Reply With QuoteSo you're saying that Nerlens Noel is gonna have a killer midrange when he gets in the NBA? Sign me up!
Reading through this thread it reminded me of an article I read earlier in the day. Which player on our team doesn't need to improve their mid-range shooting? Right, all of them could stand to improve their mid-range shooting. Keep that in mind when you read the article (and no, I'm not wishing an injury on any of our players, though, improved mid-range shooting would be the silver lining).
Editors note: apparently the achilles injury Gana Diop had has no impact on shooting ability.
Link to Article w/ Pictures
Athletes who tear an anterior cruciate ligament will inevitably face questions about whether they'll ever be the same.
In basketball, when players return from this injury, many of them definitely aren't the same: They're better—at least when it comes to the crucial area of midrange shooting.
Because the rehabilitation for the injury allows them to stand, but not to do anything vigorous, NBA players who suffer it find themselves making do by playing what amounts to an endless game of H-O-R-S-E.
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Rose injured his knee on April 28.
Nene, a Washington Wizards center, was a 23.8% shooter from midrange before he tore his ACL in 2005. Since then, he's knocking down about 41% of his midrange attempts.
Before tearing his ACL in 2008 as a member of the Philadelphia 76ers, Jason Smith shot a below-average 36% from midrange. Since returning, he's shot 45%, including 50.3% (78-for-155) this season playing for New Orleans. "It kind of gives you a laser focus on shooting, because it's really all you can work on for a while," said Smith. "Now, my midrange jumper is a big part of my game, where it really wasn't before."
In coming months and seasons, this funny little example of unintended consequences is headed for a series of high-profile tests. Chicago Bulls star Derrick Rose, 24, tore his ACL in last season's playoffs, a year after becoming the youngest person to win the NBA's Most Valuable Player award. Last month, Boston Celtics guard Rajon Rondo, a then-26-year-old, four-time All-Star, tore his right ACL.
Just two weeks ago, the player many had projected to be the No. 1 pick in the 2013 NBA draft, Kentucky's Nerlens Noel, tore his left ACL.
Can these players really expect to emerge as better midrange shooters?
To find out, the Journal looked at 34 NBA players who have torn an ACL since 2003. To factor out the effects of age, we limited the sample to the 20 players who were 26 years or younger at the time of the injury. Since coming back, those players have shot 42% from 16 to 23 feet—up from 38% before their injuries, a fairly significant improvement.
That statistic looks even more persuasive when you consider that for players in that age range who have spent at least five years in the NBA and did not sustain an ACL injury—midrange shooting actually declined to 39% in their most recent season from 40% when they were rookies, according to Stats LLC.
Among those showing improvement after ACL work are Utah's Al Jefferson and Los Angeles Clippers guard Willie Green. Memphis guard Tony Allen's midrange shots stayed the same after ACL surgery, while former Orlando forward Pat Garrity's became slightly worse.
The sample is likely to grow: In 2012, when labor talks delayed the season and dramatically reduced the number of days off once it began, five NBA players suffered ACL injuries, up from an average of less than 3.5 over the last decade.
Rose and New York Knicks guard Iman Shumpert went down within hours of each other last year on April 28, the first day of the playoffs. Days later, Knicks guard Baron Davis tore his ACL. All five of last year's victims were point guards.
Over time, ACL surgery has become much less intrusive—enabling players who were once sidelined for a year or more to return within eight months, if not sooner, which might start to reduce the improvements to shooting.
David Altchek, a knee surgeon and NBA medical consultant, forbids his players from doing any basketball-related activities for two months after surgery to allow swelling to go down. After 12 or 16 weeks, Altchek says he allows players to begin doing "light shooting," meaning set, stationary shots rather than jump shots.
But in months four to eight, he says, the medical protocol is shoot, shoot, shoot.
"Your knee isn't even strong enough to do jumping for a while," said Shumpert, a 22-year-old who made his season-debut in January. "It's a lot of set catching and shooting; probably more than I'd ever really done before."
In the weeks ahead, the league will become fixated on the return of Rose, perhaps the highest-profile NBA player ever to sustain the injury in his prime. He's begun to practice fully, but the Bulls remain cautious and haven't publicly discussed a return date. Rose's teammate Richard Hamilton, long seen as one of the game's best midrange shooters, said it wouldn't surprise him if Rose improved.
