Guess who's leading the league in mid-range jumpers?

I think simply looking at FG% from 16-23 feet and using that as your template for determining how good someone is, doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Because if that's the only criteria, that would mean Babitt was our best finisher at the rim last year. Do you really believe that? It would also mean Claver and Pavlovic were the best on our team from 10-15 ft.

Anyone who watches knows that Aldridge is a better outside shooter than Hickson. Aldridge is often having to create his own shot, while Hickson's usually just shooting that shot when he's set up by a teammate and wide open and/or squared to the basket.

You make a valid point about not drawing fouls but the flipside is he draws their bigs outside which helps his teammates when they move the ball and space the floor. I'd love to see Aldridge go inside more because he's so good at it, but I think at this point he is what he is. And what he is is a two-time (and counting) all-star.

Yes it's a sample size of three this year, so I'm not sure why you think the fact he's doubled his shot attempts from that area will last over the whole year. Or do you only use that argument when it benefits you? Aldridge was hot, he knew it, so he kept going to that shot. I imagine, on a night he goes cold from outside, he'll make more of a concerted effort to go inside. Quit looking at a single raw statistic and WATCH THE GAME.

 

Great points…. Aldridge's "catch and shoot" % is pretty high at 61.9%. He is scoring 8.7 of his total PPG from this scenario. Aldridge is averaging 25.7 PPG, so your argument is much more valid. That means creating his own shot, he scores 17 of his total 25.7 points. The haters don't go into this detail because they don't understand how Aldridge is scoring. This stats explains, he scores without help. And scores most of his points without help.

 

Well if you don't weed out the noise, then yes. But when I run the #s I generally only pull data on players who play >20mpg so that we don't get that sort of noise.

That's not true, on either count. The #s show that Hickson was the better shooter. And LMA never "creates" out there - he's always passed the ball by a teammate. The only time he ever creates is in the post.

I don't think it'll last. I was merely commenting on the topic at hand - that he's shooting far-and-away the most long jumpers of anyone in the league, and more than he's ever shot in his career. We had all been hoping for the opposite of what's happened so far. It can't/won't last, but I do think he'll once again lead the league, or be near the top, for those long-range 2-pointers and that's not good basketball (unless he keeps shooting 10% above his career average).

 

I am not sure it is important what they call him, (PF or C) when Meyers is on the floor offensively he can play away from the basket. Robinson really can't. So if they are out there together it should be ok. But defensively Meyers does not have the lateral quickness to guard most PF's these days.

One thing they both can do is run. TRob looks like a deer out there. He really gets down the floor.
Meyers can also run the floor, just not as agile.

 

You can't be serious. Aldridge gets the ball out there all the time with his back to the basket and has to create his own shot, often a step-back jumper over the defender or a turnaround jump shot. Did you watch the end of the Denver game?

3:30 to go: Aldridge gets the ball free-throw line extended. Isolation play with his back to the basket. Takes two dribbles, then a turn-around from 16.

2:48 to go: See above. Same thing, same result.

2:05 to go: He gets the ball 15-ft from the basket, backs Faried in a few dribbles, then a turn-around jumper.

1:39 to go: Same things as at 3:30 to go, same result.

None of those four shots were assisted. He created all four of them.

Or it's like the end of the San Antonio game, in which the Spurs had to double-team Aldridge 18 feet from the basket, he finds the open guy, Lillard, who drives in and scores. You think teams double Hickson that far from the basket, since according to you he's a better shooter out there... No, because teams don't look at a single obscure stat, they actually scout their oponent.

 

This season, only 8.7 out of the 25.7 points were from a "catch and shoot" like you keep trying to sell us. 17 of his 25.7 points are created by shots he created for himself.

http://stats.nba.com/playerTrackingShooting.html?pageNo=1&rowsPerPage=50&sortField=PTS&sortOrder=DES

Try better next time.

 

Meyers doesn’t have the interior skills to guard centers either. But against another teams backup PF he should be acceptable out there. Right now its really picking the least worst of two bad options. Robinson does not look good at all on offense in LaMarcus’ spot. I expected him to be a garbage player but that is not the roll he is substituting in for. The team is used to the PF being in the mid range area. Our center is already staying in the interior next to the hoop. Having our PF outside opens up the middle of the floor for guard penetration. If our PF and center are both inside it will clog up the offensive spacing.

