Shaq vs FGA

[Spilling Green Dye]

My initial conclusion was that Shaq has such a high fg%, he should realistically be getting more shots.

While yes I agree that FGA is likely not the best thing to look at, and yes I did spell Semih's name wrong (as if it matters to this thread whatsoever), the end conclusion is the same.

Let's say Shaq makes 10% less of his shots if the offense designs plays around him more than they normally do (which they hardly do).  He'd STILL shoot .571%, which is better than ANY big currently on our team. 

You can talk hypothetical all you want, but we don't exactly know what Shaq would shoot if they utilized him a bit more.  But what we do know is that Shaq is shooting .671, and that's good enough to warrant more shots. 

Again, Davis takes more shots / game (and still plays a great deal of time with the starters) than Shaq, yet shoots close to 20% worse.  This isn't an anti-Davis thread, because none of our big men (outside of Garnett & Shaq) are shooting particularly efficiently... and I'm only talking offensively here. 

So what is the reasoning for Shaq to get less shots???

[kozlodoev]

So what is the reasoning for Shaq to get less shots???

Shots do not come into existence out of thin air. Our offense is centered around taking the best available shot -- so it simply boils to the fact that's how many shots are out there for Shaq.

Right now, he's scoring on wide open dunks, which is the reason he shoots 70%. Trying to manufacture more shots means you'll force him to work for it, which means both worse quality shots, and a more tired Shaq, both of which are quite counterproductive in terms of team strategy.

[Spilling Green Dye]

So what is the reasoning for Shaq to get less shots???

Shots do not come into existence out of thin air. Our offense is centered around taking the best available shot -- so it simply boils to the fact that's how many shots are out there for Shaq.

Right now, he's scoring on wide open dunks, which is the reason he shoots 70%. Trying to manufacture more shots means you'll force him to work for it, which means both worse quality shots, and a more tired Shaq, both of which are quite counterproductive in terms of team strategy.

You aren't countering my point at all.  We have yet to see where Shaq becomes as efficient of a scorer as the rest of our team.  So far he is more efficient.  I'm not suggesting ISO plays for Shaq, but plays which center around him shooting more. 

Again, if we ran some more plays that involved him more (vs the 5 for 5 shooting that we see from him), and he drops of 10% in fg%, which would be a big dropoff, he'd STILL be more efficient than our other bigs.  In other words, why not try and find where that point of efficiency is?!

[kozlodoev]

So what is the reasoning for Shaq to get less shots???

Shots do not come into existence out of thin air. Our offense is centered around taking the best available shot -- so it simply boils to the fact that's how many shots are out there for Shaq.

Right now, he's scoring on wide open dunks, which is the reason he shoots 70%. Trying to manufacture more shots means you'll force him to work for it, which means both worse quality shots, and a more tired Shaq, both of which are quite counterproductive in terms of team strategy.

You aren't countering my point at all.  We have yet to see where Shaq becomes as efficient of a scorer as the rest of our team.  So far he is more efficient.  I'm not suggesting ISO plays for Shaq, but plays which center around him shooting more. 

Again, if we ran some more plays that involved him more (vs the 5 for 5 shooting that we see from him), and he drops of 10% in fg%, which would be a big dropoff, he'd STILL be more efficient than our other bigs.  In other words, why not try and find where that point of efficiency is?!

Shaq isn't scoring off of plays that are designed to get him wide open layups.

[ImShakHeIsShaq]

So what is the reasoning for Shaq to get less shots???

Shots do not come into existence out of thin air. Our offense is centered around taking the best available shot -- so it simply boils to the fact that's how many shots are out there for Shaq.

Right now, he's scoring on wide open dunks, which is the reason he shoots 70%. Trying to manufacture more shots means you'll force him to work for it, which means both worse quality shots, and a more tired Shaq, both of which are quite counterproductive in terms of team strategy.

