Though I didn't watch Tate carefully last night against Miami, he was 3-8 from the field. Almost all his catches were what I would classify as "safety valve" catches in which someone else initiated the play, and they hoped Tate could provide a bailout. (One of his 3-point misses wasn't his fault, as he caught the ball as the shot clock expired.) In his last ten games, when you run the numbers, Tate has shot 28.6% from 3. Overall, he's averaging 33.3% from 3 (up from his 28% average last year). If I were the D, I would pressure but encourage Tate to shoot. Again, I like Tate's energy and determination. And I love the extra possessions that he earns via the glass. My point is that he's 27 years old (the league's average age) and has developed into a very average shooter (the league average with all attempts, including half-court heaves, is 36.6%). Yes, I know that Cam (and Amen) regularly miss defensive assignments, but since their defensive ratings are about the same (Cam 109.5 vs Tate 107.1), why not play the 19-year-old? And my point is only that Cam continues to get 15-20 minutes a game.
Nice take! I agree. With Tate, we’re getting his ceiling. With Cam, you’re getting his floor. If both are relatively close, I think I have to play Cam. Only reason I can think of if I don’t play Cam as much this year, is if I purposefully want to stunt his growth. At some point soon, we’re going to have to be buyers or sellers on a lot of these young guys. From a financial standpoint I can’t feed them all. And certainly not all at the same time. Is Cam a Jalen replacement? That also makes me want to play him more, to know if he could be if we have to make a decision on who to pay. Lots of tough decisions to be made soon on very young players.
Alp's and Cam's per 36s were very similar Alp's: 24.5 p, 11.1 r, 6.84 fouls Cam's: 22.9p, 12.5r, 8.32 fouls
Tate is a foul machine because his assignments are alot tougher, given he's one of our best defenders. The same applies to Brooks. The harder the assignment the more you're going to foul
