Weird (bad) big man shooting stat

Natty

Natty

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Discovered a random stat just now that's troubling and I'm curious why it is.

Basically a VERY good true shooting percentage for a big is anything over 60% (Skeen in 2011, Mo twice, Tillman twice, Santos-Silva's soph year, Hason last year, etc)...anything over 65% is ELITE (Obi Toppin stuff). Anything over 55% is good, anything from 50-55% is, I think, the bare minimum considering the distance your shots are supposed to be coming from (plus the free throw factor added into that number)...but then there's below 50%, which is officially bad. Below is a list of sub-50% true shooting percentages since Mike first got to town for what I consider "true bigs".

Big man true shooting % since 2010

Under 50%
2010 - Kirill 45.8%
2011 - Reddic 49.6%, Veal 48.3% (2)
2012 - Haley 48.7%
2013 - Guest 47.5%, Tuoyo 34.9% (2)
2014 - Shannon 42.9%, Guest 37.7% (2)
2015- Guest 46.9%
2016 - none
2017 - none
2018 - Djonkam 41.9%
2019 - Mobley* 48.2%
2021 - MBJ* 47.6%, BMB 29.5% (2)
2022 - DeLoach 41.8%, Ward 40.9%, MBJ* 46.4%, Nichols 40.7% (4)

*note that Mobley played more like a wing than a big and so far MBJ offensively is doing the same.
*also note that none of the bigs posted sub-50% true shooting % numbers during the Will Wade years, although Hamdy got darn close

Overall I'm just a bit fascinated that we've got these three long athletes this year in DeLoach, Ward and Nichols posting sub-Lewis Djonkam freshman year shooting numbers. That is MIND BLOWING to me, especially considering two of them (Hason and Jimmy) have posted 60%+ true shooting percentages already during their careers and DeLoach is long, athletic AND...I think has shown some promising signs as far as post moves and awareness down low.

I'm so curious to what coach thinks about that and why he thinks it's happening (not saying that to be annoying or a hater, just genuinely curious to why they think that is). Those dudes are far too talented (and long...and athletic) to be posting numbers that low. I'd imagine the easy answer is point guard play, but still, that's insanely low.
 
Also statistically speaking MBJ needs to abandon the threes. He's 3-17 so far career (17.6%). If he left that out of his game his true shooting percentage would jump up to 53.6%.
 
With the exception of a Levi lay up or a Ward dunk, anything inside by the bigs seems like it's just thrown up and hoping for the best.
 
These next gen x statistics blow me away.

--------------
GO RAMS!
Beat Camels!!
 
ShoeSh1ne said:
With the exception of a Levi lay up or a Ward dunk, anything inside by the bigs seems like it's just thrown up and hoping for the best.
Click to expand...

That’s because they shy away from contact. They should be initiating the contact, especially inside the circle. None of our bigs go up strong and Ward is the softest of all when it comes to his post play.
 
Like you said Mobley did not really belong on the list. Played most of his time on the outside. Djonkham was a late pick-up during that transition year for Mike and he played 5% of the minutes that year as did Bacon. Can’t really count that. MKB is not playing in the post much and three pointers are hurting his TS stats, so I’m not sure he should be counted as a “big”. Deloach is still getting his feet wet as a freshman and his sample size is very small. Hopefully Nichols stats will improve as sample size improves. My big concern is Ward. I know he was under the weather in Atlantis, and I hope that’s all it is. Aside from dunks, he doesn’t seem to get many put back opportunities and does not seem to be able to create his own shot. He is a rim protector extraordinaire, but on offense he seems to lack the footwork necessary or a go to move to put himself into a good scoring opportunity. Also, with our lack of three point scoring threats this season, the post gets pretty congested. IMO, I wouldn’t even consider this an issue in most instances.
 
Natty said:
Also statistically speaking MBJ needs to abandon the threes. He's 3-17 so far career (17.6%). If he left that out of his game his true shooting percentage would jump up to 53.6%.
Click to expand...
RamDanFan said:
That’s because they shy away from contact. They should be initiating the contact, especially inside the circle. None of our bigs go up strong and Ward is the softest of all when it comes to his post play.
Click to expand...

