My Case for Tyreke as our 2nd best player this year

Its been 2 preaseaon games, he's only played 20mpg, and I'm already getting fired up. It's preseason bruh. I know. But I've paid close attention to these last two games when Tyreke has played. In the preseason, I look for trends and schemes. I look at who initiates the offense, what sets are run, how the defense works, as opposed to individual numbers. And in just two games I've picked up on some promising things.

We learned last year that Tyreke could go supernova when he finally got the chance to start, and I think he'll show us more of the same. I mean last year he was starting with Roberts, Eric, Davis, and Stiemsma. Replace Stiemsma and BRob with Asik and Jrue, and I don't see how he doesn't benefit even more.

But let me go into a little more depth. When Tyreke was putting up 20/6/6 last year, Davis was putting up 27/10/3. We learned last year that their two man game is nearly unstoppable. Tyreke would take it to the rim at will, and Davis would be the beneficiary of a pass or clean up the miss. At this time, Davis really started exploring his offensive game more too. He would be Iso'd often and get doubled. This would free up Tyreke's elite slashing game. Those two worked it from the inside and outside. Davis shot over 80% at the rim at that time, and that's where the majority of his looks came from.

Now imagine a world where Davis and Tyreke didn't have to play 2 on 5. Jrue and Eric contort defenses way better. And Asik is a sneaky good shot creator by virtue of his screen setting. Tyreke, and all our guards for that matter, are going to benefit a ton by the brutal screens Asik sets. Now Monty has gone on record saying he finally trusted Tyreke towards the end of last year and gave him more freedom. He has also said that Holiday will be playing off the ball more this year.

So picture Tyreke bringing the ball up the floor a lot more. We know he isn't a threat to catch and shoot, so its natural the ball will gravitate towards his hands more. But this is good in three fold.

Getting to the Rim

Firstly, Tyreke is simply the best among the starters at getting to the rim. Dribble penetration is a key facet of our offense, and his innate ability to get to the rim usually leads to three favorable outcomes. Either basket, a foul, or a pass when the defense collapses.

Taking a closer look, these three things are exactly what are happening. Sure he is a solid 6/13 on his FGA, but the more important thing is that he is drawing fouls at an absurdly high rate. His free throw rate currently sits at 69.2% (Durant's was 47.7% last year). The number isn't what's important here. Its the trend of drawing fouls. Sample size is tiny, but defenses have a tough time because of all the threats that surround Tyreke. Because if you contest him well enough, he'll just pass it to the other guys. He's averaging 7 assists per game, in only 20 min each. Again, its not the number, its the looks he's generating. I took a look at exactly what was happening with his assists:

Against OKC:

* Davis Dunk

* Davis Jumper

* Davis Layup

* Davis Layup

* Babbit Corner 3

* Davis And 1

* Davis Layup.

Total points generated: 16

See the two man game? No surprise Davis put up 28 points on 10-15 shooting.

Against Washington:

* Jrue shot at rim

* Gordon Corner 3

* Asik shot at rim

* Rivers Corner 3

* AD dunk

* Asik shot at rim

* Asik shot at rim

Total points generated: 16

My biggest takeaway from this was that a Tyreke assist either leads to an attempt at the rim, or a 3 point shot (all corners this time, usually drive and kicks). There was only one midrange jumper out of 14 assists. He's generating efficient looks.

His teammates

Secondly, Jrue and Eric are elite spot up shooters, and exactly the players we want on the perimeter receiving the pass. They shot 47% and 45% on spot ups respectively last year. Not only are they great shooters, but the are huge threats off the dribble and as dribble penetrators themselves. They can also put the ball on the floor and make plays for others. Its a dangerous situation for opposing defenses because they can't cheat at all. I was planning on using GIFs in this section to show the X's and O's of it, but I haven't had time to comb through the film yet. Maybe I'll make a separate post on it. Sorry!


Kobe Assists

Finally, a huge advantage of Tyreke being the main ball handler is the Kobe assists he generates. An incredible amount of his misses are retained for second chance opportunities. Last night for example, he went 3-7. Of on his 4 misses, here is what happened:

* AD offensive rebound and putback
* Anderson offensive rebound and tip in
* Washington defensive rebound.
* Asik offensive rebound, play restart, Tyreke layup.

On 3 out of 4 misses, we secured an offensive rebound and had a 100% conversion rate. That's 6 points generated and a 75% retention rate. Heck lets take it back to the previous game against OKC. Tyreke went 3-6, and missed 3 shots. Here is what happened on those misses.

* Asik offensive rebound leads to Davis freethrows (makes both)
* Davis offensive rebound and tip in
* Asik offensive rebound leads to Tyreke assisting on Davis layup.

