Yi Jianlian & Free Throw Rate
Jan 13, 2010 Advanced Statistics, Clifford Robinson, Del Harris, Kiki, NAS At Practice, Yi
I wrote something on this a little while back for the Daily Dime, but that was only three games in, so wanted to revisit it today (10 games since his return). Free Throw Rate measures how many foul shot attempts a player gets compared to the number of shots he takes. His Free Throw Rate at the time of my Daily Dime piece was .44, today it sits at .46. This is good for 34th in the league and is a tremendous upgrade from his Free Throw Rate of last year (.25).
So why is Free Throw Rate so important that I am talking about this again? Well getting to the line is important when you are looking for consistency in a player. In past years, Yi would put together a nice string of games, but then drop off, and it all had to do with his shooting. He was a feast or famine player when it came to his jumper and if his shot wasn’t going down, he wasn’t being a productive player.
Getting to the foul line resolves this issue. I mean, look at Yi’s last game against San Antonio. He was just 4-17 from the field in San Antonio, but he was able to score 16 points because he got himself to the line 10 times (hitting 8 of them). Yi is a good enough foul shooter that when he gets to the line he is basically getting free points. Not only does that help you in terms of production, but getting to the foul line also helps shooters get out of funks. If you are in a shooting skid, and go to the foul line, that is where you work the kinks out. You get 10 seconds and of no defense to take a shoot, get your stroke down, and most importantly you get to see the shot go in. Yi was in a big time shooting funk last year, and in my opinion, he didn’t get to the line often enough last year to break out of it. This year is a totally different story. He has attempted 74 foul shots so far this year in 14 games compared to the 123 he took all of last year.
So where did this come from, a lot of people (including myself) has speculated Yi’s new toughness was a result of his injuries this year, and when he came back, he was just a hungrier player. This may be true, but what nobody really has talked about was Kiki and Del’s effect on Yi’s attacking ways. It’s impossible to teach toughness though right? That’s what I thought too, but then I saw Yi working with Kiki, Del Harris, and Clifford Robinson yesterday:
Free Throw Rate measures how many foul shot attempts a player gets compared to the number of shots he takes.
Say what you will of Kiki’s coaching style, but it is obvious that Kiki knows that being able to take shots and still get his shot off is a key to Yi’s success. He has been stressing it to him all year, and it is obviously working. Another fun stat, Yi’s And 1 rate (And 1s/Field Goals Attempted) is up from 1.6 last year to 2.5 this year.
Tuesday Practice Report – Kris Humphries Edition
Jan 12, 2010 Chris Quinn, Courtney Lee, Devin Harris, Hump Hump, Kris Humphries, NAS At Practice
First things first. Kris Humprhies passed his physical, and the deal to send Eduardo Najera is now official. Humphries got to practice in time to participate through the second half of practice. When the media was allowed into practice, Humpries was on a far basket working on some post moves as well as the pick and roll game with Chris Quinn:
Jarvis Hayes and Courtney Lee were also working after practice. They were running through some shooting drills:
A funny story about Kris, as he was walking off the court, Nets’ PR man Aaron Harris had to introduce himself to Humphries before he introduced Humphries to the media. When he talked to us, the main focus of the conversation was why he hasn’t stuck on a team (the Nets will be his fourth team). Well if you think about it, he has been behind Carlos Boozer, Chris Bosh, and Dirk Nowitzki. Kris was also a topic of conversation when the media talked to Kiki. Kiki also talked about Devin Harris. He is in fact playing tomorrow, so that is something to look forward to. Here are the full interviews:
Kris’ Interview:
Kiki’s Interview:
As for Devin, he answered a few questions, talking about the injuries, and why he insists on playing despite not being 100%:
One final note on practice as a whole. We have been getting some e-mails from fans at the game (thanks guys, we read them and do appreciate them!) about how the Nets bench was in shambles. How the Nets players were yelling at each other and not being focused, while the coaches look disgruntled. I waited until today to see if this kind of stuff was true, and I have to say, I don’t see it. I mean when a team is losing (in the moment), there is frustration. Players and coaches yell. Today at practice the mood was great and the guys were laughing.
A specific example, Del Harris spent the entire time Terrence Williams was shooting foul shots, watching him and talking to him. Del was really coaching Terrence up, and the mood looked good. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but Del, Terrence, and CDR (who was there as well) were laughing it up.
I think that this is important, because with all the losing, players tend to get negative and when they are negative, they don’t play at their best (in practice if that negativity is there, they don’t focus and they don’t learn). This stuff is important.
