Unlocking the Upside

[bleedspeed]

http://www.canishoopus.com/2015/8/26/8910669/bazz-article

My favorite part of the article.

December was the month he looked like a totally different player. He started in place of the injured Kevin Martin, averaging 18.1 points on 56.8 true shooting percentage with a 25.5 usage percentage (an estimate of the percentage of team plays used by a player while he was on the floor) all while posting an insane 5.2 turnover percentage during that time (only .9 turnovers per game). He also nailed 48 percent of his attempts from three-point range, and grabbed 5.3 rebounds.

[Monster]

Thanks for posting Bleed that was a good read. Maybe I am wrong but wasn't Bazz playing on a jacked up ankle part of that month too? I know it was reasonably early in the season and he started playing big minutes because they needed him.

[bleedspeed]

I liked this too.

When Muhammad takes zero dribbles, his effective field goal percentage is 59.1. One dribble? 49.4 percent. Two dribbles? 36.7 percent. And how about three-to-six dribbles, as classified by the player tracking statistics at NBA.com? I'm sure you get the theme here... his eFG% is 33.3 percent in those scenarios. Awkwardly enough, if Muhammad takes seven or more dribbles, it bloats to the highest rate: 62.5 percent. However, that only happens about 2.1 percent of the possessions he uses.

[bleedspeed]

Love this too. (move to the bench Kevin Martin)

Paired next to Andrew Wiggins, the burly Muhammad creates serious matchup problems for opposing wings. He makes opponents use their larger wing defender on him instead of Wiggins; typically favorable for Minnesota, and a mismatch the team should look to manipulate more in 2015-16.

"Teams were scared to death to put a two-guard on Shabazz," Saunders stated

[thedoper]

Love when Flip had Bazz at the 2. Old school.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Love when Flip had Bazz at the 2. Old school.

It was more Bazz and the 3 and Wiggins at the 2. If anything, I expect to see Bazz play more 3/4 than 2/3.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Bazz is a really unique cat. He has weak handles, can't go right, and lacks a good first step. Yet he is an absolute scoring machine. The good news with the way he gets points - cuts, transition, O-boards, quick post-ups, catch-and-shoots - is that he gets a shot up so quickly, there is no opportunity for turning the ball over, thus he has a really low turnover percentage. On the other hand, he rarely makes plays for others, although he did improve from an "all-time-low" type of assist rate in UCLA and as a rookie pro.

One thing to think about with the Bazz/Martin/Wiggins/LaVine rotation on the wing: Who ends up being top dog from a scoring perspective? Many folks here have presumed that Wiggins will take a massive leap forward next season, but I'm not so sure that will be the case, at least in terms of scoring. That group of wings - especially with LaVine now uncuffed from the point guard role - all have pretty damn quick triggers and offensive mentalities.

[TAFKASP]

No player has changed my opinion of him from draft night to today more than Bazz has, ever, not just on this team today. I'm as excited to see his growth this year as I am for Wiggins, Lavine, or even the debut of Towns!!

What an absolute beast!

[60WinTim]

No player has changed my opinion of him from draft night to today more than Bazz has, ever, not just on this team today. I'm as excited to see his growth this year as I am for Wiggins, Lavine, or even the debut of Towns!!

What an absolute beast!

I certainly agree with this going from negative to positive. But going the other direction, from positive to negative, there would be lots of competition! (I'm looking at you, D-Will, and many others...)

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

Flip, I don't think anyone is "scared to death" of shabazz yet. But I hope these young guys stick together as they become more successful.