Where's Powe's Jump Shot?

[Bankshot]

every time he has the ball and its his job to get the shot its like he takes 5 seconds holding it there just to think of what he's gonna do. he's just not the scorer he was in college.

Perk does this too.  If Perk was quicker to go to his move, he could be a much better scorer.  Not the same for Powe because of his size, he'd still get stuffed most of the time.  That's why I think he needs a jump shot.

[MVP]

This is one of the frustrating things so far this season for me. I was expecting Powe to make a big step from last year to this year and adding a jumper would have done it, but he has actually regressed. Some people pointed out that Powe is the post man in the second unit, but having a reliable short jumper is part of a good post game. Especially for a guy like Powe who is undersized.

Other teams have caught on to the fact that Powe almost exclusively attacks the basket and back off him. Because Leon is undersized, he is having a very tough time scoring, especially against the better teams since those teams usually have more length. If Powe had a reliable short jumper to keep the defender honest, then it would be much easier for him to blow by his defender and do what he does best - finish around the basket and get fouled.

[pearljammer10]

A better question is, where's Powe...and why is big baby getting more minutes than him.

[Fan from VT]

I think with any young player that player will first do the things they feel comfortable with, the things have confidence in, and the things that their coaches encourage them to do.

I don't get the sense that this coaching staff is encouraging or even hinting at the fact that they want Leon taking a 15 foot jump shot. Leon and Baby play together a lot this year and I think coming into the season the coaching staff knew that was going to be the way of things. Seeing that Leon is a tremendous offensive rebounder/garbage man/post player I think the coaches envisioned him being the post man in the second team offense and Baby being the perimeter big that Doc runs his offense with.

Baby sets much better screens than Leon, seems to be a bit more nimble in the open floor than Leon, and seemed to have better range than Leon, so the coaches had Baby work on the outside shot and had Leon work with Coach Ray with his post moves and rebounding and defense.

Hence, no jumper for Leon, a jumper for Baby, and BBD running all over the place on the perimeter and high post setting screens for pick and pops and Leon trying to get positioning underneath.

I really do believe it is all from design and what roles the coaches pegged each into. I don't think either had much of a choice as to what to work on and what to do in game situations. They are just different players in different roles. On the first team offense Perk plays Leon's role and KG is Baby's role.

I think this is a great post. I think much of Powe's shot selection is by design, and rightly so: Powe is shooting .533 for the season by working down low. He also is tremendous at drawing fouls, the best on the Celtics. He's posting a 59.3 true shooting percentage, and his PER is still over 16. He's also shooting .278 on jump shots. He's also a much better rebounder than Davis, so they want him closer to the rim. It would be great if he could hit the open jumper consistently, but right now, I think the coaches want him staying down low to maximize his high shooting percentage, foul drawing, and rebounding.


I think one problem is that Davis stays outside by design of the coaches, but he really isn't suited to that role. Davis and Powe are probably suited to the same post role, but Powe is much better at it so they play Davis out. But his jumper is also terrible, at .272 for the year. He's just not as good at drawing fouls or rebounding, so when the two play together it's better to have Powe closer in.

As an aside, I'm not so sure Davis is that good at setting picks. He gets called for a ton of moving screens, and it looks like they could call an illegal pick on every one he sets.


As another interesting aside, overall the C's team defense performs better with Powe on the court than Davis, so I'm not sure that it's simple to conclude that Davis is clearly the better defender.

[crownsy]

A better question is, where's Powe...and why is big baby getting more minutes than him.

because baby plays better team defense (specifically, rotating), and doc wants the second unit to be defense first.

[Scalablob990]

I think with any young player that player will first do the things they feel comfortable with, the things have confidence in, and the things that their coaches encourage them to do.

I don't get the sense that this coaching staff is encouraging or even hinting at the fact that they want Leon taking a 15 foot jump shot. Leon and Baby play together a lot this year and I think coming into the season the coaching staff knew that was going to be the way of things. Seeing that Leon is a tremendous offensive rebounder/garbage man/post player I think the coaches envisioned him being the post man in the second team offense and Baby being the perimeter big that Doc runs his offense with.

Baby sets much better screens than Leon, seems to be a bit more nimble in the open floor than Leon, and seemed to have better range than Leon, so the coaches had Baby work on the outside shot and had Leon work with Coach Ray with his post moves and rebounding and defense.

Hence, no jumper for Leon, a jumper for Baby, and BBD running all over the place on the perimeter and high post setting screens for pick and pops and Leon trying to get positioning underneath.

I really do believe it is all from design and what roles the coaches pegged each into. I don't think either had much of a choice as to what to work on and what to do in game situations. They are just different players in different roles. On the first team offense Perk plays Leon's role and KG is Baby's role.

I think this is a great post. I think much of Powe's shot selection is by design, and rightly so: Powe is shooting .533 for the season by working down low. He also is tremendous at drawing fouls, the best on the Celtics. He's posting a 59.3 true shooting percentage, and his PER is still over 16. He's also shooting .278 on jump shots. He's also a much better rebounder than Davis, so they want him closer to the rim. It would be great if he could hit the open jumper consistently, but right now, I think the coaches want him staying down low to maximize his high shooting percentage, foul drawing, and rebounding.


