Here is another blind stats comparison, including one Michigan player – this time it’s freshman B1G wings from last year:
Player A:
Mins: 15.4
PPG: 6.7
RPG: 1.3
APG: 0.4
FG%: 43%
3Pt%: 43%
FT%: 71%
TOPG: 0.4
USG: 21.9%
ORtg: 119
Player B:
Mins: 20.5
PPG: 8.0
RPG: 1.8
APG: 0.8
FG%: 36%
3Pt%: 37%
FT%: 87%
TOPG: 0.7
USG: 19.9%
ORtg: 112.3
Player C:
Mins: 19.5
PPG: 6.2
FG%: 46%
3Pt%: 39%
FT%: 81
RPG: 1.7
APG: 1.1
TOPG:1.0
USG: 18.2%
ORTG: 107
These are year long stats, by the way, not conference only. Any guesses? Anyone look best?
Player A = Zak Irvin?
No idea on the other two. I honestly don’t even know who the other (non-Michigan) B1G freshman ARE, let alone knowing well enough to guess which stats go with which player.
I’m guessing Irvin, Stephens from Purdue, and Kendrick Nunn.
geoffclarke gets the prize. And the reason for the comparison is that those two were the wings on the B1G all-freshman team. Irvin matches up quite well. Probably just flat better than Stephens (Player B), almost the same profile but with better %s in slightly less minutes. Nunn (Player C) isn’t quite as 3-reliant, a little more diversified, but also less efficient. Overall, Irvin matched up quite well – fairly comparable, probably better over the course of the year, or at least projects better for next year – than the two wings on the B1G all-freshman team.
I like the blind comparisons similar to Walton and Yogi better. I think that is more relevant to try to see what kind of jump can be made next season.
I would like to hope Irvin will be a lot better than Nunn and Stephens. If we are only shooting for him to be as good as them then next year may not be as successful as we’d hope. I want to see a guy who put up Irvin stats his freshman year and then made a big jump his sophomore year.
Irvin to Tim and Nik would be interesting.
Zak is going to get a lot of opportunities with every team focusing on Caris. I’m hoping he gets some solid work in this summer on D, because his lateral movement is very suspect on the perimeter. No, it’s downright subpar.
Ehhh Irvin has more tools to work with defensively than Nik.
Well, the problem is Zak played half as many minutes (15.4) than Tim (30.7) or Nik (30.5). But here are per-40 minute stats for freshman year for the guys guestavo mentioned (not blind, because there wouldn’t be much point):
Zak
FG%: - 43%
3Pt%: - 43%
FT%: - 71%
3PtA - 10.3
2PtA -3.5
FtA - 1.5
RB - 3.5
AST - 0.9
TO - 1.1
PTS - 17.4
Nik
FG%: - 46%
3Pt%: - 44%
FT%: - 85%
3PtA - 6.9
2PtA -3.9
FtA - 2.9
RB - 3.9
AST - 1.7
TO - 1.5
PTS - 14.5
Tim
FG%: - 42%
3Pt%: - 37%
FT%: - 77%
3PtA - 7.7
2PtA -6.4
FtA - 4.4
RB - 5.0
AST - 2.2
TO - 1.7
PTS - 18.1
Zak’s numbers look pretty good, overall. A couple notes: Tim had a really good freshman year. What’s interesting is how consistent his stats by year are in some ways, except that he shot the ball from 3 so much worse his 2nd year (but somewhat better from 2).
Zak didn’t actually shoot much fewer 2s per min than Nik - but he did shoot a ton more 3s. He did however have less FtA and less assists. Part of it could be personnel - he was often the fourth ball-handler on the court, when Nik was the 3rd.
As for Nunn and Stephens, they were the All-B1G freshman wings, so comparing favorably to them seems like a good thing. Other teams will have good players. Nunn in particular looks to do some pretty good things next year. That being said, Zak’s recruiting profile and his usage rate/ORtg suggest he could be poised to be even better. But Zak still will likely be the 3rd ballhandler on the team, with Chatman also having more ballhandling capabilities than 4th option guys on the other teams.
I think Nunn is going to be a solid player in this league. I really look forward to Zak’s more diversified game next season. Hopefully he’s working a ton on his handle - I think he has more to work with at this stage than Hardaway had. I think his mid-range game could be great. And I’m interested to see if he can be a good decision-maker as the ball-handler in ball screens.