Irving shooting 44.5% from deep, Spot ups since 2014

[jpotter33]

If you think about it, a ton of IT's threes were right off of that action, along with just the high PnR in general. I think that's an area that Kyrie will really excel in this year, especially with the versatility presented by both Horford and Morris being able to either roll or pop as the screening big.

Threes plus a lot of fouls drawn right off that handoff. I don't think Kyrie's as good at drawing contact there, and allegedly the rule changes will cut down on those calls, but we have by design a lot of screeners who can leave the D with no good options for that action.

...is it the 17th the 2nd yet?

Hell, I'm counting down the days to the first preseason game on Monday, let alone opening night.

[A Future of Stevens]

It's numbers like this that give me hope for our team going forward. If our players buy into a space and pace system, our pieces fit very well together. At point guard we continue to have a scoring savant. Shooting guard will either be a 6'3 junkhouse dog who leaves it all on the floor or a 6'7 athletic freak who looked better than advertised at spacing the floor. Small forward we have an offensive do it all forward who is a very good shooter. At center we have a great passing center who can stretch the floor for 1 through 3. Our power forward is what worries me, but we have alot of youth who should be able to split those minutes.

I think it may prove difficult to get Irving to stop thinking of basketball as taking turns isoing with baby Bron Bron (his iso with all due respect involves creating for others.)

Marcus Morris averaged 14 pts over the last two seasons while playing 79 and 80 games at about 32.5 min per.  He shot 36% and 33% from the 3.  He should be an improvement over Amir Johnson and Olynyk.  If he is our biggest worry, we should be fine.  Shooting guard actually worries me a little bit too.

As for Irving, I actually don't think he will see more shots than last season, although he could end up with a higher percentage of 3pt attempts.  He had nearly 20 attempts per game last season, about the same as IT.  The defense will focus more on him and he will have better scoring options around him than IT did last season.  Ball needs to move.  We need to have fewer possessions that come down to Irving making a play than last season where IT had to make a play.  That is still going to be how some possessions end up and it is nice to have a scorer like Kyrie for those instances but the less we rely on that the better.

Allow me to clarify my position VG. Offensively, I love our team 1-5. However count me in the camp that doesn't see Horford at the 5 as the answer to our rebounding woes. I want some kind of defensive rebounder at the 4 to alleviate the pressure an inability to rebound puts on our defense as a whole.

But yeah the ball has to move. A lineup of Kyrie-Brown-Hayward-Morris-horford leaves the floor wide open for drive and dish opportunities. It's going to be a fun year.

[mctyson]

Wow didn't know he was THAT good of a shooter.
This guy can have a "2015 Steph Curry" kind of breakout season if he can put everything together.

That is really the major statistical difference between Kyrie and IT, 3 PT %.

[byennie]

It'll be fascinating to see what the coaching staff can get out of KI. He's deadly from everywhere on the court, the problem has always been getting the right mix of opportunities.

60% FG at the rim (1.2 PPS) - 26% of shots
40% FG from 3PT (1.2 PPS) - 31% of shots
36% FG from 3-10 feet (0.72 PPS) - 12% of shots
48% FG from 10-24 feet (0.96 PPS) - 30% of shots
90% FT (1.8 PPS)

Get that to more like 35-40% three pointers, 30%+ at the rim (with a few more FT attempts), he's going to be deadly and start to look like an efficiency leader on top of everything else.

Fewer isolation plays would be good, but it also doesn't hurt to have arguably the best iso guy in the league in certain spots.