I think one problem is that Davis stays outside by design of the coaches, but he really isn't suited to that role. Davis and Powe are probably suited to the same post role, but Powe is much better at it so they play Davis out. But his jumper is also terrible, at .272 for the year. He's just not as good at drawing fouls or rebounding, so when the two play together it's better to have Powe closer in.

As an aside, I'm not so sure Davis is that good at setting picks. He gets called for a ton of moving screens, and it looks like they could call an illegal pick on every one he sets.


As another interesting aside, overall the C's team defense performs better with Powe on the court than Davis, so I'm not sure that it's simple to conclude that Davis is clearly the better defender.

Perk is the king of moving screens, he gets them nearly every game. Back to the shot clock debate I dont think leon even had a clue what was left. By the time he got the ball he had around 5 seconds or somehwere around that much, and a man was hanging all over him. I think if Leon took the time to look across half court for the time he would have had the ball slapped away.

[Bankshot]

I think with any young player that player will first do the things they feel comfortable with, the things have confidence in, and the things that their coaches encourage them to do.

I don't get the sense that this coaching staff is encouraging or even hinting at the fact that they want Leon taking a 15 foot jump shot. Leon and Baby play together a lot this year and I think coming into the season the coaching staff knew that was going to be the way of things. Seeing that Leon is a tremendous offensive rebounder/garbage man/post player I think the coaches envisioned him being the post man in the second team offense and Baby being the perimeter big that Doc runs his offense with.

Baby sets much better screens than Leon, seems to be a bit more nimble in the open floor than Leon, and seemed to have better range than Leon, so the coaches had Baby work on the outside shot and had Leon work with Coach Ray with his post moves and rebounding and defense.

Hence, no jumper for Leon, a jumper for Baby, and BBD running all over the place on the perimeter and high post setting screens for pick and pops and Leon trying to get positioning underneath.

I really do believe it is all from design and what roles the coaches pegged each into. I don't think either had much of a choice as to what to work on and what to do in game situations. They are just different players in different roles. On the first team offense Perk plays Leon's role and KG is Baby's role.

I think this is a great post. I think much of Powe's shot selection is by design, and rightly so: Powe is shooting .533 for the season by working down low. He also is tremendous at drawing fouls, the best on the Celtics. He's posting a 59.3 true shooting percentage, and his PER is still over 16. He's also shooting .278 on jump shots. He's also a much better rebounder than Davis, so they want him closer to the rim. It would be great if he could hit the open jumper consistently, but right now, I think the coaches want him staying down low to maximize his high shooting percentage, foul drawing, and rebounding.


I think one problem is that Davis stays outside by design of the coaches, but he really isn't suited to that role. Davis and Powe are probably suited to the same post role, but Powe is much better at it so they play Davis out. But his jumper is also terrible, at .272 for the year. He's just not as good at drawing fouls or rebounding, so when the two play together it's better to have Powe closer in.

As an aside, I'm not so sure Davis is that good at setting picks. He gets called for a ton of moving screens, and it looks like they could call an illegal pick on every one he sets.


As another interesting aside, overall the C's team defense performs better with Powe on the court than Davis, so I'm not sure that it's simple to conclude that Davis is clearly the better defender.

Perk is the king of moving screens, he gets them nearly every game. Back to the shot clock debate I dont think leon even had a clue what was left. By the time he got the ball he had around 5 seconds or somehwere around that much, and a man was hanging all over him. I think if Leon took the time to look across half court for the time he would have had the ball slapped away.

No.  Leon just got the pass from Eddie who was at the top of the key, so he knew exactly where Eddie was.  The correct move would have been to pass it right back to House for the open 3 when he knew he really didn't have a move, but unfortunately, he rarely passes once he gets the ball down low.

[dark_lord]

forget his jumpshot.....i just want him to improve his free throw shooting.  the guy draws fouls well bc of his style of play, but it doesnt always pay off due to his poor free throws (the same could be said about rondo).

[dmopower]

The guy needs to make his move quicker, Just explode, no fakes or anything, just go and live with it.
He looks like he thinkes he is A Jefferson, and has a second and third option, but his best move is the quick explosion use body to take a hit, not create one, and finish.

[Scalablob990]

Bank, Leon had a near clear path to go to the basket, but the problem was the double team he ran into when he got closer which resulted in the S.C.V. ugh I can't remember the play THAT well since I did not record it, but I don't remember much beyond what i've written so far. The black hole aspect Leon has needs to be ironed out a bit along with his FT shooting. Thing is, when he takes it in he probably actually thinks he can make it in, so he wont pass it out. Most of the times though it works out well resulting in 1-3 pts (i'm including the fouls w/ the shot he commonly gets). His FG% is pretty good for the year so far (53%). He kicks it out every now and then though when he knows he doesn't have a shot. IMO he's not a *complete* Hole, but needs a few kinks worked out yes.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Thing is, when he takes it in he probably actually thinks he can make it in, so he wont pass it out.

