Our new Rocket, Omri Casspi, averages double-double in 3 games with national team this week

Hey! First, an important notice right up front, just to make things clear –
This is no COF post!

If you like, I'm more of an Israeli CITRUS (Casspi-In-The-Rockets Unbiased Supporter ),
as I've been following Casspi on one hand, and the Rockets on the other,
for quite a long time now.

Casspi is be playing with the Israeli national team this summer, going for the Eurobasket championship (starting Sep 4, in Slovenia).
I thought it will be interesting to provide some coverage.

This week the Israelis played in a 4-team preparation tournament, featuring also Italy, Poland and Georgia.

Here's a brief report on Casspi's scoring & rebounding:
(Sorry, no full stats were available)

HTML:

Game                   Result        Casspi's PT     Casspi's TR
------------------------------------------------------------------
Israel - Poland        81 : 65             14              11
Italy - Israel         67 : 64             22              11
Georgia - Israel       79 : 77             20               8
------------------------------------------------------------------
Average                                   18.7           10.0

For now, Casspi is leading the national team in both PTs & boards!
(Though he actually plays SF there too)
The only downside: His scoring %s were not very good this week
(though I have no hard stats…)

One more small note – Casspi should have been more "rusty" than his teammates, as he last played in mid April, whereas most other national team members where still active as late as mid June.

I SAY - NICE NUMBERS FOR OMRI, AND SOME PROMISE FOR US





If I'm at it (good news, that is) – let's kill some false notions about Omri Casspi

I've been watching Casspi for a long time, both in the NBA and in Israel and Europe,
And I feel that I'm in a good position to make some observations and confute some misguided urban legends about him. Please bear with me:

Urban legend #1 – Casspi has lost his long-range shooting in the last years

Actually – the opposite is true! Casspi reached his best 3PT shooting form early last season.

Last summer, with the national team, in 10 very crucial qualifying games Omri had a spectacular performance with a 3PT% of 52.1% (25/48!)
His numbers were generally great, with 19.5 points, 5.1 rebounds & 2.5 assists in 31.7 min per game – see http://www.eurobasket2013.org/en/ci....season_2013.roundID_8721.playerID_43603.html

Leveraging on that red-hot form, Omri was the all-NBA leader in 3PT% with the Cavs early last year, both on November 25th, 2012, with 55% (10/17), and later on December 4th, with 50% (18/36).

Oddly enough, it was just then that he was permanently "put on ice" – In the next 4 months (December 5th throughout April 5th) Casspi played a total of 184 minutes! (46 min a month…) and, as you would imagine, cooled down a bit…

Urban legend #2 – Casspi's numbers dropped in most aspects from year to year

Actually – perhaps the only aspect that has dropped was his minutes!

If you compare his stats per 40 minutes from last year in the Cavs
with his stats on his first (and best) NBA year with the Kings,
It turns out that he actually got better in most aspects…

Here's the comparison:
(all per 40 minutes)

HTML:

The measure                      Kings 09-10    Cavs 12-13 Change   Comment
Points (per 40 minutes)              16.4*         13.7      -
Total Rebounds (per 40 minutes)      7.2*          9.0*      +
Assists (per 40 minutes)             2.0           2.2       +
Steals (per 40 minutes)              1.12          1.98*     +     12-13: Team leader!
Blocks (per 40 minutes)              0.37          0.95*     +     12-13: 5th in roster
Turnovers (per 40 minutes)            2.0*         1.7*      +     12-13: 5th in roster
Assists : Turnovers ratio            0.99          1.27      +
TRR (total rebound rate)(40 min)     10.4*         13.1*     +     12-13: 3rd in roster
DEF (steals+blocks+charges) (40m)    1.86          3.25*     +     12-13: Team leader!
Efficiency (per 40 minutes)          16.21         16.95*    +     12-13: 6th in roster
Overall PER (per 40 minutes)         13.02*        12.83*    -              

* = Better than league average.

[stats are from http://www.hoopdata.com/advancedstats.aspx?team=CLE&type=pm&posi=%&yr=2013&gp=0&mins=0]

Urban legend #3 – Casspi has turned fat / heavy as of late

I never actually encountered this claim anywhere except here in this forum, and I don't think anyone can look at Omri and seriously think he has ANY Excess fat on him, but let's consider it a "real" urban legend anyway.

Well, the "official" weight numbers on Casspi's NBA card haven't changed – weight is stated as 225lb all the way from his rookie year to the present, so that's not much help…

There's not much doubt that he's got bigger and stronger in his physique – he WAS quite a wiry chap coming to the US, and he is much more of a tough guy now, but can it really be fat that he has gained? Probably not, but it's hard to prove that…

The only thing we can do is try checking if Casspi has turned "heavier" in his game over his 4 years in the league.
We can check the stats again (see above)–
I guess that steals, A:T ratio and DEF generally show agility,
whereas blocks, rebounds/TRR and DEF (again) may attest to athletic ability and elevation.

Note that, looking at the stats last year, most of these measures were among Omri's top strengths (team leader in steals and DEF, high in Reb & Blk), so I guess there's no extra fat after all - in his game, at least…

 

You're right

Thanks, Wood.
I think so too.
(and he should be above the 35%)