Martim 🏀

🏀📊 Still on the theme of his impending retirement, a little more love towards Chris Paul, showing how his peak offensive impact ranks along with the other great players of the last 20 years:

➡️X: On Court ORTG
⬆️Y: On / Off ORTG
🟡Color: On / Off Teammate TS%

🏀📊 Hey, here's Amen Thompson's evolution as a driver and pick-and-roll scorer as this season has gone along, and he shakes off what was a less effective start.

That's all. Have a good Thursday.
#Rockets

🏀📊 Sochan got lost in the shuffle of the many young players in San Antonio.

His offensive limitations make it really difficult to play him next to these driving guards and Wembanyama, as he would give an easy helping point for the defense to clog the paint.

(1/2) ⏬

Imagjno que no inicio da época devia estar a ser retorno baixo para o custo...

Well, if you also want to check out the post about Sochan being released by the Spurs, here it is:

bsky.app/profile/memp...

🏀📊 Hey, here's Amen Thompson's evolution as a driver and pick-and-roll scorer as this season has gone along, and he shakes off what was a less effective start.

That's all. Have a good Thursday.
#Rockets

His time as an initiator was mainly a tanking operation and the fit with Wemby was awkward from the jump, relegating Sochan to the bench.

Even amongst other low-usage forwards from the top 20 of the '22 draft, he's quickly fallen out of favor.

I remain curious about a 2nd draft chance for him...

🏀📊 Sochan got lost in the shuffle of the many young players in San Antonio.

His offensive limitations make it really difficult to play him next to these driving guards and Wembanyama, as he would give an easy helping point for the defense to clog the paint.

(1/2) ⏬

We'll always have Alvaiázere 🫡

PS: Forgot to say this when discussing his long midrange tendencies.

Sharpe takes a ton of these - 94th percentile in share of attempts from that range - but he's the 2nd worst shooter in the top 20 for that share!

And then the worst shooter in the top 50 of Pull Up 2s per 75!!

In the end, there are just wrinkles in his game he needs to iron out. The handle being more functional and his decision-making to begin with...

The good news is that he's still only 22 and he's got a long-term deal that never goes over 13% of the cap.

Best of luck.

Whenever he's an off-ball slasher or attacks close outs, I like what I see a lot more than when he's initiating a possession.

And fair play to him, he's never driven more than this season. He's trying to up his rim pressure.

But we've already discussed the mixed results there.

Finally, I should touch on the defense being better with him.

Well, I just put a lot of that on the fact he's playing with the starters, achored by Clingan & Camara, and the fact most of his minutes are tagged alongside Toumani.

And I get why the coaches would do that...

There is really no other way to say it, his shot selection is just very bad. How many games have I seen where he takes the most absurd shots that he has no business taking? Pretty much all of them.

And that gets us back to CleaningTheGlass. One thing you see digging deeper is that in his minutes, the long midrange attempts for Portland go up 3% - a 95th percentile On/Off mark for that stat!

This has been a pattern for his entire career.

It's why so many of his good games are reliant on his pull-ups hitting at a high rate. Because that is the main counter to these issues. And lord knows he can end up settling for those.

His 9.8 pull-ups per 75 ranks #13 in the NBA; Only Cam Thomas tries more with a lower eFG%.

But getting to the playmaking bit that I skipped, the thing is... it just doesn't exist?

He has a 3rd percentile ratio of passes per touch.

Just as bad? His 3rd percentile ratio of passes that result in turnovers. (I focused on lost balls but I never said this wasn't a problem)

We know that Shaedon can be an amazing finisher at the rim and that very few players have his explosiveness as a leaper. But he does a lot of that work in assisted makes or when there are wide open lanes to attack - like in transition.

It is, after all, his strongest play-type:

And you see similar problems with his on-ball attacks if you specifically look at driving data. He's just not very efficient despite having a high volume of driving attempts.

Very single-minded attacks that are bound to result in a shot attempt or a turnover.

I wanna start with the turnovers. I do think it's very easy to tie that to him.

You might think that it's about bad playmaking, but actually losing the ball and getting stripped is a huge issue.

Sharpe has the WORST ratio of Lost Ball TOs per touch in the NBA (>=250 MP)!!

First and foremost, let's breakdown the On/Off Net Rating into 4 factors, using Cleaning The Glass:

Relevant takeaways:
- Offense is worse with him on the court
- Increased TOV%
- Defense has been better in his minutes

🏀 You know what? Let's nerd out and dive a bit deeper into this.

If you will indulge me, I'm about to ramble a bit about Shaedon Sharpe and what the data says about his impact on this team:

🧵⏬

🏀📊 I don't usually focus a ton on defensive rebounding as a part of your defensive value, but it is a very obvious reason why Jaren Jackson isn't suited to play the 5, despite having the size to do so.

He's now playing with Nurkic and I can't wait to see him with Kessler.

Since 2023-24, looking at CleaningTheGlass for on-court opponent offensive rebounding rates:

JJJ at 5:
29.7 OREB%; +1.85% vs LgAvg; 2362 MP

JJJ at 4:
26.3 OREB%; -1.55% vs LgAvg; 3306 MP

For context, a 3.4% swing is the difference from 1st to 23rd in Team Opp. OREB% in '25-26

🏀📊 I don't usually focus a ton on defensive rebounding as a part of your defensive value, but it is a very obvious reason why Jaren Jackson isn't suited to play the 5, despite having the size to do so.

He's now playing with Nurkic and I can't wait to see him with Kessler.

Miles Bridges trying a sucker punch is very on brand. Would not expect better from him... but surprised he would swing at a man.

It's shameful because violence isn't justice, but Isaiah Stewart has now done more than the commissioner to handle Bridges.

🏀🧵 A thread with the posts relating to the NBA trade deadline moves where I had some data visualizations made, in chronological order:

1. Starting with Krejci to the Blazers:

bsky.app/profile/memp...

So much pointless conversations about tanking while players are actively and publicly working with gambling companies that profit from rumors, innuendo and narratives that they themselves control - not to mention the actual games!

THIS is actually what is wrong with the NBA.

8. Cam Thomas is waived by the Nets

bsky.app/profile/memp...

7. Can Tyus Jones learn to shoot again now that he's left Orlando?

bsky.app/profile/memp...