My evaluation is that he's not a studly 3pt shooter. For a PF, better than some. It's the FT's that help his TS%. His TS% is worse than Gasol's. His PER is 7 less than Gasol's, but roughly the same as Taj's. I think I've made it clear all along that I'd have traded Taj for wing help and given Mirotic all of Taj's minutes.
And not for nothing, Andrew Wiggins' TS is only .510, as compared to Mirotic's .548. Andrew Wiggins' top line stats look better in a vacuum, with him shooting .438 from the field, and .347 from three. We're just really bad at eyeballing these things.
Wiggins started out really slow. I think people are saying he's running away with ROY due to his more recent play. FWIW
Oh, I'm not arguing Mirotic should be in contention for ROY. Wiggins is better now, and he almost certainly will be in the future too. He's been killing it. I think the Wolves came away with the two best prospects from this years' draft with Wiggins and LaVine. That's going to be the most fun team to watch very soon.
I'm very sanguine about Mirotic's ability to be a very efficient offensive player. I wouldn't be surprised if he eventually attains Dirk-like efficiency, even though he probably won't have Dirk-like usage. Big guys who can create their own shot, get to the rim, and shoot 3's are very useful to have on offense. I think his 3-pt shooting is likely to improve and I expect it to be close to 40% when he gets acclimated to the league. He's proven to be a very good shooter in the Euro leagues and has a very quick stroke. It's also not uncommon for even great shooters to take a while to find their stroke when they enter the league. Korver, Reggie Miller and Ray Allen were all sub 0.400% shooters when they came into the league. I think Niko's going to be a +0.600% shooter for the bulk of his career. Fun question: has anyone with a more Dirk-like game entered the league since Dirk himself? I'm talking about tools and style of play, not statistical output.
