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Lonnie’s always had a great stroke. Because of where he picked for his one and done, he was a target of the defense in a way he never would have been at KY. It was in most of his draft profiles that he pretty much just needed to work on his shot selection, and I think that has been shown in his play.
nah it’s physical. He’s bad at finishing through contact. Some of those exercisesQuote:
Originally Posted by J_Paco
in this video should help him with that.
Walker's 6-3.75 barefoot measurement has always seemed about right, but White's 6-3.25 measurement never did. He's always looked and played bigger and stronger than his listing.
I wouldn't read too much into the league's supposed enforcement of real barefoot heights being listed before last season. Some clearly still messed around, like the Raptors listing Gasol as 6-11 and Ibaka as 7-0.
That's why I made up the term non liability defender. This league has went about as far as possible to curtail or outlaw defense and between that and what you mentioned, to go deep in the playoffs it's exceedingly difficult to get away with liabilities in significant roles unless they're elite offensive players.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sugus
Sure, the Heat did it in a unique setup, but Herro and to a lesser extent Robinson were exposed in the Finals, as James repeatedly abused them on switches and in transition.
Short of lucking into a superstar, the best chance a team in the Spurs predicament (small/non glamour market that refuses to tank) has of being sustainably good, is assembling a core full of players who have to earn their keep, grow together (continuity + likely chemistry generally = playing hard and unselfish) and may not be exceptional, but are well rounded enough to function as a cohesive unit on both ends. Basically, the Raptoth of the past 4 years.
and then he went back to the bench
Yeah, I posted this in the other thread, but after that game, he went on to play 12 minutes, the lowest out of any Spurs players that day. The mysteries of Pop :spinQuote:
Originally Posted by spurraider21
Them there some BIG dogsQuote:
Originally Posted by ace3g
Yeah, knowing that he’s a big human, you can understand how big they are.Quote:
Originally Posted by GAustex
The sad thing about huge dog breeds is that they don’t live long.
Lonnie has really delivered given the amount of touches. I think he’ll more touches in the 2nd unit when White returns.
Yeah, Patty's been great as the 6th man and our sparkplug off the bench but that should be Lonnie's role if/when Derrick returns.Quote:
Originally Posted by John B
I don't see White starting at this point. He's going to have to be on restricted minutes for at least this year if the team can afford it, and the second unit desperately needs a lead guard. With Vassell playing well enough to warrant 10th-man minutes even in a healthy rotation, White coming off the bench just makes the most sense.
Murray, Mills
Walker, White
DeRozan, Vassell
Johnson, Gay
Aldridge, Poeltl
That looks pretty clearly like SA's 10-man rotation barring trades.
I agree with White while he gets back to 100%. Yet Walker in the starting lineup seems to be limited in touches. He’s shown in the absence of Demar that he can score quick, and he is not even a finish product yet. He needs touches to develop, get used to scoring, being a go to guy. He gets that with the 2nd unit, prepare him if ever Demar leaves.Quote:
Originally Posted by Chinook
Lonnie is the guy with the highest upside among our youth (with the possible exception of Samanic, who still looks far from reaching his potential). If he puts it all together, he could be an all-star, IMO.
franchise player. He's the only one with that kind of potential. He can become a legitimate first optionQuote:
Originally Posted by Uriel
What I want to see more of, from Lonnie, is ball-handling. Not just in terms of playmaking, as we've seen so far, but possessions where he's tasked with running sets, running PnRs, and just putting his handle to the test of NBA defenses. Right now, it's far too easy for him to take a lightning bolt drive into the paint, quick dribble, two steps, and just jump into the hoop and score. I would really like for him to develop that consistency, patience, and determination that being a primary ballhandler entails, though. It'd help his overall game, learning patience and having the game slow down to his personal speed, and would also make him more confident in his role in the team and "authority" in terms of taking over games.
Just wishful thinking - we've seen plenty already from him this season. But to truly break out into a star, he can't be constantly depending on secondary penetration and a non-set defense, nor outside shooting. He's got to be able to handle (eventually) a late-game, 1-on-1, score-or-go-home kind of situation before he can truly rise as a first option. Hopefully Pop makes it a point of emphasis, just like he's clearly making it a point of emphasis to improve his man-to-man defense by tasking him to D up the other team's scorer.
I always thought KJ & White were the guys & that because Lonnie struggled with team defense (In particular switching) & how timid he was, but he's getting more assertive & it's good see. It'd be good to see him take more 3's: I've never seen a 40% 3 point shooter pass up so many open looks.Quote:
Originally Posted by RC_Drunkford
I have a take on Lonnie that I won't share because I don't want to be called a Debbie Downer. :lol It's time to be supportive, tbh.
