Working on his Jumper Should NOT be Tyreke's top priority

[MichaelMcNamara]

Richard Jefferson had twice as many dunks as every perimeter player not named Aminu combined. And Aminu figures to be gone, so this team will seriously lack athleticism if it is not added this summer or improved internally.

[Mythrol]

Another small thing - Lou Amundson dunked more times for us than Tyreke Evans and Eric Gordon COMBINED.

Manu freaking Ginobili would have lead our guards in dunks this year.

We have no explosion in the backcourt. Remember, I never said Tyreke shouldn't improve his jumper. I said it should be 3rd on the list. I would love to see him get his explosion back, would love to see him add a post game, and see him add a spot-up three pointer. I just want them in that order. I think Tyreke with that explosion he used to have would be unstoppable. Call it "getting into the best shape of his life", call it "added verticality and quick twitch abilities", whatever - but that would be my top priority. If he comes in next year in the best shape of his life and having added 2-3 inches of hops, and quicker hops at that, I think that would help him the most.

Then, a post up game would open this whole offense up. Then, a spot-up three. So, no - Nobody should "complain" if he added a jumper, and nobody would complain. I dont think anybody ever said that they would.

How much of that is on coaching? I'm curious because no one can deny that Rivers is an amazing dunker. He's shown it since high school. Yet even he had ZERO dunks his first year and only 7 this past year. Tyreke has dunked 10 or more times every year he was in the NBA, but this year he only dunked 4 times. To me it seems like maybe Monty is coaching our guards to conserve energy rather than they are all out of shape.

[durun]

Evans has worked on his outside shooting for the last four of five years without success. Outside shooting has been his weakness before his Memphis Tigers days. I am not sure if he can really improve his mechanics to become an efficient mid-range or deep shooter. He can be a better offensive player by becoming a passer instead of being ball dominant dribbler. He needs to be the team’s third or fourth offensive option. Passing to open teammates will unpack the lane and increase Evans’ scoring efficiency. He needs to play under control and develop better court vision. I have my doubts that Evans will buy into being the third or fourth option on this team. I do not believe he can play without the ball.
Evans has never been an explosive leaper. He is a below the rim player which is not an issue. Evans depends on his strength and his handle to overpower his man. He is not like Rondo who depends on speed and quickness.
Evans was the first option when he and Davis played together. When these two were on the court at the same time, Evans’ attempts exceeded Davis’. Evans had the second most attempts on the team last season. Given the number of minutes played, Evans is a high volume shooter. Evans scores first and distributes second. He is at his individual best as the first option in the open court system. The issue is that some are attempting to create a lineup that is best suited for Evans.
The Pels must build around Davis. Evans is not the best fit because he is a volume shooter. It makes zero sense for him to have more attempts than Davis. Just compare shooting percentages.

[MichaelMcNamara]

How much of that is on coaching? I'm curious because no one can deny that Rivers is an amazing dunker. He's shown it since high school. Yet even he had ZERO dunks his first year and only 7 this past year. Tyreke has dunked 10 or more times every year he was in the NBA, but this year he only dunked 4 times. To me it seems like maybe Monty is coaching our guards to conserve energy rather than they are all out of shape.

I honestly can't answer that. One thing I do know is that Monty has made several comments that Tyreke wasn't in great shape.

As for the dunks - I can't imagine Monty tells them not to dunk (and even if he did, 20-24 yr olds wouldn't listen). Now, could it be the half court sets and the plays that are not conducive to having the space to dunk? I can definitely see that. Also, we don't get a ton of fast breaks, so that hurts.

But there is no doubt Tyreke was less explosive this year. I assume that at first it was because of the ankle, but he came into camp out of shape (or at least not in ideal shape). I keep going back to that attempted dunk in the last game of the year and how pedestrian he looked jumping wise on that attempt. Or the game before when he good have finished with a dunk but he went for a layup on the break instead and Ibaka swatted him.

This years version of Tyreke couldn't have gone out and been as explosive as years past no matter who was coaching him. I want to see him add his old explosiveness to what we saw at the end of last year

[Jabberwalker]

What if we inserted springs or flubber into Gordon's surgically repaired knees?