Total points generated: 6

Again, a 100% conversion rate on second chance points, and this time a 100% retention rate too.

Don't expect numbers this high in the regular season, but do expect them to be higher than usual with offensive rebounders like Asik, Davis, and Anderson sharing that floor.

So how may points is Tyreke creating anyway?

In both contests, Tyreke has scored 10 points himself, generated 6 off of offensive rebounds, and 16 off assists. That's 32 points Tyreke is responsible for each game in just 20 minutes of play. Note, this doesn't include passes that lead to free throw attempts.

This just shows me he is going to be invaluable to our offense and that he's going to have more room to go wild. Gone are the days where Greg Stiemsma stares at the ball instead of rebounding it. Here are the days where the trio of Davis, Asik, and Anderson gobble up offensive rebounds.

Tempering expectations

As I said in the title, this is a complete overreaction. Its the preseason, and both opponents were lacking their stars. Do I expect him to replicate this night in night out? Nah. But his play closing out the year showed me the level he could play at, and gives me hope for this season. Having better players around him really opens up his game and his value comes from more than just box score stats, which for good measure he's grabbing 5 boards a game, and managed to rack up 5 steals last night.

He is James harden minus the 3 point shot bUT better in defense and assists

You can make a better prediction than that lol. You basically said they are utterly different. Compare him to a poor man's Wade or a Iggy type. Anyways, at 100%, Evans can easily be argued as the second best player on the team.

If you took Tyreke off the board, do don't know who else I can make the case for. I think he is clearly our 2nd best. The better debate would be: Who is number 3?

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Originally Posted by Big-EZ

You can make a better prediction than that lol. You basically said they are utterly different. Compare him to a poor man's Wade or a Iggy type. Anyways, at 100%, Evans can easily be argued as the second best player on the team.

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Lol right I thought about it after I wrote it. I meant to say that he can get to the rim like harden at ease but is better in other important categories. If he had a 3 point shot he would be unstoppable

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Originally Posted by tthier2

He is James harden minus the 3 point shot bUT better in defense and assists

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....also minus the star calls.

First off, Kudos on the post. Talk about red meat to rally the base... Nice dude!

2nd, I love it!. We need an identity and I believe that outside of AD, Tyreke is our next best asset in that regard. I firmly believe that him starting is a good thing and I believe that he should be the primary ballhandler a plurality of the time.

Tyreke gets to the basket, draws the defender and just throws it up knowing that he's suckered in Davis' man so he can grab the rebound putback.


I love it when this happens.

Great post Kumar.

I love Tyreke's game, and while Asik provides the "rim protector" that we need... he's very smart and timely with those cuts to the basket, and its great to see that our ball handlers are actually looking for him.

We can average 105+ PPG this season... we just have to defend.

Another plus of having Tyreke handle a majority of the point guard duties with both Jrue and Tyreke on the wings is that it keeps the other team's SF further away from the basket making it harder from them to defensive rebound and help down low. I'll take Asik and Davis 2-2 on the offensive glass any day of the week.

Great post as usual Kumar. We all appreciate your frequent and quality contributions to the forum. Got me even more excited for the season to start!

I haven't been able to see any games so far, but offense was never an issue. Matter of fact, that 3 guard lineup is perfect on that end if you ask me. Although, I'd expect during the season, teams will back off and go under screens and concede jump shots when he has the ball.

The question would be how did the defense look? We're rotations good? Any try to post Reke up?

Very intelligent OP. I agree completely. It's why Reke is one of my favorite players. Especially because unlike harden he doesn't play for the foul and tries to bulldozer his way to the basket.

tyreke about to average 18-8-6

I have to see the offensive results it generates. RPM hated Tyreke Evans last year. He is a really inefficient player in terms of box score statistics but those tend to lie about players such as him.

What you mentioned in the post makes a lot of sense and he gets to the rim a lot. He sucks at finishing when he gets there though and his jumper is abysmal which allows teams to play pick and roll coverage very loosely against him and of course he is a total liability of the ball is in anyone else's hands which can be a problem with Gordon and Jrue. However, we have the offensive rebounders and spot up shooters to make them pay if he consistently gets into the teeth of the defense and his chemistry with Davis is remarkable.

I can buy it if the offensive results are there this year and his numbers translate into +/- impact. Otherwise I prefer Ryan Anderson and Omer Asik because they are both elite in their areas of expertise.

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Originally Posted by HornetGuru

tyreke about to average 18-8-6

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No he won't. Stop being a crazy person Guru. Lol.

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Originally Posted by LOLLakers

I have to see the offensive results it generates. RPM hated Tyreke Evans last year. He is a really inefficient player in terms of box score statistics but those tend to lie about players such as him.

