About the rockets shooting, I remember Walt Williams was on fire for a month or two about 8 years ago.
Lucas had so much freakin' talent. I think he could have been one of the best, at least for his era, but he snorted it all away. Trippy that he had 3 different stints with Houston, including his last season. Lucas really turned his life around after basketball, though.
cant we just like both our point guards? i mean if the guy is helping us to win does it matter? both point guards weakness are each others strengths.
Please, no. The key to Lowry's shooting improving is two-fold: 1. Knowing he's got to take some shots and free stroking those open looks; 2. picking his spots and not being a volume shooter from outside, but looking for the drive first and when the defense sags off him badly, taking the wide open look in his natural non-rushed rhythm. If Lowry becomes a volume perimeter shooter, he will fail......miserably. He is not Aaron Brooks and never will be Aaron Brooks. He cannot go between the legs and dipsy doodle out there at the three-point line, looking for a crack to squeeze off the 3-ball like Aaron does. And he shouldn't even try. He should take his 2-4 open three point shots per game when the D sags. The rest of the time, when the D plays halfway, which is the way they play him most often, he should close that space and keep trying to penetrate and facilitate. But when he catches on the perimeter before his dribble and they are playing off him or are cheating behind the screen, he should line it up and fire. On another note.......Aaron Brooks. His greatest strength is also his biggest weakness. He's simply an awesome shooter to watch. Dude can throw it up from the parking lot and the shot looks good. And he's great at getting that long range 3-ball off the crab dribble. He's crazy skilled at getting off the long ball with a defender manning up on him trying to prevent him from shooting. But it actually hurts his game and hurts this team when he plays that way, because he is taking away shots from other shot makers who are more efficient. He's gonna hit about 38% of those shots from distance, mostly due to the fact that he works to create those looks. And while 38% is a good percentage, it's not good enough. Truly to be effective at the 3-point line considering you are taking away a shot at getting to the rim and drawing a foul, you've got to shoot over 40% out there. Anything less than 40% from 3 is not giving the offense a boost. It is mediocre offensive play, especially on a team where Martin draws a ton of fouls and gets to the FT line at a crazy rate, especially on a team that averages around 1.28 PPS. So, essentially if you are shooting less than about 41% from 3, you are dragging down our offensive efficiency, except if you are taking away shots from a less efficient scorer. That's why I don't want him playing with Martin. I don't want him taking shots away from Martin, who is our most efficient scorer, until he learns how to be more selective in his shot taking and more facilitative in his approach to the game. While there is always a need to have a shot maker like Brooks down the stretch at the end of games, when the clock is winding down, there is also the need to be highly intelligent and understand the dynamics of basketball and facilitate your game towards team efficiency. When you look at the true title contenders, they are extremely efficient as a unit. That is because they understand what contributes to the team's effectiveness the most. They understand their own games and how the shots that they take effect their team's efficiency. And everyone funnels their game towards team efficiency. Lowry understand this. He has taken to shooting the occasional three because he understands that he has to take that open 40+% look confidently rather than try to create a shot for Shane or force somebody else to take a less efficient shot. But he's not overdoing it. I can only dream that Brooks would learn this aspect of the game and become more conscience of what is the most efficient basketball play. Dribbling around and juking his man from the three-point line so he can get off the three ball, while it looks good, is not usually the most efficient basketball play for your team.
Earlier in the season Lowry took some seemingly ill-advised shots after he came back from injury. It was so unlike him. I remember we were saying, "What is he thinking taking those shots?" People even said that he was out of shape in the offseason. My theory is that he actually worked on his shooting in the offseason. And either the coach gave him the green light or he became confident of his shot that he began taking those shots. Now he has gotten his rhythm and is starting to hit them more consistently.
Depends on what we can get back. Frankly, I'm still looking to upgrade the point. I'd like a bigger, taller, more athletic Lowry out there with upgraded hops, the ability to see the floor, and the same ability to defend 1s and 2s effectively or even better than Lowry does. Frankly, I'm wondering if TWill can play the point and if he can be developed to where we can trade up using Lowry and/or Brooks to help us get elite at another position. Frankly, I wondered the same thing about Courtney Lee. And frankly, I'm still not convinced Courtney Lee can't be developed into a good point guard. Remember, Adelman's system thrives on having guys that can....1. move without the ball; 2. pass the ball; and 3. of course, shoot the ball.
Excellent post. The only thing I would disagree vehemently with is this. He will shoot 38% from 3 OVERALL. Which includes plenty of wide open looks that he should take, which he will hit at a rate above 38%. The kind of shot you are talking about, after juking for 10 sec completely stagnating the entire offense, isolating every other player on the team, and then jacking it up in a defenders face off of one of his crab dribbles- THAT shot- there is NO way in hell he converts at a 38% rate. In reality it is much lower. A fact that only reinforces your overall point even further. It is a shot he takes far too often.
I think you'd be right about most players in the league but I think if there's anything that AB does better than most players it is hit the contested three. I wouldnt be surprised if his percentage didn't change much when guarded vs not. Lowry is still much better.
