11-25-2019, 02:17 PM
(11-25-2019, 06:27 AM)DanSchwartzman Wrote: Interesting stat...the team hasn't lost a game in which THJ gets 2 assists or more. During the five game win streak he's had 5,4,4,2 and 3 assists. What is interesting about his assists this season is they are just a little above his career average, but his TO% is half his career average. Many have said if we could just get 16/17 Hardaway (his most efficient shooting year), we'd have something. Many of his stats this season look just like his 16/17 stats (the exception is 2% which is down, but he's taking far fewer of them)Thanks for unearthing these stats, Dan. I saw somewhere (sorry, can't remember the source) that Tim was not squaring his feet up to the basket, and the coaches noticed and worked with him on it. Whether that was the issue or not, his mechanics are better now, and that is showing in a big way in his shooting. Agree that this hot streak may not be sustainable, but even an evolution from a questionable rotation player to a useful starter is big.
His TS% is the highest it has been since then (.551 now vs. .568 then). His 3% at .367 is the highest it has ever been (.358 in 16/17). The main reason for that is he's taking 1/3 of his 3's from the corner and hitting half of them. He hit 41% of his corner 3's during his brief time with the team last season. He probably won't stay as hot as he's been lately nor as cold as he was earlier. I do agree with the idea that playing next to SUPER high usage Luka protects Hardaway from himself. Some of that is on Luka and some of it is on the coaching staff which has asked THJ to play a different role.