Subject #1 Ersan Ilyasova One of the stretch fours from across the pond. He has three point range. Can grab a rebound for you. Can take it aggressively to the hole after drawing the guy out as a 3 point threat. Here are Ilyasova's #s from this season, which are a dropoff from his peak. Ast%: 7.4% TS%: 55.4% Reb%: 12.0% (7.0% / 17.0%) TO Ratio: 6.4% PER: 16.8 Usg%: 22.1 PER 36 FGA: 15.2 3PA: 5.2 FTA: 2.9 3pt%: 38.9 FT%: 64.5% Three seasons ago and two seasons ago he was much better than this for whatever reason. 2012-2013 Ast%: 9.6% TS%: 55.2% Reb%: 13.9% (7.9% / 20.3%) TO Ratio: 7.9% PER: 18.3 Usg%: 20.5% PER 36 FGA: 14.4 3PA: 3.8 FTA: 2.8 3pt%: 44.4% FT%: 79.6% 2011-2012 Ast%: 7.0% TS%: 57.7% Reb%: 17.6% (12.9% / 22.8%) TO Ratio: 10.1% PER: 20.5 Usg%: 20.1% PER 36 FGA: 13 3PA: 2.4 FTA: 4.0 3pt%: 45.5% FT%: 78.1% 2011-2012 was a hell of a season for him. Looking at the video, we see a similar type stretch 4 game. Nikola looks to be a better passer and better at getting to the line. Illysova is the more efficient scorer in his two great season and about the same this season. Compare those numbers to Mirotic from this season. MIROTIC Ast%: 9.7% TS%: 55.6% Reb%: 13.3% (4.3% / 21.8%) TO Ratio: 10.6% PER: 17.9 Usg%: 22.8% PER 36 FGA: 13.6 3PA: 6.8 FTA: 6.2 3pt%: 31.6% FT%: 80.3% Mirotic takes A LOT more 3s and hits them at a much poorer rate. Mirotic gets to the line more and hits those better than 'Sova this season and about the same as him during his more productive seasons. Mirotic does not collect many offensive rebounds for the Bulls, but cleans the defensive glass. Anyway, when trying to compare Mirotic, this guy came to mind for me. What other guys around the NBA are good comparisons to Mirotic?
In terms of mannerisms and vocabulary, I think Mirotic has a Kobe-Jordan type imitation thing with Detlef Schrempf:
My issue with the Ilyasova-Mirotic comparison is that I think Mirotic is a real defender. At the end of the day, it's really tough to cover for bigs who can't defend. You don't have to cover for Mirotic.
One big difference between all these comps and Mirotic is 3 point shooting. Dirk: 38.3% Gallinari: 36.7% Ilyasova: 37% Schrempf: 38.4% VladRad: 37.8% Niko: 31.6%
Right, and he was 20 compared to a more seasoned and physically mature 23 year old Mirotic. (i'm sure you can see how dirk shot at age 21, 22 and 23) I think we have a sufficient sample of games (82) at this point to judge how good a shooter Mirotic currently is. Sample size doesn't enter into it in this case. You might argue that Mirotic will improve over time / with more experience, but that has nothing to do with sample size. We have a big enough sample. If you really think Mirotic is Dirk, then you immediately play him at PF 35-40 minutes a game regardless of who he is replacing and abandon any notion of him playing SF. Dirk isn't a SF and has no business playing there. I'm not at all convinced that Mirotic has MVP upside.
2/7 = .285 3/7 = .429 What a difference a made shot makes. That's last game. The game before: 6/11 = .545 That he CAN go 6/11 is reason to guard him. That kind of 3pt shooting will bury you. For the season, he went 99 for 313. 20 made shots out of 313 more and he'd have shot .383. Dirk didn't play PF full time as a rookie either. And the equation still stands: Mirotic+Taj vs. Mirotic+DunVP. I'll take Mirotic+Taj every day of the week. That's 2x 15+ PER guys vs. one and a 11 PER guy. Even if Niko has to suck it up and play SF.
Now the argument you just made is "sample size." You are only looking at 2 games. 1 game, really. (Derrick can go 6-11 in an individual game too) (I'm not in any way making a DunVP argument here, just FYI)
And they do guard Derrick. If you wonder why they guard Niko at the 3pt line, there's your answer. As far as his 3pt % goes, he sure has a lot of 1-4 and 0-2 games in limited minutes.
Sure. EDIT It's like how Brooks can play like shit for 3 quarters and then have an amazing Q4 to bring his stats up to pretty good.
Here are forwards that shoot threes, grab rebounds and get to the line. This isn't on a per minute basis, but that's a pretty nice list to be on. http://stats.nba.com/league/player/#!/?CF=FG3A*GE*3|REB*GE*4.5|FTA*GE*3&PlayerPosition=F&sort=AGE&dir=-1 * Mirotic is one of the poorest shooters on this list. * Kawhi Leonard is one year younger than Mirotic?!?!!? * Jimmy is only one year older than Mirotic! * Mirotic gets to the line quite a lot on a per minute basis compared to the people on this list. * Wow, hi Luol! If given 30+ minutes and he gets to play the 4 (or the 3 really), this guy is going to put up some big numbers! But, you would like the scoring to be efficient. Getting that shooting percentage up is essential for his game to go to the next level.