I'm sure everybody regrets not being able to read your take.Quote:
Originally Posted by DAF86
I don't like to be too up or down. Balance is required. Whatcha got?Quote:
Originally Posted by DAF86
It is more sensible than your take on Bertans, tbh. :lol Supported by metrics, at least, tbh.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Body
that's actually called usage rateQuote:
Originally Posted by Sugus
Yeah, basically. Isn't usg rate though, just the amount of time you're holding the ball? I don't necessarily want for Lonnie to hog the ball all that much more (and he wouldn't be able to do it even if he wanted to, once DD gets back); I want him to start focusing on creating his own offense and involving others in it, being the initiator of plays (even if it's a simple PnR or PnP with LMA), that sort of stuff. Whatever it's called, I want him doing that :lolQuote:
Originally Posted by RC_Drunkford
Shoot it, Daffy, tbh. You get a free pass after the Marfan Demigod predictions :lolQuote:
Originally Posted by DAF86
No, usage rate is the percentage of possessions a player ends with a shot, turnover, or FT attempts. 20% is average, and ball-dominant stars are usually in the 30s. Lonnie is at 20.3% on the season, but put up a 23.7 against OC, equal to DeRozan's 23.7 average for the season.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sugus
For more details, DeRozan's USG% was 27.9% two years ago, 26.3% last year, and 23.7% so far this season. Aldridge: 26.9, 23.4, 24.4.
The team average for USG% will be over 20% because players miss games, so Lonnie's 20.3 this season is actually a bit below average. I haven't done a thorough analysis on USG% for these 3 seasons, but it definitely appears that it was very top-heavy two years ago (DeRozan and Aldridge), much less so last season, and even less so now.
It's not a perfect proxy for ball dominance, of course. Last night I saw several possessions down the stretch where Murray and Aldridge played a two-man game, and the ones where Aldridge shot the ball wouldn't count towards anyone else's USG%, even though Murray handled the ball a lot that possession and nobody else touched it. Still, USG% is the best proxy I can find for that.
Lonnie needs to improve his man-to-man defense. I don't think he makes his guy "feel" him enough. It might be due to his size, but still.
The year Walker was drafted, Donovan Mitchell of the Jazz was asked which drafted player would be as good as he turned out to be. He said, Walker.
Fascinating, didn't know that. Yeah, let's get that usage rate up, Lonnie. I'd love him to be something like, 25, but again, I don't know if this is the year we'll be able to see it consistently from Lonnie, simply because of the personnel around him. I think we're now a year away from Lonnie's true breakout season. We'll see...Quote:
Originally Posted by Seventyniner
I liked that he was fighting better through screens these last couple of games, but there's a lot to be desired still. I think a part of the "problem" as well, is Pop's fixation with putting Lonnie on the other team's best offensive player (he was regularly checking SGA yesterday, for example). A baffling move to me, since Keldon is the obvious choice as far as man-to-man; but I can see the angle that Pop wants Lonnie to be great on both ends, and kind of "throws him into the fire" by putting him on that defensive task. We should see improvements over time, but it's not too pretty right now.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dejounte
Watching his highlights he kinda reminds me of a Short Sean Elliott - As far as his development I think he is on point he was brought in at a young age with the understanding that he had a lot of things he had to work on. I am just glad that he is doing what comes easy for him which is getting baskets he will be instant offense....I really would like for him to be the first our second main offensive threat for the Second Unit like Manu.
The only thing that he needs to really work on is his defense if he wants to be considered a Good player he needs to do much better ie. fighting over screens. I do think he is trying and he is doing better, but he will never be Keldon or Vassell he gives you what they can't though which is instant baskets hence I think they complete each other.
Lonnie is a terrible defender. He's Bryn Forbes level bad. His defensive rating is worse than Aldridge's
Are the coaches trying to turn IV into Matt Bonner? Sort of joking but he plays like him in the sense of desperately trying to avoid mistakes on defense while never fouling, while focusing on three pointers. Obviously, this could all be his own doing. But I really want him to do well. And he isn’t confident trying to stretch his game it feels like.
Eh, like I'm not defending this overall quality of defense, but comparing his DRtg to that of a big isn't really illuminating.Quote:
Originally Posted by RC_Drunkford
I could've mentioned 13 other players off our roster to compare it toQuote:
Originally Posted by Chinook
I am going to give him one more year if he doesn’t show some pretty substantial improvements then I’ll be in the “Trade Walker Camp”. Still have hope he will be like DJ, Luka, and the light bulb suddenly turns on.
Just saying that DRtg is particular is a relatively useless stat when talking about perimeter defenders. Like LMA doesn't look good, but he's clustered with basically everyone on the team in that 109-113 range. I think what would be more helpful would be to point out how awful Walker's on-offs are.Quote:
Originally Posted by RC_Drunkford