Here are two sets of stats from B1G freshmen PG in recent years. Can you guess who is who? (Hint: one played for Michigan).
Player A:
Mins: 26.7
PPG: 7.9
RPG: 3.0
APG: 2.9
SPG: 0.6
TOPG: 1.5
FG%: .429
FT%: .793
3P%: .410
Player B
Mins:28.1
PPG: 7.6
RPG: 2.8
APG: 4.1
SPG: 0.8
TOPG: 2.1
FG%: .403
FT%: .798
3Pt%: .303
I won’t spoil it for you guys… Interesting comparison. Which one would you take? Can Player A develop into Player B as a sophomore? I think that would make most Michigan fans happy.
Pretty sure Player B is Yogi, I’ve looked these up before b/t Walton & Yogi. I don’t think Walton will score as much as Yogi has to though. Crean’s offense last year was “Here Yogi, do something with the ball”
Pretty sure Player B is Yogi, I've looked these up before b/t Walton & Yogi. I don't think Walton will score as much as Yogi has to though. Crean's offense last year was "Here Yogi, do something with the ball"
Yep. But Michigan will need Walton to score IMO… I think he can. Curious how far he can up his assist numbers, that’ll be the key for him developing into an All B1G type.
Seems like in the middle of the 2012-2013 season there were quite a few people saying if Walton could play a similar role to Yogi than Michigan should be pretty good… Well we certainly got that.
Walton should have more help than Yogi had this year, but I would obviously be happy with a similar development. However, It would be a bit surprising if Walton upped his usage rate to 25% like yogi. Kind of going off on a tangent, but I think it would be a very good sign for our offense if Walton and Irvin are right around 20% and LeVert is in the 25-28% range.
Winner! Player A is Walton '13-'14 and Player B is Ferrell '12-'13. Those freshmen year stats are very similar. Walton had slighlty fewer assists, but still had an almost identical A-TO ratio, and shot the ball much better. Teams had pretty similar years too: B1G titles, with UM going a round farther in the tourney. And both teams lost a lot, providing the PGs a lot more possessions the following year.
Now, I don’t think that Walton’s scoring will go up quite to 17, like Yogi’s did, partially because UM’s offense will be more balanced, but I think it very well could go up to the 13-15 range. And I don’t think Walton’s A-TO ratio will drop as much as Yogi’s did.
Walton was a little quiet late in the year, but he still shot 54% from 3 in the tourney with 12 assists to 5 TOs. I’m sure Dylan will put together some P&R points-per-possession charts, etc., before next year, but I bet Walton will grade out quite well. With Nik and GRIII gone, Walton is going to get a lot more opportunities in the offense. I will not be suprised to see him somewhere on an the All-B1G lists next year.
Still have to do Walton’s report card… If I recall correctly he actually didn’t grade out that well on P&Rs… compared to some other Michigan players of late. He doesn’t have the size to be a great distribution threat. Should be an interesting development to watch.
Look forward to seeing it. Walton is a good enough finisher in traffic and shooter that he can perhaps elevate his P&R game in the same way that Trey did. Not that he’ll be the POY, but he can be a finisher off that action. And improve at finding passing angles. Some shorter guards do really well in P&Rs, and JB & co. are very good at tailoring the offense to the players’ strengths. Overall, Walton is excellent in the open court and quite a good shooter. Improving as a primary guard in the half-court offense determine just how good he becomes.