I don't know, but I'm quite certain that every ballhog in the game thinks they can make it so they don't pass. It simply doesn't excuse forgoing the right basketball play and it doesn't excuse him not recognizing double teams constantly.

[Roy Hobbs]

A better question is, where's Powe...and why is big baby getting more minutes than him.

because baby plays better team defense (specifically, rotating), and doc wants the second unit to be defense first.

You know, we hear this a lot, but is it true?

Points allowed per 100 possessions (team):

Powe on the court: 97.6

BBD on the court: 103.8

Points allowed per 48 minutes (team):

Powe on the court: 86.5

BBD on the court: 91.2

Net point differential:

Powe: +7.1 pts/48 minutes, +8.6 pts/100 possessions

BBD: +0.4 pts/48 minutes, +1.2 pts/100 possessions

Plus/minus:

Powe:  +105, +.182/minute

BBD: +41, +0.068/minute (second worst on the team, behind Bill Walker)

Opponent's production (primary position):

Powe: .440 eFG%, 19.4 pts, 10.3 reb, 15.5 PER

BBD: .497 eFG%, 15.7 pts, 11.2 reb, 13.4 PER

Net production vs. opponent (primary position):

Powe: +.108 eFG%, +1.3 pts, +2.1 reb, +3.3 PER

BBD: -0.149 eFG%, -4.3 pts, -1.5 reb, -3.9 PER

====================================================

What do those stats tell us?  They say that the team allows fewer points, and outscores their opponent by a significantly larger margin, when Leon is in the game.  If BBD's team defensive is much better, that isn't shown statistically.

In terms of man to man defense, Leon allows a lower eFG% and gets more rebounds, but BBD allows fewer points, due to free throw attempts (+3.0 when Powe is guarding opponents) and more shot attempts.

So, there is no evidence that the team plays better defense with BBD in the game over Powe.  Most importantly, though, there is absolutely *zero* evidence that the team plays better overall with BBD in there.  The teams point differential, by any measure, is much better with Leon in the game.

[Bankshot]

A better question is, where's Powe...and why is big baby getting more minutes than him.

because baby plays better team defense (specifically, rotating), and doc wants the second unit to be defense first.

You know, we hear this a lot, but is it true?

Points allowed per 100 possessions (team):

Powe on the court: 97.6

BBD on the court: 103.8

Points allowed per 48 minutes (team):

Powe on the court: 86.5

BBD on the court: 91.2

Net point differential:

Powe: +7.1 pts/48 minutes, +8.6 pts/100 possessions

BBD: +0.4 pts/48 minutes, +1.2 pts/100 possessions

Plus/minus:

Powe:  +105, +.182/minute

BBD: +41, +0.068/minute (second worst on the team, behind Bill Walker)

Opponent's production (primary position):

Powe: .440 eFG%, 19.4 pts, 10.3 reb, 15.5 PER

BBD: .497 eFG%, 15.7 pts, 11.2 reb, 13.4 PER

Net production vs. opponent (primary position):

Powe: +.108 eFG%, +1.3 pts, +2.1 reb, +3.3 PER

BBD: -0.149 eFG%, -4.3 pts, -1.5 reb, -3.9 PER

====================================================

What do those stats tell us?  They say that the team allows fewer points, and outscores their opponent by a significantly larger margin, when Leon is in the game.  If BBD's team defensive is much better, that isn't shown statistically.

In terms of man to man defense, Leon allows a lower eFG% and gets more rebounds, but BBD allows fewer points, due to free throw attempts (+3.0 when Powe is guarding opponents) and more shot attempts.

So, there is no evidence that the team plays better defense with BBD in the game over Powe.  Most importantly, though, there is absolutely *zero* evidence that the team plays better overall with BBD in there.  The teams point differential, by any measure, is much better with Leon in the game.

Well when assessing BBD, you have to watch the games, because these numbers are not fair to him.  It's clear to me from watching whose the better defender (BBD).  Powe gets to play close to the basket, while BBD plays away from the basket when he plays with Powe.  Powe gets to play under the basket and grab rebounds more rebounds and take higher percentage shots, while BBD plays the perimeter and shoots more lower percentage shots (mostly when playing with Powe).

Is there away to check these numbers for both of those guys, but only the numbers when they play alongside KG?  I think that would be a more fair comparison.

[moiso]

One thing that makes it appear as though Baby is making great rotations, etc... He just stands out.  He's very noticable due to his size and charisma.  Leon could make the exact same rotation/play as Baby and we just wouldn't notice it as much because Leon looks like a normal basketball player.

[Bankshot]

One thing that makes it appear as though Baby is making great rotations, etc... He just stands out.  He's very noticable due to his size and charisma.  Leon could make the exact same rotation/play as Baby and we just wouldn't notice it as much because Leon looks like a normal basketball player.

Yeah, ok.