NBA Husky Check-In

[ChrisSmithsPart]

Around a quarter of the way through the NBA season decided to post a check-in on the 13 current Husky's in the league...Come on Dyson make it 14 (Playing in Israel now)!

# Husky Players | G | Mins | Pts | Reb | As | Stl | Blk | FG% | 3PT FG% | FT%

1) Rudy-------------19---37.5----19.1---6.5---2.4----1.5---1.1----41.8------35.4-------80
2) Kemba-----------21---35.0----17.7--3.3---6.0----1.9--0.5----42.1------32.0-------80
3) Ray--------------20---27.0---12.4---2.2---3.3---0.9---0.1----49.4------46.3-------86
4) BG---------------19---23.0----13.8--2.1---2.4----0.6--0.4----44.1------45.0-------85
5) RIP--------------15---27.1----13.9---2.3---2.3---0.8--0.1----45.5-------37.5-------93
6) AD---------------24---18.0----6.2---6.2---0.4---0.8--1.2----58.6------50.0-------40
7) Caron------------21---24.1----9.8---2.6---0.9---0.5--0.2----42.2------43.8--------78
8) Emeka-----------19---22.0----7.3---5.4---0.9---0.7--1.4----46.3-------0.0--------87
9) Hasheem--------20---12.7----3.1----3.5---0.1---0.9--0.5----69.0-------0.0--------75
10) Charlie V-------14---15.0----7.4----2.9---1.0---0.6--0.4----43.5------40.4--------22
11) J Lamb----------8----4.3-----2.1---0.4---0.3----0----0-----33.0-------50.0------100
12) AJ--------------17---28.0----8.5---2.8---4.9---0.6---0-----36.6-------34.2--------71
13) Jeff "The Ultimate Warrior" Adrien ---- Congrats on your new deal!!!

Kemba's 2nd year improvement is obviously remarkable (likely relatively better than his 2nd year improvement at Uconn), but I'm also very happy with HT's performance so far. In limited minutes he's giving OKC everything they could want. From watching how OKC plays with HT on the floor IMO he's on a path to take Perkin's starting spot next season or at the least earn an outright platoon role at the C position.

 

[Rico444]

Wow, Kemba's averaging 17 and 6 assists? Didn't realize he was doing so well. Would be nice to see him get that shooting percentage up a bit, but that will come.

 

[Dogbreath2U]

Well, Andre's new and improved shooting form has resulted in his hitting 40% of FTs......strangely better than Charlie V's 22% (can that be right?).

 

[ConnEd]

I will admit that I have probably not even a seen a full game of Emeka's pro career (a reflection of life with two toddlers), but I'm shocked that his numbers have been and remain so low. I thought for sure he was going to be(come) a 15 & 12 kind of stud in the pros. I know his offense is limited, but I figured with his head and work ethic, he'd find new ways to score.

Does he not put up numbers because he isn't getting the minutes? Or is it the other way around? Just 5.4 rebs? Wow. Is he healthy? It's not like anyone on the Wiz should be taking his minutes. Can anyone that has seen him play more/recently explain it?

 

[Gurleyman]

Emeka's on the downslope now. He starts, but doesn't get minutes as the Wiz play their younger guys.

He just never developed a reliable face-up jumper. His ceiling was really high if he could have been consistent from 15-18 feet, but shooting is one of those things that you can sometimes only get so good at. Also early in his career he also tried to bulk up so much in the weight room to handle bigger bodies in the post (he looked huge in his second year) and he caused some damage to his body - then he changed courses and tried to go lean and nimble again. Sometimes I wonder if that whole process sidetracked his development.

 

[Gurleyman]

Wow, Kemba's averaging 17 and 6 assists? Didn't realize he was doing so well. Would be nice to see him get that shooting percentage up a bit, but that will come.

He's done a good job getting it up to 42 from 36 last year. He had one mini-slump (0-for-the-Thunder game and a 3-18 type game) that weighed him him down a little, but he typically shoots at least in the neighborhood of 50 percent (good day: 7-12, bad day: 5-13).

Kemba's default when attacking the basket is still to force up a shot, instead of trying to thread a pass in traffic. As a result, his turnovers are pretty low (2 per game), and his shooting percentage is a bit lower than it otherwise could be. Yesterday, I think three of his misses against the Clips (on a 6-for-14 day) were high-difficulty shots at the rim that were followed up by teammate's dunks. I'm being a bit of a hypocrite because I used to mock Allen Iverson defenders who used that as an excuse for low shooting percentages, but there is some truth to the theory. He broke down the defense, and the team ended up with two points out of the deal since the bigs had nobody blocking them out.

