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Here it is. 3000+ words. Dug through a ton of stats and video over the past 5 days and even I was surprised by some stuff. But in the end, a lot of conclusions I already had were just reinforced. What surprised you? What didn't?
http://www.bourbonstreetshots.com/20...-tyreke-evans/
@mcnamara247
Still soaking a lot of it in. Good piece MM.
My one contention would be the praise for his isolation D. Not that I am flat out saying it is wrong but I do think it is important to point out that Monty generally tried to put Evans on the opposing teams weakest offensive player whenever possible. Which has to help with his numbers. Whereas a guy like Afflalo would likely be asked to take the toughest defensive assignments.
We had games where Gordon was primarily guarding guys like Westbrook while Evans took the much less difficult assignment of guarding Roberson for instance. If we had been playing position to position D Evans would of been matched up initially with Westbrook most of the time. Monty seemingly tried to intentionally cover Evans up on D and I have to believe part of that is because he didn't trust Evans on other teams best players for good reasons. And even though Gordon would often struggle Monty stayed the course. I may not like Monty overall but I feel like if he believed Evans was that good he would of made a switch.
Maybe I'm off the mark here so feel free to correct me but I just think quality of the opponent Evans was guarding in isolation may be a lurking variable synergy isn't really going to account for and thus is somewhat skewing his stats.
Last edited by N.O.Bronco; 04-29-2015 at 11:15 AM. Reason: Darn iPhone autocorrect
I thought that going in, but I watched every isolation possession and he was on high level guys a lot. Remember, we switch a lot.Originally Posted by N.O.Bronco
Surprises:
- Tyreke is bad in transition. You touched on this, and a lot of us would like the Pelicans to play at a faster pace, but is it really a good idea? Evans: 21.7 percentile, Holiday: 25.3 percentile, Gordon: 37.0 percentile in transition. On the flip side though AD: 98.4 percentile (I'd like to see how many put backs AD had off of Tyreke's transition misses) and Anderson 84.6 percentile. But if you look at the top guys in PPP its almost all big men and spot up shooters so the stats are skewed in that way, which makes sense. But as a whole team the Pels were in the 34.5 percentile, so not great. Something that could be interesting moving Tyreke to the bench though: Cunningham, Pondexter, and Cole are all statistically decent at running transition so maybe we could have a bit of a change of pace unit there.
-Better with Asik. I guess the screening part makes sense but its still strange. Could we also attribute it to Asik and Davis sharing the floor the vast majority of the time? So Asik on basically means Davis on?
Not Surprises:
-Bad against teams with good interior D. Also the most concerning part.
-Good on-ball D / Bad off ball D. Although I was a little surprised to see he was THAT good on the ball.
-Crap in the clutch.
Overall really nice piece. I support Tyreke going back to the bench even if that's not exactly what he wants. Just another reason Jrue's health is SO SO important going into next year.
Interesting to know. It's clear there are some assumptions that are flat out wrong like the above. One of mine was in transition. I thought he'd weigh much higher with his skills. I enjoyed this article!
"I don't know if people know — I dislocated my pinkie finger. And [Tyreke] told me, 'You wanna go home or you wanna be here?' I want to be here. And he said, 'All right, then go tape it up and let's play. Let's go. We not stoppin' at no stores. Straight gas. That's what we do, just keep going.'"
http://thebasketbawlblog.com/
Wasn't he a wrecking ball in transition his last year in SAC? I remember his synergy numbers being great then.
Hmm. Interesting.
I like your thoughts of how to use Evans going forward. It is somewhat similar to what I have echoed most of this season(that's not why I like it but because you provide good supporting evidence) except I have been more reluctant to let him close out games. Though your Memphis game stats make me re-think my hardheadedness on that a little(but not completely). Used properly Evans can be a very valuable asset. Used improperly he can do more harm then good in the long run in my personal view.
My biggest worry, which I never get to expand on around here because the conversation rarely gets further then me having to defend my suggestion due to the people that always push back against Tyreke criticism, is that it seems Most people that really dig into Evans come away feeling the same you do. My worry is that both Evans and Monty may once again be reluctant to do what most feel is the ideal for this team.
Your quote on Evans from February seems to suggest he still has that mindset of wanting to be the guy. The starter with the ball in his hands. I just worry Monty's fickleness and difficulty with using Evans coupled with Evans own personal ideal which is to start, may lead to us trotting out the old Holiday, Gordon, Evans lineup to start next season as the place Evans and Monty settle on.
Last edited by N.O.Bronco; 04-29-2015 at 11:40 AM.
Nice article; very informative. Besides AD, Tyreke is my favorite current Pelican (which can be very stressful). Without Tyreke's season, there would have been no playoffs this year. I think he likes being on this team; although he prefers to start, he played with as much effort coming off the bench. If Holiday is 100% healthy next season, he should start (along with Gordon, Tyreke in the 6th man role). However, If Holiday isn't 100% to begin the season, Tyreke should continue being the starting PG.
Last edited by PelicansBay; 04-29-2015 at 12:20 PM.
im sure other player breakdowns will come, so sticking with reke, he is worth 10m but JH is the key to this team. If we were to get offers for him, I would listen if JH is healthy because I like cole that much running the second team and will never cost 10m.
But, his 10m contract will look like 5 in 2 yrs.
