He generates many fewer free throws, too.
Yeah, he really hasn't gotten some calls this year, but that is the nature of their game.
I like the flow of the game with him running the team. He shoots more efficiently, even if he generates less free throws. He also has a little better court vision.
Long-term, Thomas' health is a concern, with how many times he falls to the court and takes hits. Irving doesn't do that, which might extend his career. Is that worth two more prime seasons? Probably.
He hasn’t been more efficient than IT.
I know people fawn over how much taller he is, and he’s been very impressive to me so far. I also believe his best is yet to come, he’s got another level. His ballhandling is probably the best in the league. His shot is silky. His passing and defense has been better than advertised.
But, Isaiah is coming off a season for the ages. He was more efficient than any Kyrie season (mostly playing alongside LeBron). Kyrie can become the better player, and definitely when considering IT’s hip, but let’s not diminish what Thomas did.
Celtics were a top offensive team last season. They were I believe 4th in assists, so the ball was moving. They shot great from the line, of course led by Isaiah. Four players besides IT shot 3.5+ threes per game, so it wasn’t just one guy hoisting up shots.
If you don’t believe one great offensive player can turn a terrible offensive roster into a great offensive team, I would argue that one terrible defensive player can’t turn a great defensive roster into a terrible defensive team.
He's talking about shooting not scoring. That's why it's comments on Kyrie not getting to the line. Kyrie has been the better shooter.
How can Kyrie be a more efficient shooter but TS% and eFG% (and virtually every other metric) favor IT?
I already told you what I felt about TS%. Now, I think I have seen what eFG% is and that has to do with adding in FTs. That means even less to me. We all know Kyrie doesn't get to the line but what I don't get is why people knock him for being so slippery that he makes people look so dumb that they often can't stick with him to touch him. When they do touch him the refs don't call it most of the time because it doesn't affect him in their opinion (or maybe thy can't see it?).
eFG == overall _shooting_ efficiency from the floor that incorporates efficiency on both 2PT and 3PT shots. Not free throws.
TS == overall _scoring_ efficiency, period, including all shots from the floor and free throws.
Using FG% is a horrible indicator of shooting skill because it favors players who take most of their shots at the rim (dunks and layups). FG% is still important for other things because it is an inverse indicator of the miss rate. But it is a lousy indicator of shooting skill.
Using 3PT% is a little better indicator of shooting skill but two factors have to always be considered when looking at it:
(a)
Volume. A 41% 3PT shooter who only takes 1 or 2 threes per game is not necessarily a better shooter than a 36% 3PT shooter who takes 5 threes per game.
(b)
Shot difficulty. Not all threes are created equal. Jae Crowder shot 40% from three last year but took primarily open & wide-open shots from the corner. 300 of his 394 threes last year were taken with no defender within 4 feet and a healthy 137 of those (35% of all his threes) were taken with no defender within 6 feet. For comparison, Isaiah Thomas was able to take only 86 of his 646, just 13.3% of his threes with no defender within 6 feet.
Wide-open threes are MUCH easier 'makes' than tightly guarded threes. Thomas hit his wide-open threes at a big fat 52.3% last year. But he got so much defensive attention that he rarely was that wide open.
Kyrie, for comparison, was able to take 105 of his 441 threes, or 24%, with no defender within 6 feet. He made those at a solid 41.9% clip.
Now, Kyrie did shoot consistently very well even with a defender in close. He took 33% of his 3PT shots with a defender within 4 feet and still hit them at a solid 40.7% clip. He only had to take 12 threes all year with a defender within 2 feet. He made 25% of those.
Isaiah, though, clearly commanded a TON more defensive attention last year. He took
a full half of his 3PT shots, 49.7%, with a defender within 4 feet. He hit them at a decent 34.7%, but that is obviously a lot lower than his shots when less tightly guarded and that dragged his overall 3PT% down. He had a defender within 2 feet on 40 of his threes, which like Kyrie, he also hit at a 25% rate.
19.5% of Kyrie's threes last year were taken from the corners (which are shorter). He hit those at a 38.4% clip.
Isaiah took 14.2% of his threes from the corner, where he hit them at a 47% clip.
Hopefully this wall of information helps clue folks in that it's not as simple as saying who has the higher FG% to tell who the better shooter is.
Scoring efficiency is much simpler. Thomas has been very clearly the more efficient scorer up to this point in their careers.
Topic: Kyrie plays a much safer style than IT (Read 8295 times)