Lauri Markkanen

[Jefe]

Dirks rookie year was below average but he did have a handful of 15-29PT games. 8PPG 3RPG shooting 40/20%. Then he went on to score 17PPG, 21PPG, 23, 25...

[Merkin]

Dirk was less than impressive his first year.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/pl ... tdi01.html" target="_blank

[prh]

One thing to remember is when Dirk was a rookie, he didn't really fit in with how NBA teams played. These days he and Lauri do, which should help with Lauri's career trajectory.

EDIT: To clarify, that's not a knock on Dirk at all. Dirk in incredible and was truly a transformative player in the NBA. He's a huge reason that guys like Lauri exist and are taken seriously.

[Spaceman Spiff]

The consensus here (mostly) seems to be the Lauri will be very good but not quite up to Dirk. I'm wondering what you see that gives you that opinion. Is there something about Lauri phiysically that would keep him behind? How good was Dirk his first few games in the League?

I don't have have a strong opinion one way or another but it seems like his ceiling is unknown at this time. He could be a lot better that Dirk. Who knows?

Dirk had 13 seasons of over 20 ppg. There are not many players that do that in today's NBA. There are a lot of things that can keep people short of their ceiling. Brief list:

-Mental
-Failure to develop
-Injuries
-Inconsistency
-Personal issues
-Team utilization/organizational stability

Lauri has great potential, but Dirk did things very few players do regardless of talent.

[YoDeFoe]

Add in that Dirk has been a pretty gifted passer and was able to get to the line at an elite rate (beyond inventing a whole "type" of player as well as a signature unstoppable move).

If Lauri can get his assist % up into the teens and his FTr into the >.35 region he'll be an All Star.

[Spaceman Spiff]

One thing to remember is when Dirk was a rookie, he didn't really fit in with how NBA teams played. These days he and Lauri do, which should help with Lauri's career trajectory.

EDIT: To clarify, that's not a knock on Dirk at all. Dirk in incredible and was truly a transformative player in the NBA. He's a huge reason that guys like Lauri exist and are taken seriously.

That is true, and a reason why I threw "team utilization" into my list. The Mavs always let Dirk be himself instead of trying to shoehorn him into a more traditional role. If he had landed with a team that saw 7 feet and tried to make him into a low post PF/C, his career is a whole different trajectory.

[Merkin]

[rgdeuce]

Nuts. What a difference an offseason makes. Miller went from "the coach who cant get past the elite 8 and ships off busts to the NBA" to John Wooden to these bozos. Just think of what things are going to look like once guys from this years team get into the league and get their legs under them. You could very well see NBA all star games with 4 or 5 Arizona players down the road.

[YoDeFoe]

Shaq gave a shoutout to Coach Miller on NBA Game Time during the Bulls highlights. Said Miller told him Lauri would be a top pick and an NBA stud "and he was right."

NBA Game Time is nice, if he's doing the same on TNT that's even nicer. Not a bad cheerleader to have for us.

[UAEebs86]

Hope you registered that trademark Gumby

[Main Event]

I kinda like King of the North lol. I'm so happy he's shutting a lot of people up early, they caught a lot of shit for that trade

[CalStateTempe]

The king of the north! The king of the north!

[gumby]

One thing to remember is when Dirk was a rookie, he didn't really fit in with how NBA teams played. These days he and Lauri do, which should help with Lauri's career trajectory.

EDIT: To clarify, that's not a knock on Dirk at all. Dirk in incredible and was truly a transformative player in the NBA. He's a huge reason that guys like Lauri exist and are taken seriously.

Fit is important. Steve Nash was ordinary with Dallas, even though they had Dirk. Took off with Phoenix (paired with Stoudemire).

[gumby]

I kinda like King of the North lol. I'm so happy he's shutting a lot of people up early, they caught a lot of shit for that trade

Comes a Norseman.

[Merkin]

[Jefe]

[YoDeFoe]

Great share, Jefe.

Hoiberg sounds just like Miller.

[gumby]

Kinda surprised to see Kuzma's numbers. Lauri needs to get those shooting percentages up.

Kuzma -- 16.4 ppg, 7 rbs. – 50%/31.3%

Markkenen -- 14.8, 7.6 -- 43.7%/36.4%

Meanwhile, Aaron Gordon has hit half of his 60 attempts from three. Career: 31 percent. Crazy improvement. Raise your hand if you thought Gordon would be more accurate from 3 at this point than LM.

[dcZONAfan]

Kinda surprised to see Kuzma's numbers. Lauri needs to get those shooting percentages up.

Kuzma -- 16.4 ppg, 7 rbs. – 50%/31.3%

Markkenen -- 14.8, 7.6 -- 43.7%/36.4%

Meanwhile, Aaron Gordon has hit half of his 60 attempts from three. Career: 31 percent. Crazy improvement. Raise your hand if you thought Gordon would be more accurate from 3 at this point than LM.

To be fair to Lauri, if he had as many wide open threes as AG, it's possible he might be shooting 70% from 3 right now

[TucsonClip]

Kinda surprised to see Kuzma's numbers. Lauri needs to get those shooting percentages up.

