Dame and CJ long term - has your opinion changed?

[Dan Marang]

Well, I've posted before that I think he could be the starting point guard on another team and put up All-Star numbers. He gave us a taste of that when Dame was out. But my point was that he hadn't shown much of that ability before this season. I was skeptical of him playing any minutes at point guard. All of those strengths that you listed: floaters, handles, crafty plays, accuracy, turnovers, finishing at the rim; those all make him a great scorer, but not necessarily a point guard. He has shown a much better ability to find the open man this season, and run the offense.

One thing people tend to forget about Dame is that he wasn't this amazing passer coming into the league. He made the RIGHT pass more often than anything. However, he still doesn't take the right risk/reward scenarios all that often, he's not a flashy/creative passer, and he's one of the worst lob tossing PGs in recent memory (this drives me crazy by the way b/c I love me some lobs! RIP Andre Miller's lob passes).

However, he has greatly improved his efficiency, particularly on the drive and kick game. His drives are down, but his points per pass, assist %, hockey assists, and shot percentage increased by passes are all up significantly over the last 2+ months. If this was a course of 10 games I could say small sample size, but it appears he's really turned a corner in this aspect of his game.

Besides his scoring outbursts and improvements across the board there- his passing/driving is something that I'm going to go deeper into on the podcast tomorrow. There's a lot there that doesn't get discussed normally, and with the extra day I'm now working it in.

 

[Natebishop3]

One thing people tend to forget about Dame is that he wasn't this amazing passer coming into the league. He made the RIGHT pass more often than anything. However, he still doesn't take the right risk/reward scenarios all that often, he's not a flashy/creative passer, and he's one of the worst lob tossing PGs in recent memory (this drives me crazy by the way b/c I love me some lobs! RIP Andre Miller's lob passes).

However, he has greatly improved his efficiency, particularly on the drive and kick game. His drives are down, but his points per pass, assist %, hockey assists, and shot percentage increased by passes are all up significantly over the last 2+ months. If this was a course of 10 games I could say small sample size, but it appears he's really turned a corner in this aspect of his game.

Besides his scoring outbursts and improvements across the board there- his passing/driving is something that I'm going to go deeper into on the podcast tomorrow. There's a lot there that doesn't get discussed normally, and with the extra day I'm now working it in.

Yeah, I wish he threw more lobs. Plumlee is a guy who would benefit from playing with someone like an Andre Miller.

 

[Draco]

I wonder what Dame's assists stats would look like if he had as good of a shooter at the SF spot as Durant is.

Probably closer to 9 per game. Westbrook put up 8.6 assists last year, with Durant only playing 27 total games.

Yeah but how higher would Westbrook be if he had CJ 40% 3 point shooting in place of Andre Roberson 25%?

Damn did I just defend Westbrook...

 

[Natebishop3]

Yeah but how higher would Westbrook be if he had CJ 40% 3 point shooting in place of Andre Roberson 25%?

Damn did I just defend Westbrook...

Dame and RW play very similarly though, in that they get into the paint and then kick it out or hand it off for a dunk. Dame takes a lot more threes though, which might account for the lower assist numbers. Dame is 2nd in the league in 3PA per game, while RW is tied for 44th.

 

[Draco]

Funny, finishing at the rim is the past thing I put CJ above Lillard at.

From 3-10 feet CJ is 45% for his career and Dame is 30%. Dame is 32% this season. That might be more floater range than at the rim but its an area on the court CJ is among the best in the league at while Dame is below average.

 

[cardova08]

I guess I'd understand the dilemma if CJ were just an undersized scorer, kind of like Wall and Beal in Washington. Beal isn't really a playmaker so the teams defensive issues are more noticeable if Beal isn't shooting well. CJ is the perfect compliment to DL because of how he runs that 2nd team and how interchangeable those two are. Will CJ ever be the scorer that DL or Paul George are? Probably not, but it's not like Paul George and CJ are interchangeable. What kind of attention does a disgruntled star need? How many shots are they taking? How does the offense flow with a guy that requires X amount of iso looks a game?
CJ is the perfect Robin because he doesn't require a bunch of shots to be effective. Plus you take DL out and have CJ run the show and there isn't a drop off in how things flow out there. How many teams can you say that about? Someone mentioned the Clippers and if you take CP out, you have Crawford running the show which basically means that Crawford just takes a bunch of shots. CJ is a facilitator which gives you two guys that can get others open shots.
If I'm a shooter, Portland has to be the first place I'm looking to go because of how those two can penetrate. You mean that not only do I have Lillard getting me open shots, but there's this other guy that can do the exact same thing? If I'm Harrison Barnes, I'm saying sign me up for that.
Spacing and shooting is where this league is at and you have two guys that can do and set up those very things. Why on earth would you give that up?

 

[B-Roy]

From 3-10 feet CJ is 45% for his career and Dame is 30%. Dame is 32% this season. That might be more floater range than at the rim but its an area on the court CJ is among the best in the league at while Dame is below average.

Definitely not at the rim range.