What you mentioned in the post makes a lot of sense and he gets to the rim a lot. He sucks at finishing when he gets there though and his jumper is abysmal which allows teams to play pick and roll coverage very loosely against him and of course he is a total liability of the ball is in anyone else's hands which can be a problem with Gordon and Jrue. However, we have the offensive rebounders and spot up shooters to make them pay if he consistently gets into the teeth of the defense and his chemistry with Davis is remarkable.

I can buy it if the offensive results are there this year and his numbers translate into +/- impact. Otherwise I prefer Ryan Anderson and Omer Asik because they are both elite in their areas of expertise.

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He had one down year finishing at the rim. Last year was a 10% drop for him in FG% within 3ft of the basket. I don't think it's fair to say he is horrible at finishing at the rim when it was just one year and every other one he's been pretty darn solid finishing.

Also, omg on the +/-.

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Originally Posted by LOLLakers

I have to see the offensive results it generates. RPM hated Tyreke Evans last year. He is a really inefficient player in terms of box score statistics but those tend to lie about players such as him.

What you mentioned in the post makes a lot of sense and he gets to the rim a lot. He sucks at finishing when he gets there though and his jumper is abysmal which allows teams to play pick and roll coverage very loosely against him and of course he is a total liability of the ball is in anyone else's hands which can be a problem with Gordon and Jrue. However, we have the offensive rebounders and spot up shooters to make them pay if he consistently gets into the teeth of the defense and his chemistry with Davis is remarkable.

I can buy it if the offensive results are there this year and his numbers translate into +/- impact. Otherwise I prefer Ryan Anderson and Omer Asik because they are both elite in their areas of expertise.

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He sucks at finishing??? You must have the wrong guy

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Originally Posted by notime

He sucks at finishing??? You must have the wrong guy

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No. Last year Tyreke had quite a bit of trouble finishing. But that is not common for him.

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Originally Posted by Mythrol

No. Last year Tyreke had quite a bit of trouble finishing. But that is not common for him.

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The year before that wasn't he like 2nd in the entire NBA though?

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Originally Posted by Kumar

Its been 2 preaseaon games, he's only played 20mpg, and I'm already getting fired up. It's preseason bruh. I know. But I've paid close attention to these last two games when Tyreke has played. In the preseason, I look for trends and schemes. I look at who initiates the offense, what sets are run, how the defense works, as opposed to individual numbers. And in just two games I've picked up on some promising things.

We learned last year that Tyreke could go supernova when he finally got the chance to start, and I think he'll show us more of the same. I mean last year he was starting with Roberts, Eric, Davis, and Stiemsma. Replace Stiemsma and BRob with Asik and Jrue, and I don't see how he doesn't benefit even more.

But let me go into a little more depth. When Tyreke was putting up 20/6/6 last year, Davis was putting up 27/10/3. We learned last year that their two man game is nearly unstoppable. Tyreke would take it to the rim at will, and Davis would be the beneficiary of a pass or clean up the miss. At this time, Davis really started exploring his offensive game more too. He would be Iso'd often and get doubled. This would free up Tyreke's elite slashing game. Those two worked it from the inside and outside. Davis shot over 80% at the rim at that time, and that's where the majority of his looks came from.

Now imagine a world where Davis and Tyreke didn't have to play 2 on 5. Jrue and Eric contort defenses way better. And Asik is a sneaky good shot creator by virtue of his screen setting. Tyreke, and all our guards for that matter, are going to benefit a ton by the brutal screens Asik sets. Now Monty has gone on record saying he finally trusted Tyreke towards the end of last year and gave him more freedom. He has also said that Holiday will be playing off the ball more this year.

So picture Tyreke bringing the ball up the floor a lot more. We know he isn't a threat to catch and shoot, so its natural the ball will gravitate towards his hands more. But this is good in three fold.

Getting to the Rim

Firstly, Tyreke is simply the best among the starters at getting to the rim. Dribble penetration is a key facet of our offense, and his innate ability to get to the rim usually leads to three favorable outcomes. Either basket, a foul, or a pass when the defense collapses.

Taking a closer look, these three things are exactly what are happening. Sure he is a solid 6/13 on his FGA, but the more important thing is that he is drawing fouls at an absurdly high rate. His free throw rate currently sits at 69.2% (Durant's was 47.7% last year). The number isn't what's important here. Its the trend of drawing fouls. Sample size is tiny, but defenses have a tough time because of all the threats that surround Tyreke. Because if you contest him well enough, he'll just pass it to the other guys. He's averaging 7 assists per game, in only 20 min each. Again, its not the number, its the looks he's generating. I took a look at exactly what was happening with his assists:

Against OKC:

* Davis Dunk

* Davis Jumper

* Davis Layup

* Davis Layup

* Babbit Corner 3

* Davis And 1

* Davis Layup.

