Young’s off ball movement will determine avg or star path

[benhillboy]

On 8/10/2018 at 9:34 AM, RedDawg#8 said:

I think one thing to keep in mind and consider is that Steph was/is a SG. That was his position at Davidson, he was a dead eye shooter Korver-esque and lacked the b-ball skill to create his own shot. When he started to get NBA hype is when he dedicated himself to learning how to play PG becasue that would likely be his position in the pros.

Fast forward to the NBA, it was Mark Jackson who further developed his PG skills and finished rounding out his game. But Kerr comes in and switches Steph back to more of an off guard....

I wished more people realized this.  I had to explain this to a head writer at SBNation.        

[nathan2331]

 

 

Young has a long way to go in his development. At this stage, I'd rather see him work on his NBA primary PG skills.  The off-ball stuff can come over the next few seasons. For now, let's just see if he can get to an above average NBA starter. I'm not saying he can't, but today we can comfortably say he has a lot of on the job learning to do. 

 

I think the best thing for any point guard is to learn both at the same time. Even as the lead guard, he won't have the ball in his hands 100% of the time. He needs to learn how to function whenever the ball is in someone else's hands. The better he gets at cutting or getting open out of off-ball screens the better our offense can function in the future.

[JTB]

2 hours ago, nathan2331 said:

 

 

 

 

I think the best thing for any point guard is to learn both at the same time. Even as the lead guard, he won't have the ball in his hands 100% of the time. He needs to learn how to function whenever the ball is in someone else's hands. The better he gets at cutting or getting open out of off-ball screens the better our offense can function in the future.

Also to add....And I know he hasn’t played one second in a real nba game but that dude Trae has one great looking jump shot! Like there’s nothing to work on in terms of form or range ....I believe he is going to transition his shooting no problem. It’s all about his confidence at this point on his shot and he will get more comfortable as the games come more than likely 

But adding that just because once he learns off ball movement (assuming he’s not great at it now) to go a long with that jumper....MAN OH MAN! ....he’s going to rock Philips Arena!

in my eyes he can already get his shot off in iso pretty much whenever he want to and pierce mentioned that in the summer league but no doubt he should work on everything until he perfects it.

[AHF]

9 hours ago, nathan2331 said:

 

I think the best thing for any point guard is to learn both at the same time. Even as the lead guard, he won't have the ball in his hands 100% of the time. He needs to learn how to function whenever the ball is in someone else's hands. The better he gets at cutting or getting open out of off-ball screens the better our offense can function in the future.

Agreed.  While off the ball work shouldn't be his primary focus, he needs to know better than to do the Russell Westbrook "I'm standing around with no purpose" crap when he doesn't hold the ball.

[macdaddy]

Young will have the ball a lot but certainly needs to move effectively without.  It's interesting no one is bringing this up with Doncic.   He's not going to be controlling the ball.  They have a PG.   

[AHF]

2 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

Young will have the ball a lot but certainly needs to move effectively without.  It's interesting no one is bringing this up with Doncic.   He's not going to be controlling the ball.  They have a PG.   

Doncic will both control the ball and play off the ball on different possessions.  He did both in Euroleague as well so while there will be a lot of areas of transition pains for him I don't expect this to be a big one.  

[nathan2331]

Young will have the ball a lot but certainly needs to move effectively without.  It's interesting no one is bringing this up with Doncic.   He's not going to be controlling the ball.  They have a PG.   

It's not an issue unique to Trae. Pretty much any guard coming into the league should improve their movement off the ball in order to avoid looking like a statue whenever the ball leaves their hands. When you consider the volume scoring potential Trae brings, he'll be able to get a lot better looks if he can get them running off screens or other off-ball motion. I'd say improving his finishing inside the arc is more important along with his defense, but these are all things that can be worked on at the same time. Trae seems to be very self aware of his game (which surprised me a lot) so I'm optimistic he'll figure things out. I don't expect everything to come to him immediately, but so long as he's shows some growth in different areas I'll be fine.

[benhillboy]

On 8/12/2018 at 9:45 PM, AHF said:

Agreed.  While off the ball work shouldn't be his primary focus, he needs to know better than to do the Russell Westbrook "I'm standing around with no purpose" crap when he doesn't hold the ball.

One of the numerous reasons I can’t watch that dude.  I think the Thunder look to acquire players who are too afraid to take him to task about going through motions on defense to hunt rebounds or making his team play 4 on 5 when he doesn’t have the rock.  Dennis probably would if he cared about that type of stuff.

[JTB]

On 8/17/2018 at 1:37 PM, benhillboy said:

One of the numerous reasons I can’t watch that dude.  I think the Thunder look to acquire players who are too afraid to take him to task about going through motions on defense to hunt rebounds or making his team play 4 on 5 when he doesn’t have the rock.  Dennis probably would if he cared about that type of stuff.

Going to be interesting when Dennis and Westbrook are on the floor at the same time 

[AHF]

On 8/17/2018 at 0:37 PM, benhillboy said:

One of the numerous reasons I can’t watch that dude.  I think the Thunder look to acquire players who are too afraid to take him to task about going through motions on defense to hunt rebounds or making his team play 4 on 5 when he doesn’t have the rock.  Dennis probably would if he cared about that type of stuff.

In addition to the general lack of a smart scheme on offense, this is another tick in the "I'm glad Billy Donovan isn't our coach" box for me.  

[benhillboy]

On 8/20/2018 at 10:51 AM, AHF said:

In addition to the general lack of a smart scheme on offense, this is another tick in the "I'm glad Billy Donovan isn't our coach" box for me.  

He’s clearly shown he’s a mediocre NBA coach.  Makes the recruiting job he did at Florida to get all those NBA-prep players in such a short span that more impressive though.  I give him a little credit for how efficient Steven Adams is with no individual offensive skills.  

And Mo Cheeks has a “respectable” NBA resume both playing and coaching (.492 winning % as a HC) but he just doesn’t strike me as a strong lead assistant.  As a 5-Time All-Defender and career .523 shooter I see none of those influences on Westbrook (amazingly 0 All-Defensive selections, .435 shooter.). 

[AHF]

7 minutes ago, benhillboy said:

He’s clearly shown he’s a mediocre NBA coach.  Makes the recruiting job he did at Florida to get all those NBA-prep players in such a short span that more impressive though.  I give him a little credit for how efficient Steven Adams is with no individual offensive skills.  

And Mo Cheeks has a “respectable” NBA resume both playing and coaching (.492 winning % as a HC) but he just doesn’t strike me as a strong lead assistant.  As a 5-Time All-Defender and career .523 shooter I see none of those influences on Westbrook (amazingly 0 All-Defensive selections, .435 shooter.). 

Nothing is more important than the ability to recruit in college.  Got to be wary about relying on top recruiters to make the leap to the NBA.