AROUND the NBA: Pat Bev Suspended 4 Games Next Season| PHX Fires Vogel

[DanSchwartzgan]

A couple of questions. How many of those +25 minutes are in games without Luka and Kyrie? We all saw he was great as the lead man when stars were out. Definitely looked much different. He will have to learn and get his shots in games with both stars on the court to maximize his potential.

Is it possible his >25 minutes games are when he is playing well and his <25 are when he is not? Did he play less because others had to play or did he play less because he just wasn't particularly impactful in those games? Basically saying, that Green has some good games where he plays a lot and some not so great ones where he doesn't. 

You and FG are basically asking the same things, so hopefully this answers both of you.

1.  12 of the 33 >25 minute games were when we were missing one or more of the lead guards (I'm counting SD's presence as a proxy for Kyrie prior to the trade).  He had six 20+ point games for the season and four of those came with both Luka and Kyrie sitting.  So, there is some correlation between scoring and the availability of stars but not necessarily minutes.  Did missing guys help Josh get minutes?  Of course it did.  But, we were full strength about 2/3's of the instances where Josh got over 25 minutes.

2.  BTW, you seem to infer that Josh having the ability to replace some of the scoring punch when it is missing and defer to our all-NBA guys when they are playing is a bad thing.  I don't see it that way at all.  What is the biggest complaint about THJ?  For me it is the fact that he has this clock in his head that says he has to shoot if he hasn't gotten a shot up in a certain amount of time (quality of the shot be damned).  I DO NOT want my 22 year old occasional starter doing that.  I count it a strength that he can adapt his game like that at such a young age and be what the team needs him to be.  The timidity is very much a 21/22 issue.  We saw a ton less of it last season.

3.  21 of the >25 minute games were at full strength (both Luka and Kyrie or Luka and SD).  There isn't really evidence these happened because he was playing well or more aggressive.  In fact, there are all sorts of low scoring games in this sample.  12 of the 21 games saw him score in single digits including one game where he got 0 points in 28 minutes.  

Back quite a few years ago when I played fantasy basketball (quite successfully), Josh's upcoming season was the kind of 'fat pitch' I'd look for.  An emerging young player who improves every year and whose team traded away the veteran that was blocking him.  If I could find that guy who also got more efficient the MORE he shot (very rare), I would be all over that.  Finding guys like that who can dramatically outplay the round he's drafted in is the easiest way to win your league.  Josh is in a fantastic position and doesn't turn 23 for another month and a half.  The general disbelief in his game shocks me.