Meyers has a lot of faults and as a fan he is frustrating to many of us, but one thing he can do really well is shoot. He might be a better jump shooter than LaMarcus one day. I think we need to accept Meyers strengths instead of dwelling on his faults. He is what he is and he can still turn that skill into a productive roll as a rotational player in this league.

 

Yes it is a problem having Robinson with the ball 12-15 feet from the basket. I don't know if moving him to center will eliminate that problem, but if it does, then I agree with you. I would think that they could fix that issue in other ways.

As far as Meyers guarding back up PF's, aren't alot of the back ups....stretch 4's? How is he going to cover them outside? Robinson is much better suited to cover a variety of PF's. (as is Claver)

Offensively Meyers is a PF. Defensively though I think his best chance is still against back up centers.

 

I still think Aldridge will end up on one of the Texas teams and if I had to bet it would be Houston.

 

Okay, this is just a dumb use of stats. JJ played in 79 games and averaged 1.3 shots per game from 16-23 feet. That's a grand total of 103 shot attempts of which he made 47 shots. LA played in 73 games, averaged 7.3 shot attempts per game from that range (533 shots) and made 34.4% (183) of the shots. The low number of shots by JJ tells us that his attempts were not a major part of the offense, they were those happy times when he found himself on the receiving end of a pass and was wide open. LA's shots from that range were a main staple of last year's offense and he generally had 2 defenders on him. If you're willing to take JJ in a shooting contest against LA from that distance, I'll be happy to take your money.

I don't disagree that LA should go into the paint more than he has in the first three games, but I think that will come as the season goes along and Stotts fine tunes his offense. It's pretty tough to make any accurate assessment based on a sample size of 3 games.

 

Whether or not LA re-signs with the Blazers will depend a lot upon what they do this season. If they make the playoffs, my money would be on him re-signing here simply because he's not likely to find a team in the free agent market that has the cap space to sign him and has enough talent to achieve better success than the Blazers. As far as Texas goes, sure LA might like to play there, but none of those teams will have the cap space to make him a max offer and they won't have the players they'd be willing to part with that would be necessary to make an attractive S&T offer to the Blazers.

 

Well if another team is giving Meyers problems going small we can play Wright or Batum at PF. I’d worry about that bridge once we cross it.

 

I think Aldridge cares about winning more so than location, IMO. If a team like Houston is interested, who do they give in trade to make it work? What about SAS? They are over cap and won't want to give up their talent for Aldridge (Olshey says no). What about Dallas? Well its obvious they don't have the talent to build around Aldridge as well. Why would Aldridge move there?

The teams that can obtain Aldridge would most likely be another team. Lakers have a shot, but I doubt Aldridge would go there as well.

 

Well he is only 28 and he has a good 8 years left. So will he sign with a home state team at the end of his career? You are probably right. But it would be Dallas if it is a ways off.

If it is in the next 2 years, Houston needs to acquire an asset they currently do not possess for it to work. (For both teams) They could pull it off, but it won't be easy. I do think LMA would be the perfect compliment for Howard and Harden. So I guess they better figure out how to trade everyone else in order to get us a guaranteed top 2 pick this year. Won't happen.

 

Well Asik would be nice if TRob could hold down the starting PF role.

 

3 game sample size.

http://www.basketball-reference.com...3stat=&c3comp=ge&c3val=&order_by=fg#stats::15

Here's the other 518 games of his career, where Aldridge has been assisted on 66.3% of every jump shot he's taken from 10ft to the 3pt arc.

 

Serious question. If Mo Williams were to start and lead the league in 3pt attempts by a wide margin, but only shoot 28% from 3, would anyone here defend him and be saying that he had to be taking those shots?

 

Or Aldridge would be nice, paired with Lopez.

 

Ah, we're talking about two different things. I'm talking about those 18' jumpers from the top of the key - his supposed "bread & butter" shot. Those are entirely created by others. But yes, when he gets it in that 15' range he'll often use a couple dribbles to create a shot.

 

This isn't about "jump shots". This is about all his shots brother…

http://www.basketball-reference.com...tat=&c3comp=ge&c3val=&order_by=fg#stats::none

The statement is Aldridge does not create his own shot. The revised link shows 58% of his FG are assisted.

Tim Duncan, which we all think is an absolute top PF, averages 52.8%. So comparing apples to apples, Aldridge isn't that much behind Duncan for being able to create for himself.