Q12543 wrote:Brooklyn_Wolves wrote:longstrangetrip wrote:Yeah, I get frustrated watching Zach often too, q. But I try to remind myself that he's only a 20-year-old kid without even much college experience who was force fed into the NBA last season. It was logical that Zach was going to struggle more than most young NBA players, especially in light of his lack of experience with his new position. PG is much more difficult to play than SG.
But I also acknowledge a lot of improvement in Zach this year. We all know he ranked at the bottom of most statistical categories last year, even though he was playing a lot of his minutes at SG. Playing almost exclusively PG this year, his numbers are improved over last year...and dramatically in some instances. I think his numbers compare favorably to many other backup PGs.
The default position on this board is that Zach has a low basketball IQ. He certainly plays that way at times, but so do most rookies (watch budding superstar Mudiay, for instance, who is struggling more than Zach) and 2nd year players, and his improvement this year leads me to the conclusion that Zach's ineffectiveness is due more to inexperience than low basketball IQ.
I can't argue that Mitchell's declaring Zach the starting SG after 2 practices and then reversing course within a week was head-scratching...clearly a blunder. But he now seems to have a consistent vision for what he wants Zach to be and thinks Zach can be, and I think Zach has responded well...at least when he has been allowed to play the backup role rather than having to line up against the other team's starting PG.
I recognize that I'm practically a lone voice about this topic, here and on other boards too, but I hope Sam stays the course with Zach. I agree with Sam that with Ricky's injury history which is frustratingly recurring again this year, PG is Zach's best chance of becoming a starter and perhaps even a star in the NBA. I'm going to be patient, look for continuing improvement, and hope for a Chauncey Billups career trajectory for Zach.
F*ck no! I hope Wiggy and KAT don't have to put up with Zach as their PG for the duration of their careers here. That would be unfair to these young studs. And you are lying about Zach playing a lot of SG last year. He only played a little at the end of the season and performed better at that position than at PG.
Mmmm, not sure I've ever heard anyone accuse LST of being a liar. That's a little harsh.
My guess is that LST meant to say that Zach played most of his minutes as a PG last year, thus his improvement this year is encouraging (from his perspective) since it's mostly an apples-to-apples comparison and the trend is headed in the right direction.
Umm...in the interest of full disclosure, an ex-wife or 2 may have accused me of being a liar once or twice :oops:
Actually, I did mean to say Zach played more minutes at SG than PG last year because that was my perception based on all the minutes he played there late in the year. But basketball-reference says he has played 94% of his minutes at PG both seasons. I don't know if that makes me mendacious, but if basketball-reference is correct, it makes that part of my statement incorrect.
I don't think that takes anything away from my main point though...that Zach has shown significant improvement over last year, and that we need to give this kid time to grow into his role. Here are his comparative stats from basketball-reference.com:
http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/l/lavinza01.html
Zach's current year stats are much improved over last year...17.9 points and 6.9 assists per 36 compared to 14.7 and 5.2 last year. Who knows if he can keep it up, but if he makes the same kind of improvement the next two years, we will have a 22-year-old PG with nice stats. PER has increased from a rookie 11.3 to a respectable 14.1 (I would guess that is close to the league average for backup PG's), and almost all other advanced stats show improvement. His TO percentage is up slightly, but one 8 TO game will do that to a guy 8 games into a season. But his defensive rating has improved 10 points, despite spending a lot of his time on the court with Martin, Bazz and Gorgui.
Maybe it's just me, but I'm happy with a raw 20-year-old kid putting up 17.9 and 6.9 per 36 with a defensive rating of 104. I'm looking forward to see those numbers continue to improve as Zach gets more and more comfortable with a position he is still learning. That's why I hope Sam stays the course.
