Think back to Peja's rookie years. He was skinny, a little slow, had good height, an amazing jumpshot, and couldn't really get off his own shot. Think about Novak. Any similarities? Novak may not be... on par, so to speak, with Peja, but peja in adelman's system was a beast. If you watch any of the old tapes, you'll notice peja does a lot of what Novak does, which is wait on the three point line for the pass from bibby or webber. Peja also cuts and etc, but that's because he actaully plays more than 5 minutes a game. Anyway, does anyone else see Novak being a peja type of player in the adelman system. I;m not saying he'll go for 24.5 a game and alsmot win mvp, but even as abackup, i can see some plays being run for him. With that pure a shot, that has to be the reason he's still here.
That's going way too far.... but if Rick puts Novak in the game, he's got to run plays for him. If he's not shooting, he's wasting space on the court.
Peja was drafted by the Sacramento Kings in the 1st round (14th overall) of the 1996 NBA draft. But, with that said... You do have to take these "per x minutes" thing with a grain of salt. However, Novak's sophomore season per 36 minutes is actually more favorable then Peja's per 36 in terms of points and field goal percentages. In fact, Novak's per 36 was pretty scary last year... Peja per 36 mins->1999-00->18.1 PPG/44.8% FG/37.5% 3FG. Novak per 36 mins->2007-2008->18.4 PPG/48% FG/47.9% 3FG (holy s***...this btw, doesn't qualify for leaders because Novak played less then half a season...however, if the trend had continued, Novak would've had the 15th best seasonal 3FG%...in NBA history.) If only Novak could stay on the court long enough...if he develops his defense he could become a very deadly player. He's definetly capable of becoming a "Peja-like" player, provided he works on his athleticism and his defense.
please dont compare novak to peja, they may have the same length but peja is 10x more mobile then Novak i would compare him more to a Keith van horn at best.
I've been on Peja's case and have criticized him his whole career. But Novak isn't 1/10 the player Peja is or was. Novak will be lucky to ever become a rotation player in the NBA. I'll be shocked if he averages double digits one time in his entire career.
Zactly. Adelman should run Novak off multiple screens and throw him the rock. He should be the focal point when he is in there and force the defense to adjust. Just having him stand out there as a decoy is a waste of time.
Past season Rick was actually running those screens for Steve when he was in the game. But it is still not enough.
If only Novak was one of the Barry brothers. Now those guys could shot. They could also handle the rock and had good mobility.
LOL. Please post more. As for sophomore years, let's not compares apples to grapes. The per 36 minute bit is pretty misleading in this case. Peja played 1749 minutes his sophomore year in the NBA. He played in 74 games, averaged 23.6 minutes/game played, and took 267 3-pointers. Novak played 264 minutes this year. He appeared in 35 games, averaging 7.5 minutes/game played, and took 71 3-pointers. I don't think you can compare these guys straight across, unless it's fun to compare legit playing time to absolute garbage time. Maybe games played per 36 minutes would be fun. Novak would be just under five games per 36 minutes.
When comparing players, per minute stats are among the most worthless you can use. There was a reason Peja played 6 times as many minutes as Novak did in his 2nd year.
i feel novak has potential his shot is ridiculously good so he has to find a way to be on the floor b/c we desperately need his shooting. hopefully the coaches are working with him about rebounding and defense. we really need him on the floor if we're not going to make any changes for the bench. his shot is a beautiful thing to watch.
