Potential Upside Podcast write up- EP 4 Is it safe to critically analyze CJ McCollum?

Younger players usually have trouble with inconsistency. I wouldn't really worry about this that much, if at all, in this stage of his career.

 

There's inconsistency then there's 3/4 of your games where you're not good at a particular part of your job.

When there's that large of a disparity, I think it's fair to ask that question.

 

Awesome post. Looks great can't wait to read it.

 

I have noticed as well some of those layups Damian and CJ take when Ed Davis is on the floor. It looks like they just want to get the defenders on them for the layup and do not care if it misses since Davis will be there to clean it up. Would love to get an honest answer from the coaching staff if this is on purpose.

Great work. Would love to see how those numbers change with upgraded play from the other three positions on the floor.

 

Same reason Dame struggles with it. Not used to nba length and defenders, and most of his experience was not against upper tier college defenders either. He went from mostly mediocre rim protectors to elite ones. Now he isn't as athletic as Dame and, honestly, he has half a season under his belt. I'd wait until he actually has an off season to work on his weaknesses after assessing this season.

 

WOW! Can somebody send me THIS version!?

 

So really we were just reading (and smelling) a Wookie fart?

 

Is your post available on the Kindle? Come on man, this is the twitter generation!

Your whole post in one sentence. "CJ is a good 3pt shooter, a great mid range shooter, and he sucks and finishing inside and getting to the line".

Haha! I'm just busting your chops. Nice post,.

 

But speaking of finishing inside. CJ is not the only one struggling with that. Damian Lillard..his sophmore year he only shot 51%....which is bad. Last year, he shot all the way up to 64% which is tremendous for a guard at the 0-3 range, and this year, he's all the way back down to 51%. CJ's FG% from 0-3 also feel 5% points from last year to this year.

So does this have something to do with the team itself??

 

Enjoyed the podcast

 

Part of it is that Dame and CJ are both on the smaller side. There have been guys that are fantastic finishers that have also been small, but like anything else it's a natural skill. Rondo comes to mind in that sense. Knowing how to use your body, get a defender off balance, and finishing at the rim- those are all raw skills that some have more of naturally while others need to grow them.

As you said, Dame has demonstrated some growth. I think part of the regression this season is the lack of an interior presence. Not that Plumlee and Davis aren't nice players- but defenders don't have to hug them like a DeAndre Jordan, Rudy Gobert, Steven Adams, etc. Davis is the better of the 2 around the rim but he's not someone you constantly fear rolling to the rim on an alley oops out of the pick and roll- not to mention Dame has only recently added the lob to his game- and he's not drawing attention like a LMA would where you can't leave him when a guard penetrates. That allows bigs to shade towards the penetration a step more, making it just a bit harder for Dame/CJ to finish.

My basic belief is that neither CJ nor Dame are natural interior finishers. They both have plenty of room for improvement- but ultimately I think the it does have something to do with the team. How much of the it is b/c of the team would require access to data I don't currently have (individual sets and results).