% from slightly further away from the rim compared to RJ's putrid ~25%.
I do think it's about catering the offense to RJ specifically because I don't see a scenario where playing RJ helps the team right now, so the fact that we are playing him means we are catering to him. I understand that we want to develop him, but development should be happening in the offseason not during games. He should have improved his finishing, shot, handles, defense, etc. then and we should be seeing the results now. It's frustrating that someone with a "monster work ethic" with all the "right intangibles" hasn't really improved going from his 1st to 2nd year
I'm not concerned with helping the team right now though, the way I see it, everything we're doing now should be with the vision of 3 years from now. We should be maximizing the young players chances to succeed or fail, the Hornets did that last year and found out Monk isn't very good, the Bulls are doing it this year. If putting the ball in RJ's hands more now helps him or lets us know whether or not he's truly worth investing in, we should be doing it. Never forget that the Wolves tried LaVine at PG, he was awful at it, but in the long run letting him try to play point helped him be developed as a secondary creator. He can play make now as a result of those early failings.
I have growing concerns with RJ's freethrow shooting, that is a troubling sign more than anything else, because that's not impacted by anything else. His current role can be linked to some of his offensive struggles, he's just not a good shooter being asked to shoot often, but the the freethrow shooting is all him with nobody else to really look at. Whatever we do, the end of the road leads to the same place, if we end up drafting Cade or Suggs, we can't have a PF playing on the ball as much as Randle, so we may as well rip that band aid off now.