Guys guys

He just needs more reps

Post in thread 'Welcome Mikeal Brown Jones!!' https://www.vcuramnation.com/forums/threads/welcome-mikeal-brown-jones.18225/post-959475
 
Natty said:
Also statistically speaking MBJ needs to abandon the threes. He's 3-17 so far career (17.6%). If he left that out of his game his true shooting percentage would jump up to 53.6%.
Click to expand...
not sure I agree - would suggest as long as the shot is not forced and relatively open, I have no problem with a 3 attempt by MBJ - we are talking a statistically insignificant period (7 shots one year and 6 shots another) to make any statistically valid conclusions
would you tell MR to eliminate Ace attempting 3s (he shot 26% last year a poor to below avg % for a guard on 50 attempts) I would not.
MBJ's 3 point shot fundamentally looks just as good as any shooter we have from deep and typically is an open look

college and especially pro basketball has evolved to a bunch of guys 6'8" and taller that can shoot from deep (watched two freshman on Friday Holmgren at Gonzaga and Banchero at Duke taking 3s in normal flow of their offenses and clearly both shoot far better in the paint than the 25-30% from deep, but I can guarantee neither Few nor Coach K are going to restrict their attempts from deep)
Even Timme on Gonzaga launches about one 3 a game and he is fantastic near the rim (so analytically is a low value attempt for him)
maybe Banks at VCU should never a shoot a 3 again too! (I say that tongue and cheek - I believe as long as open and in the normal flow he should shoot em)
Let's give MBJ some space for the next 10-15 games to shoot 3s as long as they are open and in the normal flow of the offense- if he still is sub 20% then Yeah - MR should put a shooting restriction on him from deep

I am a believer in if you are going to run an offense with bigs on perimeter then you should recruit bigs that can take and make a 3 (one of my big pet peeves is MR's offense with Ward setting high picks and having a near 0% chance of making a step back 3) I like to see offensive patterns that put players in positions that they can score from
I also believe more of our sets should be going north and south (toward the rim) and not east and west (toward the sidelines in that weave like motion - though some E-W motion is necessary to spread the floor
go rams and as always I enjoy these posts that present views on parts of the game like this one does (and yeah I am humble enough to know I can be just as wrong as the next guy)
go rams
 
Natty said:
Also statistically speaking MBJ needs to abandon the threes. He's 3-17 so far career (17.6%). If he left that out of his game his true shooting percentage would jump up to 53.6%.
Click to expand...
I don’t agree. We need big men that can hit perimeter shots. And he has a good shot. Numbers can be deceiving when there’s not a large sample size.
 
VCU Heel said:
I don’t agree. We need big men that can hit perimeter shots. And he has a good shot. Numbers can be deceiving when there’s not a large sample size.
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I think he should continue to take those shots, but not when it's the last possession. Preferably he works on it when we have points to spare.
 
Violet Ram said:
I think he should continue to take those shots, but not when it's the last possession. Preferably he works on it when we have points to spare.
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He nailed one that helped seal the game two days prior against Syracuse. And the shot against UConn looked good and he was wide open. I’ll take that shot over some of the 24 foot fall away 3s that Vince was missing.
 
BaNgMyPrOgRaM said:
These next gen x statistics blow me away.

--------------
GO RAMS!
Beat Camels!!
Click to expand...
LOL yep. Anyone who puts stock in a stat that suggests Djunk and DeLoach are effectively the same offensive player is huffing glue.

The problem for our non-Levi bigs is that they are terrible, awful, putrid FT shooters and FTs are a component of true shooting. MBJ is blistering the nets at a 58% rate, Hason is at 33%, Jimmy Nichols is at 20%, and Jaylen, well, Jaylen's FT shooting percentage is too low to reveal on a family site like this.
 
N Mollen said:
LOL yep. Anyone who puts stock in a stat that suggests Djunk and DeLoach are effectively the same offensive player is huffing glue.

The problem for our non-Levi bigs is that they are terrible, awful, putrid FT shooters and FTs are a component of true shooting. MBJ is blistering the nets at a 58% rate, Hason is at 33%, Jimmy Nichols is at 20%, and Jaylen, well, Jaylen's FT shooting percentage is too low to reveal on a family site like this.
Click to expand...
And Jaylen is anything but soft...kid is not afraid to mix it up underneath
 
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