Efficiency. That's really all we need to be a real elite team. Unfortunately all our players are inefficient scorers besides Amen. The rest of our team is below average efficiency, with our top two guys (Sengun and Jalen) being among the worst in the league. There are 48 players who take at least 15 shots per game, and Jalen is 43rd, Sengun is 46th. Amen is the only player on the team above league average TS%, and we have 0 players over 60%. For reference, the cavs are over 60% TS as an entire team. It's the biggest thing holding us back. Please make more shots! Put the ball in the hole!
But was it a good 5 of 11 or a bad one? Aaaaaaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahaha Maybe his 6 misses were the worst ones of all time and so we should discount the 5 he made? I know you care so dearly about the quality of Jalen's percentages. You forgot to mention the 9 FTA he racked up. You know, the thing I told you is his actual success factor. Man you're going to learn a good but hard lesson for nitpicking at the quality of his 36% while simultaneously you're putting blinders on to agree with the idea Cam should be a part of the big 3. This was very annoying to see from you after you wasted my time with that rehashed debate. Cam - who shot 21% for like half the season - went on a hot streak and is still averaging 41/31/72 against bench players. Still a flat out bad defender, bad passer and mediocre finisher to boot. I should throw a shoe at you for wasting my time with that BS argument yesterday. I wouldn't have even entertained it if I knew your opinion was so hypocritical. Where was Cam this game? We were short-handed, what did Udoka do? Honestly if you have such a radical opinion/prediction about Cam there's nothing wrong with that but don't act like you're objective and others are not. Selective objectiveness. Don't be out here nitpicking at the tiniest problem in Jalen's world and acting like it can't be overcome by anyone except for Cam Whitmore. FFS. To Cam I apologize, I have already stated I know he has stardom in his future, I root for him and don't equate WHO HE IS with what he happens to be averaging in his up and down situation. Cam loves Jalen btw, the player you root for would call your analysis small minded, Jalen is a big thing to him. Must be weird to be a fan of someone who wouldn't want you to be.
I'm not nitpicking at all. You know damn well that over a stretch of games boing 0for6 and 3for12 then busting out an 7-10 might be ~36% (.357) ..... but it's two shite games and one really good one and that's been my complaint - not the overall percentage. Oh!!! He's average!! When I listed the shooting from each game of the season you deflected and wouldn't even answer where to draw the line for good / bad / average ..... I was quite generous in setting the bar at a whopping .270 and below for "poor" which Jalen has shot 42% of the time this season. But you want to point to the cumulative total and ignore individual performance because it approaches average. That's disingenuous. I don't see how you can defend that except to deflect. Consistency is the issue and over his almost 4 years in the league he has been just that - consistently inconsistent. Great game last night ....
As we head into the last third of the season a couple team oriented things I’d like to see them improve on: foul shooting. It’s embarrassing and frankly it’s always partly an indictment of the coaching staff. But our guys just have to be better, especially Al P. cutting without the ball. When we cut without the ball and move the ball, we actually generate offense. Too often we are standing around and then we start playing iso ball; that’s when things really get bad. Move without the ball, share the ball. I’m betting the turnovers will improve when Fred gets back. Individually speaking, if Jalen can play well the last third of the season and finish at 35/36% from 3 on the year, as well as play well in the playoffs, that will be the biggest positive for the team as a whole. If we are seeing consistent shooting improvement that’s freaking huge. I don’t expect Sengun to magically develop a shot down the stretch (that’s work for the offseason), but if he can just bang down low and be physical he’s gonna draw fouls. Improve the foul shooting, clean up those bunnies, and be physical in the paint. That what I want to see from Sengun down the stretch. Add to that If Fred can hit the reset and start shooting well. If Bari can pick up where he left off before the injury. If Tari can stay moderately healthy the rest of the season, we can head into the playoffs with a chance to get past the 1st round.
Not sure, I don't follow the team. I would guess coaching? Just from the stats it looks like a big developmental jump from Mobley, and possibly an outlier year from Garland. What do you think it is?
I would really like to see Sengun become better than one of the least efficient players in the league. As a big man and our supposed star player, being at 53.6 ts% and 49.8 efg% is unnacceptable.
Was discussing this with someone, we came to the conclusion that there's no real difference in Mobley except making the same exact % on 1 extra 3PA. I don't think that shifts an offense. So it comes down to Garland - who I was told had a serious injury issue which caused him to lose muscle in-season. So compared to 2 seasons ago, it's an improvement but not gigantic. To me it seems like slight elevation across the board with Garland being the only material improvement. Which tells me it's the systemic. Here's the evidence I was able to collect: - Atkinson told Mobley to get out of the paint - They have dramatically reduced their midrange jumpers (a massive issue with our offense too) - They stopped imagining Allen is an offensive player and stopped giving him the ball in the post - Mitchell is playing off guard more, which is good because he shares less than Garland. Fewer shots and assists than last season. That's really it. Bunch of small, smart decisions by Atkinson. A focus on net results rather than just defense or offense (a staple of elite coaches). Atkinson accepted a significant drop in defense in order to get this offense and he was rewarded for it, he differentiates between good and bad TO's unlike JBB, he knows how to communicate with his words rather than claps, doesn't need his team to rebound as much. The theme with the Cavs was "where will they go from last season?". I think it's an important case study for us because people sometimes make it seem like it is impossible to get more efficient without adding something. One dude was even telling me there is a 0% difference between the offense Ime can get out of this team vs anyone else. That could have been the Cavs GM and Kenny Atkinson saying that: we just don't have the starpower to compete with the Celtics and Mitchell is no Jokic or Giannis. Instead they just rolled their sleeves up and did the work. Gives me hope for our TS%.
I noticed Rockets playing very loose defensively and off players. They drop too much on the perimeter and in screen and rolls. They also go under a lot. Instead of going over or showing/hedging. This hurts them since teams like the Warriors Kings and we saw Utah continue to kill them with simple high screen pops or dribble drives. Rockets also trap way too late. I don’t get it. They telegraph their traps which makes for an easy corner pass or wing pass. It’s baffling how they trap. Edwards killed them on these delayed traps. It’s like delayed blitzes in football. Rarely works against good QB’s.
Why do we struggle so much in 4th quarters? We cant stop anyone/anything and other nights we cant score. At least the Silas teams were consistent with their sucking and sucked in all 4 quarters. Why do we suck in the 4th only when it matters the most? Did we overachieve in the 1st half of the season and now the team's true colours are coming out? Has Ime lost the lost locker room? Or is it just injuries?
Good list. I'd add improved perimeter defense in Q4. Opposing teams consistently get hot from downtown at end of games. Transition frequency + efficiency need to improve, even when Fred returns. Another item is rebounding, 2 of 5 of the starters are getting increasingly lazy on the boards.