Kuzma -- 16.4 ppg, 7 rbs. – 50%/31.3%

Markkenen -- 14.8, 7.6 -- 43.7%/36.4%

Meanwhile, Aaron Gordon has hit half of his 60 attempts from three. Career: 31 percent. Crazy improvement. Raise your hand if you thought Gordon would be more accurate from 3 at this point than LM.

To be fair to Lauri, if he had as many wide open threes as AG, it's possible he might be shooting 70% from 3 right now

6+ feet of space is considered "wide open."

Lauri: 34.2% FREQ - 1.6/3.9 per game @ 41.2%
Gordon: 29.4% FREQ - 2.0/3.5 per game @ 57.8%

11.2% of Gordon's threes are via pull up @ 50% 3PT%.
2% of Lauri's threes are via pull up @ 33.3% 3PT%.

[dcZONAfan]

Kinda surprised to see Kuzma's numbers. Lauri needs to get those shooting percentages up.

Kuzma -- 16.4 ppg, 7 rbs. – 50%/31.3%

Markkenen -- 14.8, 7.6 -- 43.7%/36.4%

Meanwhile, Aaron Gordon has hit half of his 60 attempts from three. Career: 31 percent. Crazy improvement. Raise your hand if you thought Gordon would be more accurate from 3 at this point than LM.

To be fair to Lauri, if he had as many wide open threes as AG, it's possible he might be shooting 70% from 3 right now

6+ feet of space is considered "wide open."

Lauri: 34.2% FREQ - 1.6/3.9 per game @ 41.2%
Gordon: 29.4% FREQ - 2.0/3.5 per game @ 57.8%

11.2% of Gordon's threes are via pull up @ 50% 3PT%.
2% of Lauri's threes are via pull up @ 33.3% 3PT%.

Well I'll be damned

[PennZona20]

Aaron Gordon is a really hard worker and has been putting in the work on his game. He’s also playing at the 4 as a smaller athletic 4 where he will thrive the most.

The kid has always had a very high ceiling once the J was a weapon and he could focus on developing it. There’s a reason he went top 5 in the draft. This is also his 4th year in the Association. Lauri in his 4th year will be scary offensively. Both are going to be multiple all-stars.

Heck even RHJ has a decent looking J these days for the Nets. It’s amazing what these athletes can do when they train year round on their game.

[gumby]

Kinda surprised to see Kuzma's numbers. Lauri needs to get those shooting percentages up.

Kuzma -- 16.4 ppg, 7 rbs. – 50%/31.3%

Markkenen -- 14.8, 7.6 -- 43.7%/36.4%

Meanwhile, Aaron Gordon has hit half of his 60 attempts from three. Career: 31 percent. Crazy improvement. Raise your hand if you thought Gordon would be more accurate from 3 at this point than LM.

To be fair to Lauri, if he had as many wide open threes as AG, it's possible he might be shooting 70% from 3 right now

True.

Kinda surprised to see Kuzma's numbers. Lauri needs to get those shooting percentages up.

Kuzma -- 16.4 ppg, 7 rbs. – 50%/31.3%

Markkenen -- 14.8, 7.6 -- 43.7%/36.4%

Meanwhile, Aaron Gordon has hit half of his 60 attempts from three. Career: 31 percent. Crazy improvement. Raise your hand if you thought Gordon would be more accurate from 3 at this point than LM.

To be fair to Lauri, if he had as many wide open threes as AG, it's possible he might be shooting 70% from 3 right now

6+ feet of space is considered "wide open."

Lauri: 34.2% FREQ - 1.6/3.9 per game @ 41.2%
Gordon: 29.4% FREQ - 2.0/3.5 per game @ 57.8%

11.2% of Gordon's threes are via pull up @ 50% 3PT%.
2% of Lauri's threes are via pull up @ 33.3% 3PT%.

I take it back. Damn, that's really something.

[SunnyAZ]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFVzVdfekN0

Lauri put up 26 and 13 tonight on the Suns.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Kinda surprised to see Kuzma's numbers. Lauri needs to get those shooting percentages up.

Kuzma -- 16.4 ppg, 7 rbs. – 50%/31.3%

Markkenen -- 14.8, 7.6 -- 43.7%/36.4%

Meanwhile, Aaron Gordon has hit half of his 60 attempts from three. Career: 31 percent. Crazy improvement. Raise your hand if you thought Gordon would be more accurate from 3 at this point than LM.

Lauri's fine. The Bulls have no one else to demand attention, so he's not exactly getting a ton of easy looks.

Watching their game last night, they don't exactly help him a ton either. He was rolling and there were multiple instances where Jerian Grant threw it to Robin Lopez in the post instead of swinging it to Lauri.

[dcZONAfan]

Kinda surprised to see Kuzma's numbers. Lauri needs to get those shooting percentages up.

Kuzma -- 16.4 ppg, 7 rbs. – 50%/31.3%

Markkenen -- 14.8, 7.6 -- 43.7%/36.4%

Meanwhile, Aaron Gordon has hit half of his 60 attempts from three. Career: 31 percent. Crazy improvement. Raise your hand if you thought Gordon would be more accurate from 3 at this point than LM.

