NBA Week #3
The third week of the season is over and it has been one hell of a ride with wild individual performances(Dame, Giannis, Harden) and lots of injury(Hayward, Middleton, Lowry, Ibaka, Fox, LeVert) and drug violation news(Collins) around the association. Hopefully, two All-Stars Blake Griffin and Paul George will be returning to the court and I am excited to see them playing with their respective teams from now on.
Speaking of individual performances, one of my favorite players, maybe the first, Damian Lillard aka Dame D.O.L.L.A has dropped 60 points against Brooklyn Nets but it was not enough to secure a win for Rip City. At the beginning of the season, he was my MVP candidate and he is playing at MVP Ievel and has no intention to cool down. It will be important especially for the playoff hopes for the Portland Trail Blazers when we factor in the defensive deficiencies they were experiencing.
While I was watching games, he seemed like unstoppable in most of the games and he was playing more efficiently than previous seasons and it seems he can easily get 30 points in any given night. I mentioned his 4th quarter performances in last week’s notes and this week, I want to deep dive into his year-to-year progress in terms of shooting percentages.
After 11 games of the season, Damian Lillard is shooting the ball at career-best 49.8% from the field and 39.3% behind the 3-point line and his offensive responsibility may be higher than ever before. Due to injuries and salary cap/luxury tax problems, Portland is lacking bodies at wing positions and Lillard is averaging 38.5 minutes to carry his team once again through the playoffs. For what it’s worth, that tally is the highest minutes he has played in his entire career and it would be interesting to see how far can he carry that LOAD?
Despite his load, some of his shooting percentages are interestingly high and he is also having a career-season in terms of effective field goal percentage(eFG).
Damian Lillard’s shooting supremacy is often associated with his range. Besides shooting career-high 39.4% from behind the 3-point line, he is also finishing around the rim very well. According to the tracking data of NBA.com, Damian Lillard is converting 71.4% of his attempts near the rim and this mark is also the best for his entire career. It should be noted, his attempts are also increased as a percentage of his total attempts. He is attempting almost one third of his field goal attempts around the rim and he is doing it with an amazing efficiency.
One more thing to mention is both the volume and efficiency of pick and roll plays those Lillard is responsible for. He is only behind Trae Young(15.3 per game) and Kyrie Irving(14.3 per game) in pick and roll ball handler possessions per game with 14.1, but he is extremely efficient for this type of play.
In pick and roll ball handler actions, he is generating whopping 1.35 points per possession and shooting the ball very efficiently, as well. He is leading the league for pick and roll plays both in terms of production and efficiency(69.7% eFG). Apart from last season, his attempts are also increased significantly and he is attempting nearly 30% more pick and rolls than last year.
Last year to this year (in pick and roll actions):
- 10.9 → 14.1 Possessions
- 1.08 → 1.35 Points per Possession
- 47.8% → 58.1% Field Goal
- 55.3% → 69.7% Effective Field Goal
He is more confident this year and if Portland Trail Blazers want to repeat what they have achieved last year, Dame has to do what he does best. He is fearless and it seems he is going to be better than ever.
Discussing the efficiency around the rim, another sharphooter and elite scorer, Devin Booker, has also emerged at this point of the season. He is also having a career-year in terms of percentages and his ability to finish around the rim is a significant addition to his everlasting offensive arsenal. He is the primary reason for Phoenix Suns’ success and my take is the following: he is going to be an All-Star this season. Last week, I watched 3 (and a half) Suns games and Booker had amazed me in every single one of them with his mature play by taking the responsibility especially when the game was on the line.
I noticed he was fiercely driving through the defense and he is pretty comfortable at finishing around the rim without any hesitation. He frequently slides past his defender and it is observable that he was quicker than before. All of a sudden he leaves his defender behind and easily gets the bucket. I checked with his stats and it was good to see it matches up with my takeaways.
He is obviously progressing well and it feels like he is all over the place every time Suns play. During his career, he steadily improved his shot selection and now he is having a breakout year. We all know he is an elite scorer and he can score every time he wants and/or against every player he faces but this year, the responsibility of carrying a team is on his shoulders. At the very early part of the season, Booker seems he is going to thrive under this situation and push his team for the long awaited playoff race.
- Field Goal Percentage: 42.3 → 42.3 → 43.2 → 46.7 → 54.1
- 3-Point Percentage: 34.3 → 36.3 → 38.3 → 32.6 → 51.0
As I previously mentioned, he is at his best level in terms of efficiency near the rim and he does not appear to stop anywhere in the near future. Additionally, after spending last two years as a full-time point guard, he is now playing alongside Ricky Rubio and it resulted with a notable increase in his assisted field goals.
- Last two years, 61.2% and 57.8% of his made 3-points were assisted and interestingly, only 33.8% and 29.5% of his 2-point baskets were assisted.
- This year, despite playing just 10 games, 76.0% of his made 3-points and 48.5% of 2-point baskets were assisted.
It will be essential to see Booker in a more competitive situation and the early signs of improvements across the field tell he can cope with any obstacle that he and Suns will face in the coming weeks of season.
This week I could only mention 2 elite scorers, Damian Lillard and Devin Booker and I hope to continue with more detailed team-wide analysis in the coming posts. One more time, let’s not forget it is just the beginning of the season and we have to be patient before we make powerful claims. After all, it is all about sustainability!
