Value of Jordan McLaughlin

[Sundog]

I subscribe to Jake Payting's Howls and Growls -- it's pretty great, you should all think about subscribing. In his last post, he did a deep dive into the value of Jordan McLauglin. I thought it might be good to post some of the terrific metrics Jake pulled out:

- The Timberwolves were 3.3 points per 100 possessions better when McLaughlin was on the floor last season, bested only by Karl-Anthony Towns (+5.1) among players who logged 200 or more minutes.

- The Wolves were in transition 2.7 percent more often when McLaughlin was on the floor (95th percentile leaguewide) and they scored 8.5 points per 100 transition plays (83rd percentile) more when he was out there.

- According to Basketball Index, His 2.2 steals per 75 possessions ranked in the 99th percentile last season and the 4.3 deflections per 75 possessions ranked in the 96th percentile.

- According to Basketball Index, he ranks in the 93rd percentile in assists per 75 possessions (17.6), the 89th percentile in potential assists per 100 passes (21.7), and the 97th percentile in high value (shots at the rim, 3-point line, and free throw line) assists per 75 possessions (7.1).

[Q-is-here]

Yeah, he's a bit of an advanced stats darling. I really like the value he brings on his contract. It's tempting to think he could step into the DLO role as more of a game-manager type PG that doesn't use up as many possessions as DLO and let's others shine even more. But not sure we've seen him enough in that kind of Tyus Jones capacity (who proved he had starting PG chops in Ja's absence) to know if he could pull it off or get overwhelmed.

[TheFuture]

Yeah, he's a bit of an advanced stats darling. I really like the value he brings on his contract. It's tempting to think he could step into the DLO role as more of a game-manager type PG that doesn't use up as many possessions as DLO and let's others shine even more. But not sure we've seen him enough in that kind of Tyus Jones capacity (who proved he had starting PG chops in Ja's absence) to know if he could pull it off or get overwhelmed.

I said it before, his style running the team is much more appealing than when DLO runs the team. I didn't dig into the numbers, but he is great at playing a role utilizing KAT and Edwards. DLOs usage need negates what they are both best at, high usage scoring. With all that said, DLO is the better player to start, and I am excited to see how he works with Gobert now added. Jr'mac would be targeted all game, but I think he can excel if given full second team minutes.

[Monster]

Those are some nice numbers. I think what I will say is that McLaughlin when he does what he is good at is VERY good. I think part of that is he picks his spots with a BBIQ that's way above what a lot of guys that play his role does as a bench player.

Usage percentage is far from a perfect stat but if you watch McLaughlin he is far from the primary PG/ball handler in many of his minutes. Usually he shares ball handling with at least one other player. His usage rate is 11.8 (lowest of his career) which was only higher than Vanderbilt's 10.9 on the team. McLaughlin was able to produce over 7 assists a game per 36 minutes with those opportunities. That's kinda nuts.

[AbeVigodaLive]

A poor man's Tyus Jones.



[Note: For what it's worth... Tyus was making $9M annually and now $14.5M.]

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

We've already talked about Jordan McLaughlin https://minnesotasports.enjin.com/mobile/forum/viewthread/page/1/m/15059925/id/33714790-jmachere. A lot of what has already been said was mentioned there, including the never-ending and somewhat misguided admiration for Tyus Jones.

The numbers shared above are impressive, but it's important to remember that we're largely talking about a reserve playing against reserves without significant volume to work with. McLaughlin has mostly shown to be productive when given opportunities, but he's also pretty limited in what he can reasonably do. I expect that he'll be a fine primary backup point guard for the Timberwolves this year, but that's realistically all that he is -- a backup.

[thedoper]

Does any position on this board get more love than the back up PG? I guess Wolves fans are wired to root for the underdog. Darrick Martin is smiling somewhere.

[Monster]

Does any position on this board get more love than the back up PG? I guess Wolves fans are wired to root for the underdog. Darrick Martin is smiling somewhere.

The ironic thing is it's arguably the position with the most talent for a significant portion of the franchise's history.

[Monster]

We've already talked about Jordan McLaughlin https://minnesotasports.enjin.com/mobile/forum/viewthread/page/1/m/15059925/id/33714790-jmachere. A lot of what has already been said was mentioned there, including the never-ending and somewhat misguided admiration for Tyus Jones.

The numbers shared above are impressive, but it's important to remember that we're largely talking about a reserve playing against reserves without significant volume to work with. McLaughlin has mostly shown to be productive when given opportunities, but he's also pretty limited in what he can reasonably do. I expect that he'll be a fine primary backup point guard for the Timberwolves this year, but that's realistically all that he is -- a backup.

I think some of these stats shared in the initial post of the thread are new. What I think is key is that McLaughlin when he gets his opportunities or takes them he does REALLY good stuff with them. The question about him moving up into an even larger role than a backup would be if he could continue to have success with a larger volume of opportunities.

Of course one of the ways he could increase his effectiveness would be being a more consistent 3 point shooter. There was a tweet from some advanced stat site that had the worse 3 point gravity rating from every position. McLaughlin was the guy at PG and Vanderbilt was for PF. I'll take some of that with a grain of salt but it was kinda interesting.

Part of what makes McLaughlin have valuable is he can play without soaking up opportunities and do other things and just be a guy that plays with other players. There are really good NBA players with good skill sets and some with flawed skill sets that aren't able to do that as well and it seems like McLaughlin can.

I think we can appreciate what he is and maybe hope for him to be an even better version of what he already is without asking or hoping for him to be something that's too much. It's not surprising that teammates love playing with him. I like watching him play.

[AbeVigodaLive]

We've already talked about Jordan McLaughlin https://minnesotasports.enjin.com/mobile/forum/viewthread/page/1/m/15059925/id/33714790-jmachere. A lot of what has already been said was mentioned there, including the never-ending and somewhat misguided admiration for Tyus Jones.

The numbers shared above are impressive, but it's important to remember that we're largely talking about a reserve playing against reserves without significant volume to work with. McLaughlin has mostly shown to be productive when given opportunities, but he's also pretty limited in what he can reasonably do. I expect that he'll be a fine primary backup point guard for the Timberwolves this year, but that's realistically all that he is -- a backup.

Well... a 15 post thread... that should end all Jordan McLaughlin debate then... LOL.

As for Jones... I guess I don't see how they don't compare. Limited scorers who have an exemplary Assist/TO ratio who are more game managers than dynamic playmakers.

It's been good enough for Jones to get a $9M annual salary... and now a $14.5M salary. Given some of the similarities with McLaughlin... I think in a thread directly about his VALUE... the comparison was on point.