What does Culver need to be a plus player?

[BloopOracle]

Now that I've watched two games I'm ready to overreact. I believe Okogie is already getting close to scraping his ceiling so I am putting all my NBA forward marbles on Culver. He was actually a pretty good defender for a rookie last year and so far this year he had some VERY impressive possessions against Ja Morant. He of course was also HORRIFIC on the offensive end, including tanking his normally steady free throw percentage.

What do you think it would take for him to be a plus player, would it just be a few point increase on his 3pt percentage? Becoming more of a slasher? Or even a post-up guy?

What are your thoughts?

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Give me Jarrett Culver's second half -- or last 31 games -- of his rookie season PLUS 70-percent or better from the free throw line over the course of a full season. And that would be a plus player. That's all that I would really need to see this year.

[Coolbreeze44]

I think you have to be born with what he doesn't have. Some call it the "IT" factor, others might use terms like savvy or alpha. He's not going to wake up one day and be able to make others around him better. Can he get better? Of course but his ceiling isn't great. A 3 and D specialist would be a great goal for him to realize.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Speaking of the "IT" factor... and Culver looking "very" impressive on defense vs. him...

Ja Morant shot 63% and had 18 assists with only 1 TO... in 51 minutes vs. the Wolves.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

I don't think he can be a star either, but the Wolves have been so horribly outplayed on the wings for so long that simply being average is a sight for sore eyes. And I don't think it's too much of a stretch for him to get there.

I think for him to be a plus player, he probably needs to take his defense up another step from what is already a good base and then become at least serviceable on offense (i.e. shoot 65% or more from the line; make at least 30% of 3's; maintain a solid asst/TO ratio).

[Wolvesfan21]

I think I said we will see Culver shoot 35%+ from 3 this season and 70%+ from the line. We'll see. If so he's going to be a solid starter. Keep playing great defense, no worries there for me.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Give me Jarrett Culver's second half -- or last 31 games -- of his rookie season PLUS 70-percent or better from the free throw line over the course of a full season. And that would be a plus player. That's all that I would really need to see this year.

For added context, these were Culver's numbers in those last 31 games that I referenced.

25.0 MPG (16 GS)
10.2 PPG
3.4 RPG
1.5 APG / 1.4 TOV
0.8 SPG
44.6 FG% (4.0 - 9.0 FGA)
36.1 3P% (1.3 - 3.5 3PA)
51.9 FT% (0.9 - 1.7 FTA)
Plus/Minus: -0.6
TS%: .522

The glaring issue there is obviously the free throw shooting, which I think has a great chance of climbing back to the high 60's or low 70's this season based on his two years at Texas Tech. He shot 68.7-percent through 75 collegiate games including the 70.7-percent he shot as a sophomore. Now, is that Steve Nash or J.J. Redick at the free throw line? No, absolutely not, but Culver will be much better than he was last year. I'd put my hard-earned money on that much.

Culver shot 28-54 at the line in those 31 games. If we assume he only shoots 68.0-percent at the line instead of the awful 51.9-percent that he did, we're looking at a 3/D wing with a .584 TS%, which is a plenty valuable piece to the roster and likely Minnesota's starting forward.

This is all assuming he can build off that second half, of course. So far, he's looked promising in preseason although we know that doesn't always mean much.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

He just needs to hit spot up 3's to be a rotation wing. There's still a place for 3 and D wings in this league. If he can reliably hit spot up 3's and play good defense that is what we need next to Towns and Russell. If we want to get greedy he needs to be able to create a little bit of offense as a secondary ball handler including being able to run a PnR.

If both Okogie and Culver could just hit 3's at a high clip we'd be significantly better off as a team trying to execute Rosas' vision.

[thedoper]

A consistent release and consistent focus on the game. His D can be nice but it comes and goes. He still looks lost at both ends of the court often.