For a guy who is as banged up as he is, I gotta give Mac alot of credit for one getting to the free throw line, and two actually making his ft's at a good percentage. He's been heavily ripped on for not driving enough the last few yrs, and rightfully so. I think he will find it much easier to shoot jumpers and get a rhythm goin if he gets 7+ ft's a game.
Its the only thing he can do to get us points right now. I'm thinking once he gets his lift back in his jumper, he will seldom go to the line again.
T-Mac has shot horribly from the field, but because he's getting to the line so frequently (and making them) his overall scoring efficiency has been steady (about .50 TS%). Once he starts to "feel it" on the jumper, does he stop attacking the basket? Probably. I do think that, with Artest, he should get more post up opportunities this year because he'll more often have a smaller guard defending him. Hopefully that yields increase trips to the line.
Seems counter-intuitive. You would think a banged up Tracy would be settling for jumpers more but instead he's getting more aggressive and getting more FT... and making a high % of them! This should be a good sign for the rest of the season, not a bad one. Once he gets healthy, I think he'll still drive. He's not going to get doubled as much with Artest here. He'll have more driving room.
Could it be that T-mac is actually going to be better from the FT line shooting around 78%? this season I hope so however I have a feeling that this is just a three game streak at the moment.
I know it's only been three games, and it's laughable to use statistics to prove anything after three games... Still, Tracy deserves a lot of credit so far. I think we can all agree that he's had three pretty sub-par if not downright awful games this season, by his standards at least. You have to figure he'll start playing and shooting better once he gets healthier and more in shape. Nevertheless, compare his PPS from these three games with his previous years' stats. Points Per Shot (PPS): 2008-2009 (3 games): 1.256 2007-2008: 1.099 2006-2007: 1.180 2005-2006: 1.135 2004-2005: 1.207 The simple fact that T-Mac is getting to the line and actually making his FT's is helping us be that much more efficient. I really think having Ron on our team is making T-Mac more intent on not settling for his outside jumper. Not coincidentally, T-Mac's 3 game PER is 23.27, as opposed to last year's 18.60. Once T-Mac gets fully healthy, watch out. We could be seeing a resurgence in the making. Oh and if you were curious, here are Yao's PPS totals . 2004-2005: 1.503; 2005-2006: 1.412; 2006-2007: 1.468; 2007-2008: 1.419; 2008-2009: 1.523
He obviously is because he not 100 ft away from the FT line anymore.He actually puts his foot closer now.I have no clue why he does that.In orlando he takes it from way back.Atleast he finally doing it better.
I agree 100%. Hes getting to the line 8 times a game so far and not only that hes maikn over 80% of them thats the best part.
I stated this in another thread, but it's everything he's doing in this young season so far. Not what he says, but what he does. He is obviously shooting pretty horrid from the perimeter. The shots me makes are around the basket. Otherwise, he's getting to the line AND making. He even made a couple shots at the end of the last game from the perimeter, so that's good. Seeing him dive on the ground for loose balls. THAT is what I like to see. Even if he gets hurt, he is just going as all out as he can in his condition. During the Dallas game in the 4th when he was on the bench for whatever reason (his own request or Rick's decision), he seemed to really be cheering on all his teammates, not just Ron's big 3. At times he was out of his chair, and kneeling on the floor totally into the game. To many it may not seem like anything, but to me it just seems like all the reports we hear that our locker room and team is just a great place where everyone has everyone's back is absolutely true. From starters to guys who are earning the last spot on the roster. Luther is up and cheering his ass off, and he knows like most of us, his time will be slim to none barring injuries now. What we ideally want is the TMac that showed up before the injuries started hitting him last season. He was playing outstanding ball.
It does seem counter-intuitive that he'd go to the basket while injured, so why do people make the assumption that once he gets healthy and has more lift on his J, that he'd stop driving to the hole? Maybe if he's hit a few in a row he'll do that, but I think he'll keep on taking it to the hole now that he has more lanes to work with. Maybe Artest has given Mac some openings in the opposing defense?
Dude, THANK YOU. I was looking all over for these stats this morning, thank you thank you for posting that.
TMac still has that some of that megastar respect left, maybe not as much as Wade or Kobe, but at least he is getting calls. Scola gets molested and never gets any calls.
Scola's problem is he often tries to avoid getting fouled instead of initiating the contact and going to the line. He's too nifty for his own good sometimes. Adelman should tell him when the defender commits, bump into him on purpose instead of contorting some way to slip around him. Scola has enough post moves to become a FT machine.
That's what I'm saying man. He'll do his 20 spins and end up having no momentum left to try and flip up a layup just to short it. Go up, try and get the foul. You start getting the calls. Yao went through it, every player does.
That megastar respect was how the Lakers were able to beat the Jazz, and if we want to beat them in the playoffs we'll need some of that too. So far it seems like Artest has definitely given us respect, not just for T-Mac but for all the other players too. Team FT's/Opponent's FTs in 2006-2007: 23.2/24.4 2007-2008: 22.7/23.3 2008-2009: 29.0/19.7 (3 games)
