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Initially with CJ coming into the league, I was concerned with scoring efficiency. Could he shoot it well enough from the 2 spot? In reality, in the NBA, no smaller players shoot it well anymore. 50% is a pipe dream now for guards in the NBA.
If you look at the Rookie class, the candidates for ROY are MCW and Oladipo.
MCW is at 39.3% from the field
Oladipo is at 41.4% from the field
CJ is at 41.2% from the field
So, he is shooting it as well as his top peers.
If you look around the league at the stars. Only 2 shoot a high percentage from the field. Lebron shoots an unreal 57%, and KD knocks it down at 50.7%. Outside of those 2, if you look at the star guards or perimeter guys in the NBA, all of their shooting percentages are rather pedestrian.
Melo 45.3%
Harden 46.2%
Curry 46.3%
DeRozen 43.1%
Beal 40.8%
George 42.8%
Westbrook 43.2%
Irving 42.8%
Wall 43.5%
Lowry 42.0%
Really, nobody shoots it well anymore. Sad commentary on the NBA and the quality of play, which has continued to dwindle. My favorite shooting guard of all time was Andrew Toney. In his first 5 NBA seasons, before injuries derailed what was going to be a great career, he shot these numbers:
80-81 – 49.5%
81-82 – 52.2%
82-83 – 50.1%
83-84 – 52.7%
84-85 – 49.2%
Those numbers are unheard of today from the guard spot. For how great Kobe is, he has never shot 50% from the field. His best ever for a season was 46.9%, and career, he is 45.4%. Jordan, on the other hand, shot over 50% from the field 6 times, and for his career shot essentially 50%, at 49.7%. His last couple of years hurt his average as well, post-Bulls.
So, CJ shoots it basically like his peers in this new NBA. Coaches must not like other parts of his game, perhaps his defense, or his ability to get to the rim? I’m hoping he was just way behind after injury, and taking long time to catch up. But, you would expect his minutes to be increasing. The decreasing minutes is an issue. I have a lot of faith in his game. Perhaps a wise GM, takes a shot on acquiring him and ramps up his minutes to see what he can do.