2019 NBA draft part deux

[wesleyt95]

Little has been showing his shot during workouts and I’m not concerned

And I can say the same thing about Clarke.

And it’d be a boldfaced lie, his shot is broke!

[Klomp]

clarkes stats as an 18 year old in a weak conference were?

Per 40 freshman numbers
16.3 ppg, 12.6 rpg
14.3 ppg, 11.0 rpg

The second line were Clarke's numbers as a freshman, the first were Kawhi Leonard's as a freshman in the same weak conference. Not a huge difference.

[Klomp]

Little has been showing his shot during workouts and I’m not concerned

And I can say the same thing about Clarke.

And it’d be a boldfaced lie, his shot is broke!

As was Kawhi's when he came into the league. Good thing players have zero possible chance to improve their game from the start to the end of their careers, right?

[SmokeyPaw]

Clarke has no skill, if you think he’s a sure thing @ 11 you’re a moron. Literally all the ppl he’s compared to we’re diamond in the rough 2nd round picks that usually wouldn’t work out 97% of the time; now you want to waste a lotto on that?

Wesley it seems like you are getting upset now. To me you are not looking at Clarke rationally at all. Having a combined 6 steals/blocks per game is an incredible skill. Shooting with the amazing touch he has out to 15 feet is an incredible skill. Jumping the way he does and timing his jumps perfectly for lobs, put back dunks, and blocked shots is an incredible skill. He shot 2 point jumpers at 52%. You know how few players can do that? How can he do all that and you say he has no skill?

Steals and blocks are more hustle than skill, his size won’t translate to the next level around the rim on offense or defense... he wasn’t going up against guys like Towns, Gobert, Embiid Jokic etc

Steals and blocks are all timing and processing the flow of play.

[GeekFreak]

I don't care who they take, I just don't know. I'm like Marvin from Pulp Fiction: "I don't even have an opinion" ..and don't tell me "I got to have an opinion!".

[Neeva]

clarkes stats as an 18 year old in a weak conference were?

Per 40 freshman numbers
16.3 ppg, 12.6 rpg
14.3 ppg, 11.0 rpg

The second line were Clarke's numbers as a freshman, the first were Kawhi Leonard's as a freshman in the same weak conference. Not a huge difference.

Lol and littles per 40 stats in a much stronger conference 21.5 and 10.1
If little improves the way clarke did with age we got freaking leonard-lite.
Wolves got a steal. So you wanna use littles stats as an 18 year old against him?

[Klomp]

So you wanna use littles stats as an 18 year old against him?

I'm not using his scoring numbers against him, I'm using his shooting percentage against him. Supposedly Little is this great shooter, but shot only 26%. Are the numbers lying?

But hey, I guess that doesn't matter because he has long arms...

[SO_MONEY]

So you wanna use littles stats as an 18 year old against him?

I'm not using his scoring numbers against him, I'm using his shooting percentage against him. Supposedly Little is this great shooter, but shot only 26%. Are the numbers lying?

But hey, I guess that doesn't matter because he has long arms...

He has shot well in workouts enough to elevate concerns apparently. This has been said. Pretty small sample size otherwise.

[_AIJ_]

Nassir Little is the steal of the draft!


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM Forums

[Klomp]

He has shot well in workouts enough to elevate concerns apparently. This has been said. Pretty small sample size otherwise.

As has Clarke. Some just have blinders on....

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

[Mattya]

He has shot well in workouts enough to elevate concerns apparently. This has been said. Pretty small sample size otherwise.

As has Clarke. Some just have blinders on....

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

His form is awful, he has a lot more work to do for him to be able to become any threat from out there. That low release point, the hitch, and it just looks slow. I think he will be very limited. He might have changed his form and worked on his shot, but if that's what it looks like after this many years, I'm thinking it will take just as long for that to become any type of reliable spacer at the very least.

Little's shot while not great, looks a whole lot more transferrable and fixable to actual games. Clarke will never be more than a shooter when he is wide open.

[SO_MONEY]

He has shot well in workouts enough to elevate concerns apparently. This has been said. Pretty small sample size otherwise.

As has Clarke. Some just have blinders on....

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

No one is bragging about Clarke's shot in workouts. Those tweets don't mean much. His mechanics are awful and in his four years of college he has done nothing to improve it. You know a big red flag, being 23 and not thinking it important to learn to shoot...just saying...

[Klomp]

Clarke will never be more than a shooter when he is wide open.

And that's fine. We don't need him to be taking contested 3s. Heck, no player should be taking contested 3s if there's an open man.

