Thatās a big ask ā¦ Grant could always shoot - wasnāt really allowed to at TN - just like Anthony Gill at UVA.
He also manhandled Power 5 opponents in the paint at TN - Gardner hasnāt shown the size or athleticism to do so.
But yes - if Gardner can hit threes consistently - that would be a game changer for him against the bigger dudes in the ACC.
Love it @BDragon ! Gonna be a good one. But the Celtics have a secret analytical weaponā¦.with @DavetheWave on the game-plan, Celts are going to be tough to beat! Letās go!
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We need a thumbs down for Forumā¦.
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Already had the conference call with Ime and staff ā¦ stay on the shooters and box out Bam and Dedmon
Bizarro CTEā¦ been watching this English Championship playoff game tonight and one of the coaches lost his coolā¦ got a yellow card. Perhaps heās related to Juwan Howard?
Edit: This game between Nottingham Forest and Sheffield United is insaneā¦ tied 3-3 in the 80th minute in the second leg.
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Grant Williams is the stretch dream comp based on height, weight and recruiting ranking (and even there Williams was already higher rated).
I mean, at the same age Gardner is now, Williams was coming off his NBA rookie season and was 2 time SEC player of the year and a consensus 1st team all American. I emphasize the word dream because thereās no realistic chance of Gardnerās 5th year matching any season of Williams career.
But why do you say that Williams could always shoot? His 29% 3 point shooting in 103 attempts at Tennessee? Or his 25% in 96 attempts as an NBA rookie? Shooting is a skill that some guys can develop in their mid-20s. Blake Griffin and Brook Lopez couldnāt always shoot.
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Blake and Brook couldnāt shoot? I officiated like 10 of Brookās HS and AAU games. Saw him hit like 20 threes in a row in warmups as a 17 year old. And he was shooting them from college range.
And Grant shot 38% from 3 his freshman year and 33% his jr. year. And for his career he only attempted 103 threes in 104 games ā¦ he also stated in interviews that Barnes didnāt want him shooting out there because they needed him inside.
And yes thereās a big difference in college threes and NBA threes. Thatās why PJ Tucker almost exclusively shoots college threes in the pros. ā¦ 22 feet in the corners in the NBA.
22-2 run to start the thirdā¦ Did the Celtics forget about the second half? Also Jimmy Butler did his best Braxton Key impression with that block in the corner late. Cās donāt want none of that Dade county smoke.
lack of depth hurts them ā¦ 2 starters out matters. Unfortunate timing.
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For sure, good of Miami being able to take advantage of the Celtics being down 2 important players.
I do realize that you consider yourself a better talent evaluator and coach than anyone else in this board and most college coaches too, but you know as well as anyone else that warmups with no defenders and no pressure is not at all a useful data point for a player evaluation. Or maybe youāre right and all these people youāre a better coach than are wrong, who really knows?
Listen, you want to say Grant Williams and Brook Lopez could always shoot, thatās your prerogative. I say a guy canāt shoot until he proves in actual games that he can shoot 3s and Grant Williams didnāt show that ability until his 2nd NBA season, Lopez in his 9th season and Griffin in his 7th or 8th season.
Barnes mightāve told Williams to play inside, but if Williams could shoot like Sam Hauser, Barnes would found a way to get him more looks from deep to at the very least diversify the offense.
My contention is that shooting can be a learned skill for some guys. Just because Gardner hadnāt shot 3s in his career so far doesnāt mean heāll never be able to. Unlikely, yes, but not impossible.
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My point on Grant ā¦ Iām a Celtics fan so Iāve seen a ton of film on him. And many interviews. He stated, as did Gill, that their college coach didnāt want them on the perimeter. Itās not because the skill wasnāt there for those two. Itās because they had an inside game skillset that nobody else on their teams had - not even close ā¦ so their inside skillset was much higher WAR than their outside skillset.
And for Williams - the transition from 20ā9" in college to the pro 23ā9" is real. Once he had a year to adjust he went right to 37.2% last year and 41% this year.
For Lopez - he was hitting threes with ease in high school while his brother played low post a lot more on their travel teams. He could always shoot - just wasnāt encouraged to so in college or pros - same reason - more valuable to his team inside vs the other options they had in there. Once allowed to shoot he went right to being a 34-36% shooter.
As to Gardner - there are some people who absolutely get better enough at it to incorporate it effectively into their game. Most of those guys do it on catch and shoot opportunitiesā¦ I can see a Reece/Gardner pick and roll where Gardner pops and will get some wide open looks.
Iāve seen compare him to PJ Tucker as a pro comp.
But Tucker started shooting threes at more than 1 per game his 2nd full year and shot 39% from three that year.
As a shooter myself I look at form and balance and legs and finish, etc. ā¦ Gardner didnāt have those things as a three point shooter on the ones I saw ā¦ Iām hoping he can though. Iād be fine with Gardner being at 35% on 2 attempts per game.
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p.s. on Tucker - it also helps that all he does on offense is stand in the corner and wait for the ball - allows him to have energy and legs.
Been watching a lot of NBA Playoffs. Such a high skill level. Itās a shooters league and if you want to play in the NBA you have to be able to shoot the hell out of it. Just amazing how good these guys are now.
And then there is thisā¦. This is the pregame before Dallas demolished the Suns in Game 7 on the road. My guess is that Luka wouldnāt stand for this shit before a game 7ā¦. Can you imagine Larry or Michael or Magic doing this before a game 7? Or anyone else for that matterā¦. Get your body and your head right and be ready to play. This is Phoenix before the start of game 7. They lost 123-90 at homeā¦
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Thatās not a pre-game speech this is a pre game speech (25 sec mark)
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Nah luka was probably doing the same or having a pregame hookah session.
Itās their pregame handshakes. Every team does it. Lebron been doing it last 10 years. Just a different time
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@chavlicek15 you and I can always say we had the original long handshake. Used to go well over 30 seconds on ours with multi parts and change signals.
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Yes we did. It was a work of art. I just hate the lack of focus before a big game that the Suns had. They got smoked and werenāt ready to play. This could be an old man yelling at the clouds scenario so i accept that. but you can get beat on your home court like that - especially in a game 7.
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I think youāre on to something. Iām all for being loose before a game and having fun, but thereās time and a place for everything. Game 7 pre-game is one of those time itās time to lock in and get everyone on the same page.
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They lost by 33 at homeā¦in game 7. Willing to bet Dallas wasnāt doing this before the game.
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