Total points generated: 16

See the two man game? No surprise Davis put up 28 points on 10-15 shooting.

Against Washington:

* Jrue shot at rim

* Gordon Corner 3

* Asik shot at rim

* Rivers Corner 3

* AD dunk

* Asik shot at rim

* Asik shot at rim

Total points generated: 16

My biggest takeaway from this was that a Tyreke assist either leads to an attempt at the rim, or a 3 point shot (all corners this time, usually drive and kicks). There was only one midrange jumper out of 14 assists. He's generating efficient looks.

His teammates

Secondly, Jrue and Eric are elite spot up shooters, and exactly the players we want on the perimeter receiving the pass. They shot 47% and 45% on spot ups respectively last year. Not only are they great shooters, but the are huge threats off the dribble and as dribble penetrators themselves. They can also put the ball on the floor and make plays for others. Its a dangerous situation for opposing defenses because they can't cheat at all. I was planning on using GIFs in this section to show the X's and O's of it, but I haven't had time to comb through the film yet. Maybe I'll make a separate post on it. Sorry!


Kobe Assists

Finally, a huge advantage of Tyreke being the main ball handler is the Kobe assists he generates. An incredible amount of his misses are retained for second chance opportunities. Last night for example, he went 3-7. Of on his 4 misses, here is what happened:

* AD offensive rebound and putback
* Anderson offensive rebound and tip in
* Washington defensive rebound.
* Asik offensive rebound, play restart, Tyreke layup.

On 3 out of 4 misses, we secured an offensive rebound and had a 100% conversion rate. That's 6 points generated and a 75% retention rate. Heck lets take it back to the previous game against OKC. Tyreke went 3-6, and missed 3 shots. Here is what happened on those misses.

* Asik offensive rebound leads to Davis freethrows (makes both)
* Davis offensive rebound and tip in
* Asik offensive rebound leads to Tyreke assisting on Davis layup.

Total points generated: 6

Again, a 100% conversion rate on second chance points, and this time a 100% retention rate too.

Don't expect numbers this high in the regular season, but do expect them to be higher than usual with offensive rebounders like Asik, Davis, and Anderson sharing that floor.

So how may points is Tyreke creating anyway?

In both contests, Tyreke has scored 10 points himself, generated 6 off of offensive rebounds, and 16 off assists. That's 32 points Tyreke is responsible for each game in just 20 minutes of play. Note, this doesn't include passes that lead to free throw attempts.

This just shows me he is going to be invaluable to our offense and that he's going to have more room to go wild. Gone are the days where Greg Stiemsma stares at the ball instead of rebounding it. Here are the days where the trio of Davis, Asik, and Anderson gobble up offensive rebounds.

Tempering expectations

As I said in the title, this is a complete overreaction. Its the preseason, and both opponents were lacking their stars. Do I expect him to replicate this night in night out? Nah. But his play closing out the year showed me the level he could play at, and gives me hope for this season. Having better players around him really opens up his game and his value comes from more than just box score stats, which for good measure he's grabbing 5 boards a game, and managed to rack up 5 steals last night.

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Great post and analyst.
I love what Tyreke brings to the team and I think Monty held him back last year. He will be given the green light this year and will be a point forward in the LBJ mold allowing Jrue and EG to play off ball. He will be a monster with AD and Omer on court. He is so selfless and is a willing passer. His mid-range shot has improved but getting to the basket and creating fouls will always be his forte. I think he could be All-Star this year and is definitely the #2 on this team.

Last year Tyreke only had a few chances to be the primary ball handler for basically all of his minutes... but there was one fateful night due to injuries where he took the reigns and the result? 41 points, 9 rebounds & 8 assists. Enjoy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YA_R5O2APHg

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Originally Posted by AD23nEG10

Last year Tyreke only had a few chances to be the primary ball handler for basically all of his minutes... but there was one fateful night due to injuries where he took the reigns and the result? 41 points, 9 rebounds & 8 assists. Enjoy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YA_R5O2APHg

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this... tyreke was always a jumpshot from being a top 10 player in the league, but even without one he's still top 30 in my book.

great post, great insight. I agree completely. This thread has me really excited for the season.

Honestly I could care less on Tyreke being the second or third best player on the team, what I care about is how he fits in with the team (more importantly AD, and the good news is he fits in really well.

Kumar you actually pointed that out really well, and if preseason is an idicator he could be well on his way to an all star berth, though if he isn't there due to the number of guys who need their shots on the team, I'd be ok with it.