Knicks · Driving to the basket: Who's the best? (page 1)

Some takeaways:

- In terms of sheer volume of drives, Tony Parker, Ty Lawson and Monta Ellis are in a class by themselves. They also produce quality along with that quantity, albeit each in different ways. Lawson is excellent at finishing, but even better at setting up teammates with drive-and-kicks; no one in the NBA produces more team points directly from drives than Ty's 13.1 ppg. Parker, with his array of floaters and either-hand layups and scoops, is the best pure finisher of the trio. And Monta is the best (this year, at least) at drawing fouls from drives. He's actually leading the league with 8.0 individual ppg from drives.

- Jeremy Lin, everybody! This chart highlights Lin's biggest strength - the ability to drive and finish creatively. He may be a third guard at this point, but what a third guard. By the way, look at Lin, James Harden, and Chandler Parsons all bunched together on this chart. They're combining for 22 drives per game, shooting a combined 53% on those drives, and obviously hitting each other for open threes along the way. That's an incredibly efficient, dynamic foundation for an offense... especially with Dwight Howard waiting inside.

- Maybe LeBron James should be driving to the basket more? Maybe we could say the same (to a lesser extent) about Kevin Durant? The truth is, of course, that even for the two best drive-finishers in the game, it's a bit more complicated than that. Driving takes energy, and it's hard to achieve when the entire defense is focused on you. I expect both of them will penetrating a lot more in the playoffs. They'll be playing more minutes, and playing those minutes with Dwayne Wade and Russell Westbrook, respectively, should open up the court.

- Five of the six lowest on this chart in terms of FG% are quick guards who aren't necessarily known for their strength (except perhaps Dion Waiters, but he has the separate problem of not actually knowing how to play basketball). That's not to say guys like Brandon Jennings, Jeff Teague and Kemba Walker aren't valuable on drives, but that they're a little easier to control from a team defense perspective than guards like Parker and Lawson.

- Damian Lillard isn't far from being the perfect offensive point guard, and he's already at the helm of the best offense in the NBA right now. But his troubles finishing drives are probably his biggest limitation right now. If he can improve to just league-average at that, combined with Portland's other three-point shooters and LaMarcus Aldridge draining shots from the elbow and post... oof. Good luck stopping that.

Imagine if Dolan was not fiscally responsible.

Lin would have done wonders with this team. Lin is doing this right now as a backup PG in limited minutes. LeDouche and Durant are the only players better than Lin in attacking the basket FG%

but it was already in here,

definitely Jeremy lin, this guy is a like a slippery baracuda when he splits the wood chips in the painted area

IronWillGiroud wrote:Ha, I was about to hop in the thread and write JEREMY LIN

but it was already in here,

definitely Jeremy lin, this guy is a like a slippery baracuda when he splits the wood chips in the painted area

At 6'10 Kevin Durant is unstoppable.

Last night, Gerald Green made it look easy.

Lebron
Durant
Paul George

All have freakish the freakish size, athleticism, length or/and strength to go with their other versatile skills

CP3 with smarts, great handle, and quickness (strength for his size)
John Wall
Westbrook
a healthy Rose
Tony Parker
a young Ginobili

Rubio is up there with his handle/ability to create for others, but his shot is inconsistent
Kemba Walker

Lance Stephenson is one of the more under rated players in terms of penetration
But essentially with penetration you need shooters to spread the floor, the ability to hit a wide open shot, and with the combinations of abilities to pair with other skills and versatile players that other plays can consistently play off it with it which makes it even a greater weapon

Sessions is another under rated talent in terms of penetration (He would be one of my #1 targets this off season with the MLE)

Penetration creates double and triple teams, that breaks down opponents DEF's, making the ability to get easy points and 1v1 beatable matchups harder to defend

and

that is why Jeremy Lin had his stretch here in NYK

misterearl wrote:Bobby Jackson

IronWillGiroud wrote:Ha, I was about to hop in the thread and write JEREMY LIN

but it was already in here,

definitely Jeremy lin, this guy is a like a slippery baracuda when he splits the wood chips in the painted area

At 6'10 Kevin Durant is unstoppable.

Last night, Gerald Green made it look easy.

Durant is a filthy animal when he takes the lane,

he reminds me of Danilo in that they both look terrible on contact, so that they get the foul calls.

Lawson, Parker and Ellis are ridiculous.

IronWillGiroud wrote:

misterearl wrote:Bobby Jackson

IronWillGiroud wrote:Ha, I was about to hop in the thread and write JEREMY LIN

but it was already in here,

definitely Jeremy lin, this guy is a like a slippery baracuda when he splits the wood chips in the painted area

At 6'10 Kevin Durant is unstoppable.

Last night, Gerald Green made it look easy.

Durant is a filthy animal when he takes the lane,

he reminds me of Danilo in that they both look terrible on contact, so that they get the foul calls.