 

[SouthTampaBill]

For what it's worth...

At the pre-game warmup against Georgia Tech at the Final Four, my friend and I watched Emeka hit 8 in a row from 3 point land. All bottom of the net swishes.

I realize no one was guarding him but he could have at least developed a decent 15 foot shot in the NBA

 

[aceboon]

Emeka's on the downslope now. He starts, but doesn't get minutes as the Wiz play their younger guys.

He just never developed a reliable face-up jumper. His ceiling was really high if he could have been consistent from 15-18 feet, but shooting is one of those things that you can sometimes only get so good at. Also early in his career he also tried to bulk up so much in the weight room to handle bigger bodies in the post (he looked huge in his second year) and he caused some damage to his body - then he changed courses and tried to go lean and nimble again. Sometimes I wonder if that whole process sidetracked his development.

I've also thought the same, when I saw him in his second year it looked like Emeka was ready to enter a bodybulding contest, and he looked so stiff it was like a rock em sock em robot in the post. Then like you said he then cut out all of that top heavy weight once he badly injured his ankle. Kind of reminds of boxers who jump from weight classes and then cut weight(Roy Jones comes to mind, also Antonio Tarver when he got bloated for that Rocky movie role), it seems like it messes their whole system up and they're never the same. I think that's what happened to Emeka because you rarely see a case of a guy backsliding from his rookie year when he should be in his prime right now.

 

[champs99and04]

I also think Emeka's back problems limited his NBA ceiling more than people realize. Back issues are not something that just go away, and it can really sap some of that explosiveness around the basket. He certainly looked headed for stardom after his rookie season, but the following year he played only 26 games and that seemed to throw him off course. Despite the injuries, he was a very good player in his Charlotte days (14 points, 11 rebounds, 2 blocks, 51% shooting, and a 17.7 PER), and looked like he could be the second or third best player on a championship team (think Tyson Chandler on the 2011 Mavs). I thought for sure he would relish with Chris Paul in New Orleans, but for whatever reason it never worked out, and he's regressed every year since.

 

[ChrisSmithsPart]

He's done a good job getting it up to 42 from 36 last year. He had one mini-slump (0-for-the-Thunder game and a 3-18 type game) that weighed him him down a little, but he typically shoots at least in the neighborhood of 50 percent (good day: 7-12, bad day: 5-13).

Kemba's default when attacking the basket is still to force up a shot, instead of trying to thread a pass in traffic. As a result, his turnovers are pretty low (2 per game), and his shooting percentage is a bit lower than it otherwise could be. Yesterday, I think three of his misses against the Clips (on a 6-for-14 day) were high-difficulty shots at the rim that were followed up by teammate's dunks. I'm being a bit of a hypocrite because I used to mock Allen Iverson defenders who used that as an excuse for low shooting percentages, but there is some truth to the theory. He broke down the defense, and the team ended up with two points out of the deal since the bigs had nobody blocking them out.

That's a very good point about focusing on the improvement in Kemba's shooting from last season more than just the actual %. As for those forced shots at the rim, I think many of them are foul calls that he's just not getting in the league yet. Right now Kemba is 24th in the league averaging 4.8 FT attempts/game, but I think as much as he takes the ball to the rim that number should be higher and will be once he earns that call more. For the record it is doable Kyle Lowry is top 15 with 5.5 per game & his teammate Sessions is top 10 with 5.9 per game.

 

[ChrisSmithsPart]

Well, Andre's new and improved shooting form has resulted in his hitting 40% of FTs......strangely better than Charlie V's 22% (can that be right?).

Not really a big deal Charlie V's only 2-9 on the season....

 

[aceboon]

It was an ankle injury his second season. There hasn't been anything reported on his back, who knows maybe it is a lingering issue but he looked great his first year and then has tailed off since the ankle injury/weight fluctuation.

I also think Emeka's back problems limited his NBA ceiling more than people realize. Back issues are not something that just go away, and it can really sap some of that explosiveness around the basket. He certainly looked headed for stardom after his rookie season, but the following year he played only 26 games and that seemed to throw him off course. Despite the injuries, he was a very good player in his Charlotte days (14 points, 11 rebounds, 2 blocks, 51% shooting, and a 17.7 PER), and looked like he could be the second or third best player on a championship team (think Tyson Chandler on the 2011 Mavs). I thought for sure he would relish with Chris Paul in New Orleans, but for whatever reason it never worked out, and he's regressed every year since.