NBA 2021-2022 Season Thread : Offseason Drama Filler Episodes

[Serra]

Dwight Howard not being on their is astoundingly egregious.

And I don't think AD or Dame have any business being on their, as good as they may currently be.

Agreed about those two, but I'm not sure I'd put Paul Pierce or Carmelo on there either.

[Deejay]

Carmelo on there either.

melo is already top 10 scorer, and will finish 8th by the time's he's done. this is also a bad take

[archibaldcrane]

no, not at all. five thirty eight did an analysis on this years ago. mcgrady would have averaged something like 35 a game if he took 3's instead of long 2's. he was making like 7 a game at the height of his powers.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features...-of-long-twos/

TMac was a sub-34% 3-point shooter though. It's fine but not Harden or Durant.

Even if you give him the speculated 538 article TS% bump from more 3s he's still closer to Westbrook's TS% than Harden or Durant.

[Deejay]

archi i literally linked you the article. read instead of hawking stat lines for once

Davis and Harden are fortunate enough to play in an era that properly values 3-point shots. Their shot profiles — Harden’s especially so — feature many more threes than long twos, so they appear to be far more efficient scorers than Garnett and McGrady. Based on that, it might be easy to think that Davis and Harden belong in a higher echelon in the NBA pantheon than Garnett and McGrady.

But the reality is far more complex. If you turn every long two made by those four players into made 3-pointers, the efficiency gap among each pair of superstars significantly shrinks. Davis and Harden still have an advantage over their prototypes, but not by as much.

[archibaldcrane]

I'm glad we can agree that TMac wasn't a very efficient shooter and made up for it with volume.

[kisada]

what's good, Robert sarver

[Krandor]

I realized I said their instead of there twice in that post and I'm glad none of y'all called me out on it.

I'm also not gonna edit it for posterity

[archibaldcrane]

what's good, Robert sarver

https://twitter.com/Schultz_Report/s...47350498283528

[Deejay]

I'm glad we can agree that TMac wasn't a very efficient shooter and made up for it with volume.

he wasn't as efficient of a shooter in an era that had way less spacing. mathematically speaking, the long 2 is the worst shot in basketball - which was mcgrady's literal bread and butter. if he dropped it entirely and worked on his three (like literally every other player in the modern nba), he'd be nigh unstoppable.

and idk why you're still stuck on efficiency when I originally compared their skillsets

harden makes his money with his ball handling, passing, shooting, and ability to finish in traffic. mcgrady literally did all of that and adds freakish athleticism. their skill sets are literally the same, only mcgrady was a better finisher due to his freakish athleticim, and harden was a better shooter because of his better selection

[archibaldcrane]

harden was a better shooter because of his better selection

But Harden was also a significantly better shooter from 3 and the free throw line than TMac, even if you ignore TMac's long-2 fetish. And of course Harden is the world champion of getting to the line.

That's my point - it's not just shot selection, it's also what happens when you do shoot 3s. Saying "well TMac would've been better at it if he practiced it more" is like, uh, ok? He didn't tho.

[Deejay]

which is the result of the era he played in. HELLO?

[Deejay]

also 34% vs 36% isn't even that significant, fuck is you talkin bout

[archibaldcrane]

6 points per 100 possessions is significant, sorry - that's the difference between the league-leading Nets offense last season and the 14th-ranked Raptors offense.

[Deejay]

you're still failing to comprehend that mcgrady would thrive today. harden's output is the direct result of what happens when the same set of skills are valued differently now vs then

[archibaldcrane]

Of course he'd thrive today, the league isn't THAT different now compared to when he played, and he was an explosively athletic player for his size.

[Deejay]

the league isn't THAT different now compared to when he played

in 2007, mcgrady lead the league making 7.75 long two's per game. the league leader today makes 2.28 per game

the game is completely different. you'd know that if you watched them as much as you watch stat lines

[Deejay]

also, the league average for 3 point attempts that year was 18.1. it's sitting at 36.4 in 2021

i'd also say thats a lil different my guy

[archibaldcrane]

It's hard to imagine any period in the NBA where a top-10 player wouldn't still thrive 10 years later.

[Deejay]

that doesn't make mcgrady any less of an outlier. he'd gain the most and it's not even close

[archibaldcrane]

that doesn't make mcgrady any less of an outlier. he'd gain the most and it's not even close

Your 538 article suggests that Mike Bibby would've gained more (same volume of long 2s but significantly more TS% boost).

(because he was already a very good 3 point shooter, not just an ordinary one)