Potential Upside Podcast write up- EP 4 Is it safe to critically analyze CJ McCollum?

[riverman]

Enjoyed the podcast

 

[Dan Marang]

But speaking of finishing inside. CJ is not the only one struggling with that. Damian Lillard..his sophmore year he only shot 51%....which is bad. Last year, he shot all the way up to 64% which is tremendous for a guard at the 0-3 range, and this year, he's all the way back down to 51%. CJ's FG% from 0-3 also feel 5% points from last year to this year.

So does this have something to do with the team itself??

Part of it is that Dame and CJ are both on the smaller side. There have been guys that are fantastic finishers that have also been small, but like anything else it's a natural skill. Rondo comes to mind in that sense. Knowing how to use your body, get a defender off balance, and finishing at the rim- those are all raw skills that some have more of naturally while others need to grow them.

As you said, Dame has demonstrated some growth. I think part of the regression this season is the lack of an interior presence. Not that Plumlee and Davis aren't nice players- but defenders don't have to hug them like a DeAndre Jordan, Rudy Gobert, Steven Adams, etc. Davis is the better of the 2 around the rim but he's not someone you constantly fear rolling to the rim on an alley oops out of the pick and roll- not to mention Dame has only recently added the lob to his game- and he's not drawing attention like a LMA would where you can't leave him when a guard penetrates. That allows bigs to shade towards the penetration a step more, making it just a bit harder for Dame/CJ to finish.

My basic belief is that neither CJ nor Dame are natural interior finishers. They both have plenty of room for improvement- but ultimately I think the it does have something to do with the team. How much of the it is b/c of the team would require access to data I don't currently have (individual sets and results).