Everything Derozan

[SkywalkerAC]

It's hard to be a confident shooter when you're playing with an injury in your shooting arm, a bad back throws everything off, and a half-healed ankle is hobbling.

[Chr1s1anL]

I can buy this. In terms of the perception by people who don't pay enough attention to the team.

I don't really buy your "scared" assessment, I think it's very much a system issue and DeRozan has struggled a lot with it too, but the end result is much the same.

You really don't see the difference between Lowry's body language in the season and the playoffs? During the season he's this bulldog that gives no shits. In playoffs that totally changes.

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[tDotted]

Cut that "Lowry plays scared" nonsense... If he's missing shots he's going to try to start facilitating and not keep chucking up jumpers.

That's what a good teammate does.

[Shaolin Fantastic]

It's hard to be a confident shooter when you're playing with an injury in your shooting arm, a bad back throws everything off, and a half-healed ankle is hobbling.

I'm sorry but this can't be the excuse every year. It's now been used against the Wizards, Pacers, Heat and Bucks.

[Shaolin Fantastic]

Cut that "Lowry plays scared" nonsense... If he's missing shots he's going to try to start facilitating and not keep chucking up jumpers.

That's what a good teammate does.

Except his assist rate goes DOWN every year in the playoffs, and he wasn't shooting poorly last year, he was at 59 TS%. His usage dropped a ton to 19% which is way too low for your best player. The reality is he does look way less aggressive in the playoffs.

[tDotted]

I'm sorry but this can't be the excuse every year. It's now been used against the Wizards, Pacers, Heat and Bucks.

Did you watch the whole Heat series??

Except his assist rate goes DOWN every year in the playoffs, and he wasn't shooting poorly last year, he was at 59 TS%. His usage dropped a ton to 19% which is way too low for your best player. The reality is he does look way less aggressive in the playoffs.

His assists going down is almost certainly because the rest of the team's efficiency is going down as well.

His USG% has been basically the same as regular season every single other playoff series besides the Bucks' where he was still getting adjusted to returning from injury.

[SkywalkerAC]

I'm sorry but this can't be the excuse every year. It's now been used against the Wizards, Pacers, Heat and Bucks.

Well, at a certain point you have to blame a player for consistently being injured at the most inopportune time - that makes a whole lot more sense to me than saying "this guy just crumbles under pressure" or whatever the accusation is for Kyle. Just because you don't like somethign doesn't mean you should discount it. There's no other rational explanation that takes him from his regular season swagger and dominance to his post-injury post-season issues.

[DanH]

Except his assist rate goes DOWN every year in the playoffs, and he wasn't shooting poorly last year, he was at 59 TS%. His usage dropped a ton to 19% which is way too low for your best player. The reality is he does look way less aggressive in the playoffs.

Teams trap in the playoffs. I mean, in 15 and 16 the injury thing was very real (you surely remember his elbow in the 16 playoffs). But last year, his struggles were basically the result of the trapping (which WAS also used to great effect back in 15) by the Bucks. And his usage doesn't remotely tell the whole story. In the final three games of the Bucks series, his usage dropped to 17%, his TS% jumped to 60%, and his on-court net rating jumped to +23. Lowry doesn't have to carry usage to play well and impact the game. He does, however, need to be able to play without getting trapped on every possession, which is what happened once Norm started.

[Chr1s1anL]

Teams trap in the playoffs. I mean, in 15 and 16 the injury thing was very real (you surely remember his elbow in the 16 playoffs). But last year, his struggles were basically the result of the trapping (which WAS also used to great effect back in 15) by the Bucks. And his usage doesn't remotely tell the whole story. In the final three games of the Bucks series, his usage dropped to 17%, his TS% jumped to 60%, and his on-court net rating jumped to +23. Lowry doesn't have to carry usage to play well and impact the game. He does, however, need to be able to play without getting trapped on every possession, which is what happened once Norm started.

Pretty sure Deebo gets trapped more than Lowry does.