You have been against Shaq from day one... it's like you have found stats saying he can only score on "wide open dunks". It's like you think he didn't know how to score before he teamed w/ Rondo. The OP is simply saying that they should see if more shots for Shaq can help or hurt the team/his fg%. I just don't see how some1 with a high FG% can only get (this is only one example) 5 shots (5/5) in the first Q and not get another attempt until like a few mins left in the game ESPECIALLY when our offense stalls and no one else is scoring. Some1 is talking "best available shots"... so, there are NO available shots after the first Q for Shaq? Since some of you think Shaq can't score on his own, wouldn't it be Rondos fault that he can't get Shaq "wide open" like he does in the first half? Also, you can't compare Perk's high % against Shaq's to try and win this argument... Shaq has shown on any team he can score at a high %. No, you don't give Perk more shots b/c of his high %, he is not proven like Shaq, who can score a vn % even when he takes 15+ shots! I sometimes wonder how Shaq survived 17 seasons w/o Rondo getting him all those wide open shots?? No one is suggesting they should give Shaq 15 attempts per, but if he's making them, why not give him a few set plays (doc has said they have hardly any plays set for Shaq)? Say were not making shots (OKC), no one in their right mind thinks...Hey, there's this one guy hitting every one of his shots, let's let him try and get us a point or two?

[houlana]

I like the way shaq has been playing. as someone already stated, our offense is about penetrating and finding the open man. I am not big on shaq posting up because he is receiving the ball a little bit too far from the basket and is missing his hook shot, or is being sent to the FT line. So I am happy with the way he is being used, been very effective and hopefully JO will be back soon to limit shaq's minutes.

[Fafnir]

So what is the reasoning for Shaq to get less shots???

He plays less minutes. Shaq is shooting the ball more per minute than Davis. A big reason why Shaq can't take more shots is his stamina issues, he's 38 and can't carry the scoring or minutes load.

Shaq:
10.8 FGA and 7.8 FTA per 36 minutes

Davis:
10.7 FGA and 3.1 FTA per 36 minutes

Four extra free throw attempts means he's basically taking two more shots per 36 minutes. Neither one of them is exactly a chucker, Shaq's usage is 21 and Davis's usage is 17.

As to the rest of your point, Shaq is shooting 69.3% yes. But he's not shooting anywhere near that on post ups. Someone who has synergy sports or other info could give us that piece of data but its not going to be that high.

Shaq is no longer a player you can build your offense around. He can be defended very effectively by the better post defenders in this league. The way the C's are currently using him, as a finisher but not a the primary option, is much better than I'd feared. I feared he' bog down our offensive like he did in Cleveland.

[Greenbean]

This is easy.

Shaq is the recipient of extra passes in this offense. When he gets his shots up it means he is beating guys down the floor and Rondo is pushing to get him an early post, or the ball is hopping around so much that he ends up with a dump off and an easy bucket.

If Shaq isnt getting shots, that means the offense is stalling. I dont think we need to slow things down to force feed Shaq on the post. We have too many other deadly options on offense.

One thing I can say is that one thing Shaq was supposed to do is get other teams in the bonus earlier. Well it would be nice if we could do that in the 4th Q. I dont know where to find the stats but I feel like Shaq is not getting a ton of minutes/touches in the 4th Q at all. If Shaq needs to increase his involvement, this is where it should be done.

[billysan]

I am fine with the way we are using Shaq. Most of his points should come from put backs and lobs when he gets open inside. This is just common sense with the other weapons we have, we dont need to have him 'create' down on the block. Rondo and company will do that for him when they see an opening.

I think his greatest value may come from drawing fouls and helping get the other team into a penalty situation. When the opposing bigs have a few fouls it is much easier to operate inside for KG, Baby or whoever.

As long as this strategy is used early enough in the game (before the last five minutes) or when we have a nice lead if it is later, then the FT shooting doesnt hurt so much.

[Birdbrain]

I think he's getting just about the right amount of touches.  His FT shooting and defense are liabilities and will be the reasons his touches will stay about the same.

I'm quite happy with his role as presently constituted. 

[Celtics4ever]

Rondo's penetrating dump offs are what's helping Shaq.  They are the same passes Perk used to drop...