I bet Kyrie could drop 10 straight and Lebron would shoot eventually
lol, no. no "yikes on that one." up until he signed the contract he 100% was not a max player. until now he was a deadly 3pt shooter with horrific shot selection which killed his efficiency. this season he stopped taking so many bad shots, got to the rim a lot more, and finished better once he got there (huh, those glaring weaknesses that needed to be addressed sound familiar....). as a result, he's actually looking like a max player. if he didn't make those improvements and was still playing the same way he had his entire career, giving him a max deal still would've been terrible.
does he deserve credit for the improvement? of course. it is interesting to note, though, that curry's also improved his shot selection too - and he suffered from the similar issue of too many dumb 2s and not enough shots at the rim (but his %s elsewhere negated that so he was still v efficienct). he drastically cut down on his bad 2s and basically shifted them all to shots at the rim. lo and behold, he's having his most efficient season ever, on his way to an mvp, all the while having his lowest 3pt% of his career. so maybe the offense is just run better now, too.
both players serve as a nice case study for people who actually think the long 2 is a good shot and should not be minimized though
Watched the 3rd on league pass
Klay was possessed by the basketball gods
TT is good but let's not act like we're the one franchise that messed up
A lot of teams missed on him
yes. this is basic math. the goal on offense should be to maximize shots at the rim and from 3 - ideally dunks, and corner 3s respectively - and minimize the long 2 more than anything. there is a reason why the most efficient teams offensively all shoot lots of 3s.If I was a coach I'd be one who'd say either try to dunk or shoot a 3. Jarrett Jack and Waiters would've been my least favorite players
right, projection is part of the picture. but in his first 3 years he didn't make up a whole lot of ground re: shot selection. his first year was ridiculously bad with almost 32% of his shots being long 2s. his tendency for that crap did gradually decline, but he replaced those shots with mid range 2s instead of more valuable shots and he actually took less shots at the rim with each additional season. in other words, it was 2 steps forwards, 1 step backwards. paying a player like that the kind of money they game him is way more than "somewhat of a risk." especially when you consider the other salaries on golden state - lee, bogut, iggy, curry (which is absurdly under market), etc.Right. So this is what we call projecting forward and trying to figure out what a player will be as opposed to what he is. It's very easy to just look at the numbers right now and declare a guy is or isn't a max player. It would have been a monumental misstep for the Warriors to not pay Klay Thompson because they thought like you, pay him only what he has done and not what he will end up doing. They took somewhat of a risk, predicted he was going to become what he has become, and paid him accordingly.
If all scouts and GMs had to do was decide a players value based on their current play, then it would be an easy job indeed. Klay has been trending in this direction since the Spurs series and this season he's finally reached his destination.
yes. this is basic math. the goal on offense should be to maximize shots at the rim and from 3 - ideally dunks, and corner 3s respectively - and minimize the long 2 more than anything. there is a reason why the most efficient teams offensively all shoot lots of 3s.
that is why i hated waiters from day one. his shot selection was the absolute worst and when he did get high quality shots at the rim he still couldn't finish worth a damn - hence his embarrassingly low efficiency.
right, projection is part of the picture. but in his first 3 years he didn't make up a whole lot of ground re: shot selection. his first year was ridiculously bad with almost 32% of his shots being long 2s. his tendency for that crap did gradually decline, but he replaced those shots with mid range 2s instead of more valuable shots and he actually took less shots at the rim with each additional season. in other words, it was 2 steps forwards, 1 step backwards. paying a player like that the kind of money they game him is way more than "somewhat of a risk." especially when you consider the other salaries on golden state - lee, bogut, iggy, curry (which is absurdly under market), etc.
paying based on what they think he'll become is fine, but they paid him based on the best-case scenario. that is risky. i sure as hell hope we aren't going to pay our thompson based on his best-case scenario (primarily because there is no way in hell he reaches it).
and with klay, i still think coaching deserves a lot of credit for "what he has become" primarily because many of his specific improvements also apply to his backcourt partner and their offense as a whole. it wasn't just him improving, it was the entire offense improving in those areas.
Looks like Brandon Jennings will be out a long time. Non-contact play, apparently his Achilles. Poor guy was truly in agony.