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[golden]

Teams trap in the playoffs. I mean, in 15 and 16 the injury thing was very real (you surely remember his elbow in the 16 playoffs). But last year, his struggles were basically the result of the trapping (which WAS also used to great effect back in 15) by the Bucks. And his usage doesn't remotely tell the whole story. In the final three games of the Bucks series, his usage dropped to 17%, his TS% jumped to 60%, and his on-court net rating jumped to +23. Lowry doesn't have to carry usage to play well and impact the game. He does, however, need to be able to play without getting trapped on every possession, which is what happened once Norm started.

The team not being able to deal with traps in the playoffs is largely on Lowry (and DeMar to a lesser extent). But especially Lowry since he's a PG who in his own words, "has been given the keys to the offense." If Lowry was smart, he would use the regular season to develop that trust and passing chemistry with his teammates, knowing full well what is coming in the playoffs. Casey can ask Lowry to share the ball (other than hand-offs to DeMar) all he wants, but ultimately Lowry's got to do it.

This is basically the whole point of the "culture reset", IMO.

[DanH]

The team not being able to deal with traps in the playoffs is largely on Lowry (and DeMar to a lesser extent). But especially Lowry since he's a PG who in his own words, "has been given the keys to the offense." If Lowry was smart, he would use the regular season to develop that trust and passing chemistry with his teammates, knowing full well what is coming in the playoffs. Casey can ask Lowry to share the ball (other than hand-offs to DeMar) all he wants, but ultimately Lowry's got to do it.

This is basically the whole point of the "culture reset", IMO.

Come on, there's definitely a system element in play. If Casey had always been emphasizing Lowry and DeRozan move the ball more, it wouldn't be a talking point this training camp. The goals of the ball handlers have been to score, and to not turn the ball over. And that's great, until teams trap, and even then it's fine if you have enough ball handlers out there to break the traps.

[Mess]

The team not being able to deal with traps in the playoffs is largely on Lowry (and DeMar to a lesser extent). But especially Lowry since he's a PG who in his own words, "has been given the keys to the offense." If Lowry was smart, he would use the regular season to develop that trust and passing chemistry with his teammates, knowing full well what is coming in the playoffs. Casey can ask Lowry to share the ball (other than hand-offs to DeMar) all he wants, but ultimately Lowry's got to do it.

This is basically the whole point of the "culture reset", IMO.

Maybe Lowry should ask nicely that other teams to trap him all regular season so that him and his teammates can get used to it. It's foolish to think Lowry shouldn't take open threes off the dribble during the regular season just because they won't be around nearly as often in the playoffs.

[golden]

Maybe Lowry should ask nicely that other teams to trap him all regular season so that him and his teammates can get used to it. It's foolish to think Lowry shouldn't take open threes off the dribble during the regular season just because they won't be around nearly as often in the playoffs.

Because Lowry not being able to hit the roll man, not feeding cutters, not hitting shooters in rhythm and passing only to DeMar has been working out great for us in the playoffs?

[tDotted]

DeMar is LESS responsible for the ball movement issues even though he handles the ball much MORE.

I've now seen it all.

Because Lowry not being able to hit the roll man, not feeding cutters, not hitting shooters in rhythm and passing only to DeMar has been working out great for us in the playoffs?

Why do you need to make stuff up in order to make a point?

[Mess]

Because Lowry not being able to hit the roll man, not feeding cutters, not hitting shooters in rhythm and passing only to DeMar has been working out great for us in the playoffs?

Eh, it's true his assists and assist rate went down in the playoffs (as did DeMar's), Lowry's secondary assists doubled from 1.2 to 2.3 (as did Demar's - 1.0 to 2.1). Lowry's potential assists also remained steady - 12.7 reg to 12.8 playoffs, while DeMar's lowered slightly - 8.1 to 7.7. As a team their FG% also dropped 2% in the playoffs (46.4 to 44.4), 3P% dropped by 3% (36.3 to 33.2) and their pace slowed even more (97.11 to 95.20).

Also, 47% of Lowry's 47 assists during the playoffs were to players within 4 ft of the basket.

I mean, overall it was ugly and he/they could have played better but a predictable, repetitive offense and non-existent weakside action is a big culprit as well.

http://stats.nba.com/players/passing...DARY_AST&dir=1