"There's two things I've noticed about him: One is his body, and how much strength he's added through his rehab. The other is how much time he's spent on that midrange, standstill jump shot," Hamilton said. "The only way to improve at something is to work on it, and everyone knows how hard he has been working on it."
Rose says he may not return until next season. And he plays down any talk about his midrange shooting. "I'm working on my shot," he told reporters, "but you're not going to label me as a shooter [when I return]. My game will always be driving."
If Rose does come back this season, don't expect to see his advances right away: these improvements tend to emerge in the second season. Smith of the Hornets, for instance, was just 32.4% from midrange when he returned in 2009.
"You just have really heavy, fatigued legs that first year back," Smith said. "I felt like I was coming up short on a lot of my shots. It takes a while to get used to your legs taking that pounding again."
So you're saying that Nerlens Noel is gonna have a killer midrange when he gets in the NBA? Sign me up!
That would be nice if we were a part of that equation!
It would also be nice if all the NBA players put in the time that some of the superstars did in tuning up their shot, without being forced to because of an injury (not saying most don't, but it's easy to see that at least a few don't think about basketball much during the offseason).
That article is a bit misleading. Jason Smith and Nene's injuries both happened years ago. You'd have to look at their stats coming off the ACL tear not their stats now. That's just too much time to improve and work on your shot to correlate the increase in effectiveness and efficiency with the injury. Smith came back shooting only at 32.9% afterwards. That kinda shows that it has nothing to do with the injury. It's just practice even after the injury that led to the better productivity.
Being serious though, I do think that the injury will help Noel some (not saying that it's a good thing that he got hurt, but it could potentially include some positives). Before you even mentioned that article, I thought that he would have some time to work on his free throw/midrange some. But also he will have time to hopefully eat a lot and put on some weight before he comes into the league.
Honestly, looking towards the ultimate goal which is of course a championship, I'm ready to scrap this current project we've got ourselves in. Scrap it, and try to start a basically whole new team around a big. A great big. My preferred big would be Derrick Favors, if we could get him from Utah. Clearly he's ready for a starting role and what better place to start your career as the new face of a up and coming franchise? Next piece is a young potential bucket getter. I think this COULD be players like Jeremy Lamb, Shabazz coming up here. they're potential scoring threats so now we would have a great big and potential scorer. Next, I'd find a pg comparable to Kirk Hinrich. Runs the offense well and is a great shooter. Then you just fit pieces together here and there and go somewhere with it.(I dont feel the need to say what I want out of every player 1-12).Again, I know I'll probably get some disagreements but these are just my personal thoughts.
Last edited by Whiz Kid; 02-26-2013 at 10:21 PM.
Favors imo isnt someone you "build" your team around.
And no way we can let Kemba walk. Dude is looking like a sure fire All Star in the coming years.
Our issue / need is simple. Keep sucking ass until we land a superstar which will hopefully be nxt year in Wiggins or Parker.
Yeah Favors is going to be a very good player but won't be a franchise player. Utah has the same problem as Detroit with two big men who will be very good but no star to bring it all together. Wiggins looks like the real deal and what most people don't realize is that he is actually able to play the 2 and probably will in the NBA in my opinion being that he lacks the ideal size for a 3 since he is barely 200 pounds. But chances of us getting him are slim.
But then again it takes 3-4 years to truly evaluate a draft class. This draft class is being labeled weak for it's lack of depth and lack of a can't miss prospect but for all we know one of these players in this draft might be a superstar. Just have to wait and see if you drafted Joe Alexander (2008 draft) who was supposed to be a sure thing or Nicolas Batum (2008 draft) who went 17 picks after Alexander. It takes years to know though.
I agree about Kemba though. He is close to being an all star already and this is only his second season. The numbers he is putting up on his sorry team are impressive.
Watched a torrent of the Denver game last night, Kemba looks a class above the rest of the team. The whole team looked better than what ive been watching with the Raptors recently, and there are whispers of playoffs nearby for them. I think its just a case of 1 or 2 players before the Cats become a lot more competitive. Not saying playoff contenders, but with luck, next year can be a lot better
We shouldnt want to get a couple "good" players to be better. That will only drop our draft position and we will never get a superstar / franchise player being a respectable / 1st round playoff exit team.
Get rid of all the bad contracts. Sign players on short contracts to fill out the roster with Kemba, MKG, Biz, Mully, and JT.
Suck until we land a star. With what we have now and the player we get this draft we will be on the way.
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