Having seen 11 games (8-3), about a third of the season and possibly all we'll see before conference play begins, I have been looking over some patterns on offense so far to see who plays and what each player's role is becoming.
Illnesses and injuries have certainly impacted who starts and minutes played, but so far Smith, EZ, and Ish have started every game, and Pack has started every game where he was fully healthy. The other 14 starts have been shared about equally among Markquis, Selton, and Mike. Add in Davion and a sprinkling of Luke, and you have the core 9-man rotation.
Outside shooting was a major topic about this team going into the season, and four of the five top scorers are shooting 35% or better from beyond the arc (Pack, Smith, Miguel, and Ish). The main outlier is Markquis who is hitting only 30.2% from deep, but he is a special case. As Pack pointed out in his postgame comments yesterday, the threat of the deep three forces teams to cover Markquis even 28 feet from the basket, allowing him to blow by his defender with positive results so far. Markquis is also shooting 51.7% inside the arc and 88.6% from the line, making him an efficient scorer overall.
The main concern for outside shooting is Mike who is making only 22.6% of his threes so far. Mike is shooting 31.6% from deep for his career, so hopefully his numbers will improve. The team is hitting 33.7% from deep so far, so that is promising. There has been some concern about a big drop off versus high majors in the early going, but Pack, Marquis, Smith, Ish, and Mike have all shot at least 39% from deep for an entire season in the past, so they have had success against a variety of opponents in their careers. We'll know more over the coming weeks.
Scoring inside the arc has been a solid 51.7% with both Markquis and Pack over 50%. How that holds up against the more impressive interior defenses in conference play will be an important thing to track. The free throwing has been a strength at 74.5% so far, and Smith is a career 75% guy who is currently hitting only 59.4%, so there is some slack there.
The bottom line is that so far this team appears to be able to score with even the three losses being 63, 64, and 64 points scored. The defense appears to be developing well with opponents averaging under 60 ppg and highs of just 72 twice. Everything needs to crank up against better competition, of course, but the team seems to be improving at a steady clip. That said, the first 8 games of the conference schedule will be a severe test. After that, at least on paper, the opponents look more manageable. We'll see.
Illnesses and injuries have certainly impacted who starts and minutes played, but so far Smith, EZ, and Ish have started every game, and Pack has started every game where he was fully healthy. The other 14 starts have been shared about equally among Markquis, Selton, and Mike. Add in Davion and a sprinkling of Luke, and you have the core 9-man rotation.
Outside shooting was a major topic about this team going into the season, and four of the five top scorers are shooting 35% or better from beyond the arc (Pack, Smith, Miguel, and Ish). The main outlier is Markquis who is hitting only 30.2% from deep, but he is a special case. As Pack pointed out in his postgame comments yesterday, the threat of the deep three forces teams to cover Markquis even 28 feet from the basket, allowing him to blow by his defender with positive results so far. Markquis is also shooting 51.7% inside the arc and 88.6% from the line, making him an efficient scorer overall.
The main concern for outside shooting is Mike who is making only 22.6% of his threes so far. Mike is shooting 31.6% from deep for his career, so hopefully his numbers will improve. The team is hitting 33.7% from deep so far, so that is promising. There has been some concern about a big drop off versus high majors in the early going, but Pack, Marquis, Smith, Ish, and Mike have all shot at least 39% from deep for an entire season in the past, so they have had success against a variety of opponents in their careers. We'll know more over the coming weeks.
Scoring inside the arc has been a solid 51.7% with both Markquis and Pack over 50%. How that holds up against the more impressive interior defenses in conference play will be an important thing to track. The free throwing has been a strength at 74.5% so far, and Smith is a career 75% guy who is currently hitting only 59.4%, so there is some slack there.
The bottom line is that so far this team appears to be able to score with even the three losses being 63, 64, and 64 points scored. The defense appears to be developing well with opponents averaging under 60 ppg and highs of just 72 twice. Everything needs to crank up against better competition, of course, but the team seems to be improving at a steady clip. That said, the first 8 games of the conference schedule will be a severe test. After that, at least on paper, the opponents look more manageable. We'll see.