Durant is ridiculous.. he seems to not miss at this point. I think if he tried to throw the ball out of bounds it would still find it's way into the basket.. LOL

tkf wrote:

IronWillGiroud wrote:

misterearl wrote:Bobby Jackson

IronWillGiroud wrote:Ha, I was about to hop in the thread and write JEREMY LIN

but it was already in here,

definitely Jeremy lin, this guy is a like a slippery baracuda when he splits the wood chips in the painted area

At 6'10 Kevin Durant is unstoppable.

Last night, Gerald Green made it look easy.

Durant is a filthy animal when he takes the lane,

he reminds me of Danilo in that they both look terrible on contact, so that they get the foul calls.

Durant is ridiculous.. he seems to not miss at this point. I think if he tried to throw the ball out of bounds it would still find it's way into the basket.. LOL

Different planet this year,

he's even giving Lebron a run!

I'm a HUGE Lin fan and I hope him the best. but lin fans, why keep posting and resurrecting a former player who is gone. it pains me that the knicks let him go and it pains me even more when guys keep bringing him up with these what-could've-been posts.

SlimChin wrote:It's amazing how Lin still haunts this forum.

I'm a HUGE Lin fan and I hope him the best. but lin fans, why keep posting and resurrecting a former player who is gone. it pains me that the knicks let him go and it pains me even more when guys keep bringing him up with these what-could've-been posts.

are you saying it's inappropriate for a fan base that hasn't seen any championship banners in 40 years?

SlimChin wrote:It's amazing how Lin still haunts this forum.

I'm a HUGE Lin fan and I hope him the best. but lin fans, why keep posting and resurrecting a former player who is gone. it pains me that the knicks let him go and it pains me even more when guys keep bringing him up with these what-could've-been posts.

Dude. Lin just happens to be in the list. I found this stat very interesting and I believe it is something we have lacking now in the Knicks. If you noticed, the topic spawned different discussions on different players.

Cartman718 wrote:

SlimChin wrote:It's amazing how Lin still haunts this forum.

I'm a HUGE Lin fan and I hope him the best. but lin fans, why keep posting and resurrecting a former player who is gone. it pains me that the knicks let him go and it pains me even more when guys keep bringing him up with these what-could've-been posts.

are you saying it's inappropriate for a fan base that hasn't seen any championship banners in 40 years?

not inappropriate but a waste of energy. the way i see it, the owner screws his loyal fanbase so the only thing i can do is to stop following this team unfortunately.

NYKBocker wrote:

SlimChin wrote:It's amazing how Lin still haunts this forum.

I'm a HUGE Lin fan and I hope him the best. but lin fans, why keep posting and resurrecting a former player who is gone. it pains me that the knicks let him go and it pains me even more when guys keep bringing him up with these what-could've-been posts.

Dude. Lin just happens to be in the list. I found this stat very interesting and I believe it is something we have lacking now in the Knicks. If you noticed, the topic spawned different discussions on different players.

There hasn't been any balance for years with this roster....Either we have all players that can get to the rim, but can't shoot....Or like now, all jump shooters and nobody can get to the rim consistently. Or I should say it's not their first choice. They rather just keep shooting bricks until something falls.

SlimChin wrote:It's amazing how Lin still haunts this forum.

I'm a HUGE Lin fan and I hope him the best. but lin fans, why keep posting and resurrecting a former player who is gone. it pains me that the knicks let him go and it pains me even more when guys keep bringing him up with these what-could've-been posts.

you see the forum description?

"van gundy's civic"

once a knick always a knick

MaTT4281 wrote:I fully expected to open this thread and see this video...

Bargs was actually great last night driving the ball to the basket. Great game overall -- probably his best in a Knick uniform. Too bad Mike had no use for him down the stretch. Did he even play in the 4th quarter?

https://vine.co/v/MBn32E97g0O

MaTT4281 wrote:I fully expected to open this thread and see this video...

Ha ha ha! In amongst the misery of this season, I found that vid hilarious!

NYKBocker wrote:Lillard's numbers are quite disappointing. At 7.9 driver per game his FG% is a rather pedestrian 32%.

Lawson, Parker and Ellis are ridiculous.

BigDaddyG wrote:

NYKBocker wrote:Lillard's numbers are quite disappointing. At 7.9 driver per game his FG% is a rather pedestrian 32%.

Lawson, Parker and Ellis are ridiculous.

Yeah, the Lillard number is bad. But he still has a true shooting percentage of 58 percent, which is higher than Step Curry's. Lillard is ridiculously good shooter. It's been discussed here before, but ho can Ricky Rubio be so bad at all areas of the court. Fastbreak layups are probably a 50/50 proposition for him.

Add Dion Waiters and Brandon Jennings to that list of "Why can' they finish better?" 35% FG% for layups is really bad.