Lauri's fine. The Bulls have no one else to demand attention, so he's not exactly getting a ton of easy looks.

Watching their game last night, they don't exactly help him a ton either. He was rolling and there were multiple instances where Jerian Grant threw it to Robin Lopez in the post instead of swinging it to Lauri.

Yeah, he and Valentine had Lauri WIDE open at least 3 times in about a 6 play span and made the wrong play. It was infuriating, especially since Lauri was hot and had just made a few tough shots.

[rgdeuce]

Kinda surprised to see Kuzma's numbers. Lauri needs to get those shooting percentages up.

Kuzma -- 16.4 ppg, 7 rbs. – 50%/31.3%

Markkenen -- 14.8, 7.6 -- 43.7%/36.4%

Meanwhile, Aaron Gordon has hit half of his 60 attempts from three. Career: 31 percent. Crazy improvement. Raise your hand if you thought Gordon would be more accurate from 3 at this point than LM.

The thing that kills Lauri's shooting percentage is the percentage of his shots that are 3 point attempts. Seven of his 12 attempts in a game are three point attempts. He is still shooting 55% on 2-point field goal attempts.

[ghostwhitehorse]

https://www.azdesertswarm.com/basketbal ... cago-bulls" target="_blank

They don’t call it ‘A Player’s Program’ for nothing.

Even being 2,000 miles away in the Windy City, Chicago Bulls rookie Lauri Markkanen is still keeping the Tucson link strong with a friendly trick shot competition against current Arizona freshman Alex Barcello.

[Jefe]

Thats awesome

Raise your hand if you thought Gordon would be more accurate from 3 at this point than LM.

76/180 FTs in college...

[Merkin]

[gumby]

That HORSE competition is awesome. I might have to take on EOCT long distance.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Kinda surprised to see Kuzma's numbers. Lauri needs to get those shooting percentages up.

Kuzma -- 16.4 ppg, 7 rbs. – 50%/31.3%

Markkenen -- 14.8, 7.6 -- 43.7%/36.4%

Meanwhile, Aaron Gordon has hit half of his 60 attempts from three. Career: 31 percent. Crazy improvement. Raise your hand if you thought Gordon would be more accurate from 3 at this point than LM.

The thing that kills Lauri's shooting percentage is the percentage of his shots that are 3 point attempts. Seven of his 12 attempts in a game are three point attempts. He is still shooting 55% on 2-point field goal attempts.

This is right. When you look at the TSP for Kuzma and Lauri, there's no difference.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/pl ... aky01.html" target="_blank

https://www.basketball-reference.com/pl ... kla01.html" target="_blank

They're both over 58%. Lauri just shoots a lot of threes which leads to a lower raw percent but it evens out when you look at the total points produced by the shots.

[TucsonClip]

Kinda surprised to see Kuzma's numbers. Lauri needs to get those shooting percentages up.

Kuzma -- 16.4 ppg, 7 rbs. – 50%/31.3%

Markkenen -- 14.8, 7.6 -- 43.7%/36.4%

Meanwhile, Aaron Gordon has hit half of his 60 attempts from three. Career: 31 percent. Crazy improvement. Raise your hand if you thought Gordon would be more accurate from 3 at this point than LM.

The thing that kills Lauri's shooting percentage is the percentage of his shots that are 3 point attempts. Seven of his 12 attempts in a game are three point attempts. He is still shooting 55% on 2-point field goal attempts.

This is right. When you look at the TSP for Kuzma and Lauri, there's no difference.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/pl ... aky01.html" target="_blank

https://www.basketball-reference.com/pl ... kla01.html" target="_blank

They're both over 58%. Lauri just shoots a lot of threes which leads to a lower raw percent but it evens out when you look at the total points produced by the shots.

Yup, eFG% at 55.3% and 56%.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Kinda surprised to see Kuzma's numbers. Lauri needs to get those shooting percentages up.

Kuzma -- 16.4 ppg, 7 rbs. – 50%/31.3%

Markkenen -- 14.8, 7.6 -- 43.7%/36.4%

Meanwhile, Aaron Gordon has hit half of his 60 attempts from three. Career: 31 percent. Crazy improvement. Raise your hand if you thought Gordon would be more accurate from 3 at this point than LM.

The thing that kills Lauri's shooting percentage is the percentage of his shots that are 3 point attempts. Seven of his 12 attempts in a game are three point attempts. He is still shooting 55% on 2-point field goal attempts.

This is right. When you look at the TSP for Kuzma and Lauri, there's no difference.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/pl ... aky01.html" target="_blank

https://www.basketball-reference.com/pl ... kla01.html" target="_blank

They're both over 58%. Lauri just shoots a lot of threes which leads to a lower raw percent but it evens out when you look at the total points produced by the shots.

Yup, eFG% at 55.3% and 56%.

That's really what matters. People who take a lot of 3's will always lag in raw totals but that doesn't change the stats that actually measure your ability.

[elriop20]

and some how Arizona found a way to not give this dude the ball for the last 10 minutes of our tourny game