As for his form, does it really matter as long as it goes in at a decent rate? What was Kevin Martin's form like? Good form doesn't automatically equate to good shooter just like bad form doesn't automatically equate to bad shooter.

Finally, I'm reminded of another player whose shot was broken when he came into the league. Was a career 25% shooter in college from long range. His name is Kawhi Leonard.

So using phrases like "will never be" just seem foolish, because I'm guessing you would've used the same logic back in 2011, when we drafted someone instead who made 57% of 3-pointers his last year in school. So glad we drafted Klay Thompson! Oh, it was Derrick Williams? My bad....

[Klomp]

Supposedly every other player in the Top 20 can score at all THREE levels....

Read on Twitter

[SO_MONEY]

Supposedly every other player in the Top 20 can score at all THREE levels....

Read on Twitter

I think the truth is in what is a jumper? The Reality is Clarke barely shot anything outside 15 feet, not exactly "jumper" area.

[Klomp]

The Reality is Clarke barely shot anything outside 15 feet, not exactly "jumper" area.

Sure it is.

But if you want to be technical, are runners/floaters not important? Especially for someone with length concerns, I'd argue it's a great skill to have and isn't brought up enough.

[Mattya]

Clarke will never be more than a shooter when he is wide open.

And that's fine. We don't need him to be taking contested 3s. Heck, no player should be taking contested 3s if there's an open man.

As for his form, does it really matter as long as it goes in at a decent rate? What was Kevin Martin's form like? Good form doesn't automatically equate to good shooter just like bad form doesn't automatically equate to bad shooter.

Finally, I'm reminded of another player whose shot was broken when he came into the league. Was a career 25% shooter in college from long range. His name is Kawhi Leonard.

So using phrases like "will never be" just seem foolish, because I'm guessing you would've used the same logic back in 2011, when we drafted someone instead who made 57% of 3-pointers his last year in school. So glad we drafted Klay Thompson! Oh, it was Derrick Williams? My bad....

There is a big difference between wide open and contested 3s. This seems like just muddying the discussion. The problem with players who can shoot unless they are wide open is that defenses don't even need to react to them on rotations. We saw it with Rubio. Then especially in late game offense just grinds to a stop. Some players should absolutely be shooting contested 3s over wide open players if they can't shoot or get shots for themselves.

Kevin Martin was never a bad shooter and outside of his load up his release was great. Most of his offensive effectiveness came from drawing fouls though. This isn't at all relatable to Clarke. Typically bad form, bad mechanics and bad percentages don't transfer to good shooters. Could he become a decent shooter. Sure, will he, that is the bet you need to be willing to take. Because his form is still garbage at 22(almost 23).

Kawhi had some of the best shooting coaches in the league for his entire career and has been a solid shooter from outside the arc his entire NBA career starting at age 20 taking 1.7 3s in 24 minutes per game. . I'm not willing to bet that Clarke comes into the league and shoots anywhere near league average from 3 at age 23 when his last year in college he was shooting 27% on .4 attempts in 28 minutes at age 22.

It seems even more foolish just expecting drastic improvement shooting from a player that hasn't shown improvement other than his form going from "cover my eyes the horror" to "he looks completely uncomfortable out there" and his percentages being terrible on low usage, just because the rare occurrence of improvement of an NBA star like Leonard(who has always shot better) and because Kevin Martin(who has always been a good shooter) just because his form wasn't orthodox(compared to Clarke's who is just bad).

You can be a fan of a player, and still be critical, without blindly expecting improvement from someone who has shown none in that regard.

[Mattya]

I'm still waiting for Rubio to become a good shooter because "Jason Kidd played similar and shot okay later in his career" and he "had that good stretch in the second half of the year."

[SO_MONEY]

The Reality is Clarke barely shot anything outside 15 feet, not exactly "jumper" area.

Sure it is.

But if you want to be technical, are runners/floaters not important? Especially for someone with length concerns, I'd argue it's a great skill to have and isn't brought up enough.

Everything is important, but he is an awful shooter mechanically and that is what is being talked about. There really isn't anything salvageable about his shot, he needs to start over. At 23 he needs to start over...sigh.

[Klomp]

You can be a fan of a player, and still be critical, without blindly expecting improvement from someone who has shown none in that regard.

I'm not blindly expecting improvement, but I'm also not completely disregarding the possibility of improvement like so many here have done.

As for not showing improvement....while his shot form is still not great, it has still come a long ways from what it was at San Jose State. I find it highly unlikely that he's done tweaking it.

You bring up Leonard's shooting coaches....one of those is someone the team has had discussions about bringing on staff. Not sure where that stands right now, but the staff knows it's important to upgrade our shooting coaches.