I totally agree, I would listen, especially if it nets the team a quality starting SF. Otherwise, I would keep Tyreke.
Contributor
Great article, Michael. My biggest takeaway...The team needs better balance. 4 of our top six guys take so much off the table, despite what they bring and Jrue has major injury concerns. My biggest gripe with Monty is the fact that I don't think he's a coach that can minimize those deficiencies and maximize the overarching talent. Tyreke is the biggest example of this. If we are going to stick with Monty we need to sacrifice some of the talent to create a roster that has better balance and depth.
This article lays out why we ultimately need to keep Tyreke, but he has enough boom and bust for 2 or 3 people. We can't move Gordon or Jrue, we need Asik's defensive pedigree... that leaves Ryno. He's the piece. Let 'Reke reke, but surround him with some more Cole, Pondexter, Q-Pon types. This gives Reke the structure to do what he does and not compound our biggest weaknesses while giving Monty some more consistent options that better fit his coaching style.
Nice, there is a lot of work in it. Beer on me.
just a couple things I don't totally agree.
-I think his P&R isn't good, there is a lot of room for improvement.
-I think he still has lot of room to grow, shooting, TO and FG %(start seeing him stop and pop late in the season in the key) So I wouldn't say "highly unlikely" he can improve.
IMHO the reason he work well with Asik is because Asik box out the shot blocker so they can't get to him when he drive and give him an option to pass the rock when hit the wall.
I agree with a lot of this. I think it has become pretty clear that Monty struggles with core players where he has to balance their skillsets and they need to be controlled. At least once you gain his trust. Because for people on the outside looking in on Monty's trust circle he can be very tough on you.
This makes sense when you hear AD and others talk about his suggestive coaching style, his philosophy of trust and laid back demeanor. He is much more carrot then stick. He isn't an authoritarian type like Pop, Carlisle or Thibs that have a my way or the highway mentality. Once you earn his trust you are given a lot of freedom and for certain players this is not a good thing. I think guys like Ariza(offensively), Ryno, Evans, Rivers, Ryno are guys that exemplify this fault to different degrees.
Give him too many of these players that need to be carefully controlled and he struggles as you say. I do honestly worry that Jrue may fall victim to this as well.
I agree. I feel like you can get away with a guy or two that can be easily taken away. But not 4 of your top 6.
Maybe I just missed it, but how were his assists vs teams with good interior defense? Was there a decline there as well? Considering we often lost those games I'm guessing yes.
It was much more scattered. He averaged slightly less but it was up and down. Against some of those defenses, he posted good assist numbers and others he was terrible. But the FG% was universally down against good interior teams, save for Memphis - but a big part of that was because he played a lot against their 2nd unit in our first two games - which is where I want to see him at permanently.
On the ball in isolation defense, "elite...96th percentile". Wow. Very impressive.
Great article as usual. I really can't think of any other sports blog, publication, newspaper, etc. that does as much thorough, logical and detailed analysis as MM and the other guys that write for BSS on any level of journalism. It's truly amazing and mind-boggling when you think there are so many undeserving high-profile national guys. Anyway, we are very, very fortunate, and thanks.
It's so impressive that I really feel (and have said this before), you want MM or someone to be there to be the guy that tells Monty in certain situations (hey, this gives us a higher chance to be successful if we do this here). We all feel that way about Monty's coaching. Really it's our biggest (only?) complaint. Would it be so hard to change an assistant coach or two and pay MM and the guys double or triple what they are making now to whisper things in Monty's ear? I have no doubt it's worth 1-2 better spots in seedings.
Going overboard
I am 100% sure Monty and his staff know 10x more than me and all the other guys at BSS combined. The issue is that he has to deal with reality and I get to deal with theory. I can sit behind a computer and say, "Monty should tell Evans to come off the bench and do X, Y, and Z. But Monty has to juggle personalities, egos, front office desires for the team, etc.
I am sure that every single thing we see, he sees, but he has to also factor in 100 things that I don't even know is going on behind the scenes.
But I do try to do my best for the good of the readers. I spent about 20-25 hours researching and working on that article, and every time I wanted to quit, I knew that our readers deserved it so that drove me.
Thank you all for reading and commenting.
I think once Jrue went down.....Reke was the only guard Monty trusted to run the team. So, knowing that Monty IMO tried to keep him fresh by not putting him on the other teams high usage guy at guard. Besides, Reke is a pretty big guy, he would crash and burn if he had to chase smaller guys every night baseline to baseline.
Great job MM! I believe Tyreke is our X factor if this team is healthy, more than Anderson. So dangerous with the ball in his hands. Also love that he plays through injuries, seems to be a competitor and despite his age, a leader of this team by example.
Nice, detailed piece on a very tough player to break down, congrats again.
I'm waiting with baited breath for the Jinmer Freddette 2 word write up, " He gone!"
If you Jimmer it, they will come.
I like Jimmer a lot, but he's not an NBA player.....
Great article. I think you are right on for the most part. My only worry is his off ball defense. How much did that contribute to our poor defensive showing as a whole?
What I found amusing was that after Reke hurt himself in game 1, he rolled out in game 2 with less strength and lift. He also drew more FT's that game than the other 3 combined. That, and I believe his defense seemed better that game? could be wrong on that last part, I know one of the 4 games he had a standout defensive game (by his standards). Pretty sure it was game 2.
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