[GuardianAngel25]

Evans has worked on his outside shooting for the last four of five years without success. Outside shooting has been his weakness before his Memphis Tigers days. I am not sure if he can really improve his mechanics to become an efficient mid-range or deep shooter. He can be a better offensive player by becoming a passer instead of being ball dominant dribbler. He needs to be the team’s third or fourth offensive option. Passing to open teammates will unpack the lane and increase Evans’ scoring efficiency. He needs to play under control and develop better court vision. I have my doubts that Evans will buy into being the third or fourth option on this team. I do not believe he can play without the ball.
Evans has never been an explosive leaper. He is a below the rim player which is not an issue. Evans depends on his strength and his handle to overpower his man. He is not like Rondo who depends on speed and quickness.
Evans was the first option when he and Davis played together. When these two were on the court at the same time, Evans’ attempts exceeded Davis’. Evans had the second most attempts on the team last season. Given the number of minutes played, Evans is a high volume shooter. Evans scores first and distributes second. He is at his individual best as the first option in the open court system. The issue is that some are attempting to create a lineup that is best suited for Evans.
The Pels must build around Davis. Evans is not the best fit because he is a volume shooter. It makes zero sense for him to have more attempts than Davis. Just compare shooting percentages.

I think he has a better chance of fixing his shot than he does all the sudden having better court vision. One thing he needs to fix is not being so wild and looking for the pass a little more. I honestly don't believe Evans has ever really worked on his jumper and spent the time to get his mechanics and form down. I look at someone like Ariza and I think Evans could definitely make a similar type of inprovement who his corner and spot up 3 which would be huge for us and make teams pay. If he can fix his shot then the court will open up so much for him with players sagging off of him less which will give him much more space to make the smart passes and get to the rim.

[UptownFuz504]

Wanna know why Tyreke Evans needs a jumpshot? See John Wall v Pacers. They're leaving him wide open and cutting off his driving lanes. J Wall can't shoot the ball in the ocean. The Pacers are sitting on the shooters and basically daring J Wall to shoot ie. in the final seconds of the game. In a playoff series, the other team will exploit all of your shortcomings and render you ineffective unless you can prove them wrong.

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[da ThRONe]

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An effective jumper is like bacon it makes everything better.

Again I know MM was simply saying it's lower on the list, but for a guard without a jumper that should always be a high enough on the he list to warrant working on it before any other skill.

[Caffeinedisastr]

I believe the point to this is that Tyreke should give up on improving the jumper. At this point he is who he is and it doesn't look like he can improve it.

Cut your losses and focus on the part of your game that is already outstanding.

[MichaelMcNamara]

That wasn't the point of the article. Might be someone else's point, but not mine.

I want him to work on the spot up three, but I want that to be third on his priority list. If he goes into the summer saying he is going to work for 6 hours a day

2.5 hours - strength, conditioning, and explosiveness
2 hours - post game
1.5 hours - jump shots

Try to improve them all, but prioritize in that order.

[Mythrol]

I don't think the Wizards have the offensive front court that we do and beal is still young. The difference too between John Wall and Tyreke is playing off of Tyreke allows him to get a full head of steam and makes it easier on him to drive. John Wall is 6'4" 195. Tyreke is 6'6" 220. It would be very hard to pack the paint against us. Is a big just going to let Ryno sit open? Basically the Pacers are covering Beal and Ariza and then the wizards have two guys in the front court who play in/near the paint so the Pacers are putting 3 people in the paint.

That's fine if another team wants to pack the paint to stop Tyreke from driving. But they are going to have to do so by leaving Ryno or even AD open. Especially once we get our SF. Going inside on the Pacers with our team is silly anyway. Force them to guard us and then force them to put the ball in Hibbert's hands on the other end.

[Vinny6420]

The Steamer lol.

And I think Tyreke improving his rim game would be good,obviously at some point, you would want to see an increase in shooting ability, but his is our main driver, so having him excel at it would be amazing. And I understand the theory of his shooting ability opening up his rim game, but Mike is right, players fall in love with the jumper, they dont utilize what it opens up.

[hornetstime247]

Any chance Utah goes for a EG for Hayward trade this offseason. I think Hayward would be the perfect SF for this team.

[Caffeinedisastr]

That wasn't the point of the article. Might be someone else's point, but not mine.

I want him to work on the spot up three, but I want that to be third on his priority list. If he goes into the summer saying he is going to work for 6 hours a day

2.5 hours - strength, conditioning, and explosiveness
2 hours - post game
1.5 hours - jump shots

Try to improve them all, but prioritize in that order.

I can get behind that. Work on it, but put it low on the priorities list.

I remember how psyched he was after he got that steal & dunk against OKC. I hope he comes out more explosive next season, finishing with more emphasis instead of crazy contorting layups. (not to say they're not pretty, just not finishing them at a high rate)

Nothing says "I own you" like finishing up an ankle breaker with a throw down.

[Kibner]

Any chance Utah goes for a EG for Hayward trade this offseason. I think Hayward would be the perfect SF for this team.

The only reason they would want to trade Hayward is for cap purposes. And, in that case, why would they go after Gordon?