Kobblehead wrote:Sixerscan wrote:Kobblehead wrote:I do. Trying to avoid all the smoke and mirrors and evaluate this thing properly so to make sure setting the correct expectations. If I was seeing exponential growth, I'd be getting hype to. But the metrics say we're just seeing the same player with more minutes.
You’re ignoring the increased efficiency. His PER has gone from 14.5 to 19.4.
I happy for the efficiency increase. Especially because he's a great free throw shooter and he's increased his free throw rate. But his average shot distance is in the 11 foot range. He should be efficient with that low degree of difficulty.
If he's taking defenders off the dribble and getting into that mid range area along with drawing fouls and scoring at a 50% clip then he's more than doing his job. You can't expect him to ever become a prime Lillard or a Jamaal Murray. If he was any better of an outside shooter, he would have gone top five in the draft. It's a work in progress and I think the outside shooting will come. I agree that it's a little concerning in terms of what to expect from him in the future, but if he stays healthy, there's no reason to think he can't get better from beyond the arc. Obviously we want hall of fame talent at the position, but if his ceiling is Tony Parker/Lou Williams then that's pretty damn good if you ask me. He didn't have a single turnover last night in a game where you would expect him to press the issue, in a game where Portland really dialed it up on the defensive end. Crazy I know, but Portland defended very well last night. They were locked in, Billups has them working with a new identity on that side of the ball.
You want a 4th quarter player? Maxey scored 15 points in the final quarter last night and had us in a position to really make it a ball game towards the end. Tobias got hurt, we had a few bad calls go our way, we had a few mishaps on defense and both Lillard and Powell hit a few 40 foot bombs against us just for the fun of it. Doc also went with his small ball lineup which I don't understand and we got killed on the boards. Maxey isn't the type of player that's going to just win a game for you all by himself. Those players are far and few between. But he can be a mainstay on a team that already has a superstar in Joel Embiid.
I also agree about avoiding all smoke and mirrors, but from what I have seen, there isn't too much. The only thing I have a question about is...Is he a closer type of player? As of right now, I don't see that. If he's attacking late in the game and trying to win us a ball game, then he has to be able to make the right decision in terms of giving up the ball to an open shooter OR finding Embiid/Tobias. He doesn't seem scared of the moment though like Tobias is, and he doesn't seem like a turnover waiting to happen in the moment the way it usually goes with Embiid. He just has to be able to hit a clutch shot. Last night he missed a three late in the game that would have brought us to within one point and shifted the momentum in our favor. I felt like if he would have hit that three, we would have won the game. That was the ONLY thing he missed on last night, but it was big in my opinion. He's got to hit those shots when we need him to.