Youngsters progress

Discussion in 'Detroit Pistons General Discussion' started by mikhail1973, Feb 20, 2008.

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    mikhail1973 Super Moderator

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    With February rolling in I wanted to take a look at the progress of the young Pistons. From the games watched and discussions here, it looked as if Stuckey and AJ are improving, while J-Max and AA had hit the wall somewhat. Well, here are the numbers by month:

    [IMG]

    The numbers support this assumption. Stuckey's numbers are rising, especially after January where he looked lost. He is being more assertive, gets to the line more, and shooting a higher percentage on his shots. Amir is gaining confidence, and his defense is improving with more meaningful playing time. Maxiell admitted to being tired, and this could be seen in his numbers decreasing - the blocks are down as well as points and field goal percentage. His rebounding, however, has been consistent, and his defense was good when used in proper situations. He will struggle against bigger opponents due to his height. Hopefully with reduction in minutes and the All-Star break, he'll regain some of his hops. Teams are also adjusting to his offensive game, so he needs to work on different things to become more dangerous there. AA's offensive game has really been non-existent as of late. He keeps jacking up 3-pointers, even though his percentage is atrocious. I'd rather see him get closer to the basket, and attack the basket a bit more, as he used to do earlier on the year. His defense, however, is there. He is not a shutdown defender yet, but he was able and make an impact on the defensive end, slowing down the opposition.
    There are still 29 games to go in the season and this is what I'd love to see from these four:
    Hot Rod - just keep doing what he's been doing in February, keep improving
    AJ - keep improving on defense, learn to be a bit more patient on defense and that would cut down on all the fouls he gets called for. Need to get stronger on the defensive glass as it has been a problem, especially when he is in together with Maxiell. Also needs to work on his free throws. He should be at least around 70%.
    AA - a bit more offensive continuity, and work on that jump shot to be more consistent. But it is his defense that will keep him on the roster
    J-Max - looks like he'll have to work harder in the offseason to be able to last during the season. I know it is only his 3rd season and he has never played this much in his career, but this is NBA and he has to be able to produce. Maybe talk to Rip a bit to get some ideas. Also needs to get better with his post moves and become a better defensive rebounder. That will be the key to his further development.
    mikhail1973, Feb 20, 2008
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  2. ggazoo69 Member+

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    Nice work, mikhail. Wow, AA's FG percentage is abysmal.
    ggazoo69, Feb 20, 2008
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  3. st8ofmind Member+

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    Thanks, that is excellent.

    Anyway to get PER's for those guys by month?

    Gracias.
    st8ofmind, Feb 20, 2008
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  4. TaS Member+

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    I think for clarity, that we should also keep in mind what each player's eFG% is for the entire season so far.

    AJ: .540
    JM: .516
    AA: .442
    RS: .359


    Affalo has shot poorly lately, but on the season, he's still way ahead of Stuckey.

    And for comparison, here are what the other scrubs shoot-

    Murray: .435
    Hunter: .354
    Hayes: .506
    Herrmann: .420

    Also something to consider. A big reason that our rooks' FG% is hurt is because of the amount of shots in close that they get blocked.

    Affalo gets blocked 13% of the time! And most of those are the easiest shots. So that alone could take his percentage down by almost 10%.

    Stuckey, Maxiell, and Johnson each get blocked on 9% of their attempts.

    For comparison, Dyess and Sheed get 2% of their shots blocked.


    This is one of those things that should go away with experience. They need to figure out when they are likely to be blocked and develop defenses against it.
    TaS, Feb 20, 2008
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  5. st8ofmind Member+

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    While that may be true Stuckey is trending way up and Afflalo down.

    It's nice to see that Afflalo can step up at times like he did vs LAL.
    st8ofmind, Feb 20, 2008
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  6. TaS Member+

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    AA is clearly going through a shooting slump. When you play D that hard and you don't shoot very often, that can happen.

    Stuckey's % is improving because he has been able to get inside a ton. He has also been noticably better on his mid-rangers too, but they are a small % of his attempts.

    Maxiell is trending the wrong direction too. Let's hope that he puts an end to that real soon.
    TaS, Feb 20, 2008
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  7. st8ofmind Member+

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    Stuckey's been getting inside from day 1, he just not getting spalding tattoo's on his forehead as often. And as you said his J is starting to fall.

    AA's turnovers and spaz outs are more concerning to me than missed shots.
    st8ofmind, Feb 20, 2008
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  8. TaS Member+

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    I'm sort of looking at Afflalo the same way I looked at Delfino. His form is good, so if he gets comfortable, I think his shot will start going down again.

    The only troubling thing that I notice is that he has a slow release (again, sort of like Delfino). It gives the defense more time to bother him. Changing something like that at this point would be next to impossible. The bottom line is that he just needs to hit the wide open J's like he was doing earlier in the year.
    TaS, Feb 20, 2008
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  9. st8ofmind Member+

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    i agree, my biggest beef with AA is...

    He needs to stop trying to get his own, it didn't work at the highest levels of college it isn't going to work in the league.
    st8ofmind, Feb 20, 2008
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    mikhail1973 Super Moderator

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    I think we need some Buddah input on AA.
    mikhail1973, Feb 20, 2008
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  11. st8ofmind Member+

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    Why? (I apparently need 6 characters)


    I have no qualms with AA, I think he just needs to "know his role", at times he seems to try to play faster than he is capable of, but occasionally and suprisingly can pull that off.
    st8ofmind, Feb 20, 2008
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    mikhail1973 Super Moderator

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    He sure does get ahead of himself at times. I guess the game is much faster at this leveland he's trying to compensate. But it all started to come to fruition when his playing time started to get cut, when Stuckey returned from his injury.
    mikhail1973, Feb 20, 2008
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  13. buddahfan Retired from Forum

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    I don't understand Hayes at .506 unless that is his adjusted FG%.

    His unadjusted numbers are

    Nov - 46.2
    Dec - 44.1
    Jan - 37.7
    Feb - 45.5

    YTD - 43.3

    As far as AA goes he has the same time frame for all rookies. You have to wait an additional 2 years before judging his NBA productivity.

    :hoops:

    Jarvis Hayes - Detroit Pistons - Career Statistics - NBA - Yahoo! Sports

    :hoops:
    buddahfan, Feb 20, 2008
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  14. TaS Member+

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    It's adjusted (eFG% vs. FG%).

    Hayes takes and makes a lot of 3's.
    TaS, Feb 20, 2008
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  15. FreshPrince22 Member+

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    82games.com has Stuckey @ 39.5% eFG%. Still not good, but he had an attrocious 10-12 games in a row there that killed his percentage.
    FreshPrince22, Feb 20, 2008
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  16. TaS Member+

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    You're right. I think I just transposed the #s when I typed them. (Sorry Rodney).
    TaS, Feb 20, 2008
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  17. buddahfan Retired from Forum

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    Stuckey and AA need to work big time on their 3 point shots this coming summer.

    :hoops:
    buddahfan, Feb 20, 2008
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    mikhail1973 Super Moderator

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    I think that would go for any jumper beyond the free throw line. They need to work on that quite a bit. And AA needs to slow down on offense a bit.
    mikhail1973, Feb 20, 2008
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  19. st8ofmind Member+

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    that should teach you to cut and paste from now on... :)
    st8ofmind, Feb 20, 2008
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  20. TaS Member+

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    I hate to blame things on my intern, but that was really her mistake.
    TaS, Feb 20, 2008
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