He’s going to have to learn to take care of the ball and if ever wants to be an efficient slasher.
LeVert has also had turnover issues this season.
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Does the efficiency metric also account for MAAR being the only player on the team who can consistently keep his man in front of him? Does it account for the amount of fouls he draws? How about the stress he puts on a defense by taking it to the rim? Does it account for how his style of play can wear down the person guarding him?
People on here and mgoblog quote this efficiency stat like its the end all be all of justifying playing time.
Levert being “the man” hurts the spacing of JB’s offense.
He’s a great individual player, but he can dribble the offense right out of a flow.
I thought that happened last year, but I haven’t seen it as much this year. There were stretches of the Xavier game where Michigan would run a set for Irvin, a set for Walton, etc. in succession and they were just missing shots. The offense was flowing fine against Elon when Walton was playing well.
If so many people cite efficiency stats, then don’t you think there is a reason for that? I don’t understand why people are so dismissive of useful stats. Just because it doesn’t support your agenda doesn’t mean that efficiency stats are useless.
LeVert still gets stuck in the lane more than he should and loses the ball more than he should. The point about MAAR is that even if he had struggles last year and didn’t quite fit into the JB system at times, his slashing ability (as the fastest player on the team, bar none) MAY TRANSLATE into an unexpected advantage GIVEN THE NEW RULES ENFORCEMENT that seemingly allows slashers to get to the line at will. Note that none of this takes anything away from LeVert as the team’s leader and best player.
I have watched a fair bit of Kentucky this year. Jamal Murray is a projected top-five pick in the draft and one of the craftiest and most skilled guards in college basketball – probably better, skill-wise, than LeVert when considering that Murray has neither LeVert’s length nor his athleticism and yet is still projected to go higher in the draft. Nonetheless, Murray has been a turnover machine in the early going because like LeVert he often tries to do too much by himself, and opponents have responded by smothering him in the lane – despite having two elite guards and an elite post man to pass to. Seems like Calipari has finally clipped his wings a bit to force him to distribute. I am not challenging the likely game plan for the Bahamas but if they come out 1-2 or worse, they will need to make an adjustment other than just “give LeVert the ball.” Like, maybe, just maybe, exploit the new rules and get MAAR involved. Adapt.
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Yes, LeVert is turning the ball over more than we’d like him to. That isn’t hard for a LeVert fan to admit. Why are MAAR fans so defensive when deficiencies in his game are expressed?
That being said, even though LeVert has been turning the ball over more this year than usual, he still has a better TO%, AST%, AST:TO Ratio than MAAR. Then, of course, his shooting percentages are much better.
Yes, I am fine with conceding that MAAR’s slashing ability could be useful with how the game is being called this year. Are you willing to concede that he needs to be much more efficient going forward? a 20% turnover rate with a 33% field goal percentage just isn’t going to cut it.
Yes I am willing to concede that.
I’ve never once said the efficiency stat is useless. I do think that it’s a stat that gets thrown around way too much to prove a point one way or another.
Personally, I think it’s a very overrated stat.
I think it’s yet to be determined how the offense flows this year. We will have a better idea tonight.
Of course you do.
I couldn’t agree more with you Windsor. MAAR is a year older and the game is a different game than it was last year. Drawing any conclusions on him isn’t fair yet.
Don’t be that guy. No one has drawn conclusions on MAAR. I like MAAR a lot and think he will be a double digit scorer next season for us. His game isn’t perfect, though, and you should stop getting so defensive when legitimate concerns about his play are expressed.
Efficiency is overrated? Efficiency plus volume is basically the only stat that should matter.
Defensive? “Try to keep up”
Dylan, I have 3 real close friends that coach at the D2 and D1 level (one of them played for JB) I just texted all 3 of them if they use the efficiency stat when determining if a kid should get more playing time. Every single one of them response with either “What are you talking about?” “huh?” and “?”.
It’s a cool stat for us to throw around and make charts and graphs with, but for a coach, there are other things that determine if a kid gets more playing time.
The second someone expressed very legitimate concerns about MAAR’s play, you got defensive for him. Maybe you are related to him or something? I don’t know why else you refuse to acknowledge areas of his game that need improvement.
Ask them if turnovers and field goal percentage are factors in determining playing time.