“Change” The Theme Of Nets’ Practice Today
Dec 21, 2009 Chris Douglas-Roberts, Del Harris, Jarvis Hayes, Kiki, NAS At Practice, Rafer Alston, Yi
I was once again allowed to go to Nets practice today, and the theme of today’s practice was “change.” Before we get to the Kiki interview I got, I wanted to go over some things I noticed. First, it was a long practice, the media assembled around noon in the waiting room, we weren’t allowed in practice until 1. When everyone entered the practice, the team was still running through some things. I have only been to 3 practices this year, but I have to say the energy was different. Everyone on the court were going through in game situations, and they were going hard. The team looked like they were enjoying themselves as well. They were celebrating after every big play, and looking like a real team. Also, from what we saw, the team was doing everything together as one unit. When Lawrence Frank was coaching the team, he had everyone split up, but Kiki had everyone together.
The other thing that the media got to see, was Del Harris coaching the Nets up. The part that we got to see was the Nets working on their pick and roll defense and offense, as well as doubling the big man and how they handle getting double teamed. Coach Harris was stopping play every once in a while to correct something or to give the guys something to look for. It was awesome to watch. As for coach Kiki, he wasn’t just standing around, he was pulling guys aside and coaching them up individually.
After the practice, when the media gathered around Kiki, he went out of his way to tell everyone this is the team’s first real practice. “This is the first chance we’ve had to have a real practice.” Kiki also talked about the length of the practice, “I am not a proponent of long practices, but today we needed it.” So what did they talk about? Well Kiki went on to explain, “We tried to do a couple things a little bit differently,” he went on, “Obviously when you come in and the team is 0-18, you have to change some things, and we have.”
One thing that won’t change is Kiki urging his team to run. “I think we are a very good transition team when we get out and run. Devin is very good in the open court. Our guys are scorers and they can take it to the basket.” Meanwhile stopping the break seems to be a problem, and Kiki is looking to correct it. “Transition defense is something we need to work on. As you guys can see, it is going to take a little while.”
The rest of the interview was talking about the team’s injuries. Kiki opened up these talks by joking, “Everybody is still injured.” But he then got serious and talked about the three guys who are still battling back from injury.
Yi:
Will he play Wednesday? “We don’t know, he practiced today, obviously he hasn’t played in 6-7 weeks. It takes more than 1 or 2 practices to be ready. He wants to play very badly, we just have to make a judgment call to see if it is the right thing to do,” Kiki said. I personally saw Yi running through some conditioning drills, and I was very impressed. He was running full speed with no sign of injury besides the wrap on his knee. He also looked very good when going through the live stuff as well.
Jarvis Hayes:
Kiki talked about him briefly. “Jarvis practiced, got a good run in . We pulled him out a little bit early, as we should. It was great to see him back on the court.” Jarvis was pulled out before the media was allowed in, but Kiki is right, it is good to see him out on the court. Once Jarvis and Yi returns, the Nets have 2 shooters at their disposal.
CDR:
CDR put to rest any chance of him playing. He told reporters that he was doubtful for Wednesday, but he went out of his way to say that he wasn’t worried too much about the injury. He said that it was ok because it was just an ankle and not his knee. I would expect him back by Saturday, but ankle sprains are funny. Kiki said that we will know more when they re-evaluate after the game on Wednesday.
An interesting note here. The Nets were going starters for second unit, and Rafer and Devin were on the court with Courtney playing the three. That could be how this team approaches playing the Timberwolves without CDR. If Rafer and Devin are both playing at the same time, who is the backup point? Terrence Williams was taking PG responsibilities for the second unit.
What I Learned From Nets Practice Last Thursday
Oct 26, 2009 Courtney Lee, Devin Harris, Lawrence Frank, NAS At Practice, Sean Williams
As you guys probably guessed from all of the reports we have been putting out, NetsAreScorching was credentialed for last Thursday’s practice, and I just wanted to share with you some stuff I noticed while watching.
- The first thing that I noticed was who was working with big man guru (in my opinion), assistant coach Roy Rogers. Brook was there of course, but the other person was Sean Williams. In fact, Sean was one of the last people off of the practice court on Thursday. Sean Williams has caught a lot of flack from Nets fans (myself included), but it is starting to look like he is embracing this final chance of his. I am starting to think he could be this team’s spark of the bench this year, providing high energy minutes when the team looks out of whack (sort of like what happened during the Knicks’ game in the Garden).
- The other two guys that were left on the court with Sean were Devin Harris and Courtney Lee. It is becoming clear that these two are really starting to create a bond, probably due to the fact that they are following similar career paths. The two were joking around while finishing up shooting drills (Courtney Lee’s stroke looks so smooth up close), and they closed practice with a half-court shooting contest (Courtney won). A bond like this between your PG and SG is very important because they rely on each other to provide scoring opportunities. If they know where each other is going to be on the court, it just becomes easier to set each other up.
- Lawrence Frank is a really nice and engaging person. I know I haven’t really been too fond of his coaching decisions, but I am starting to understand why the media and his team loves him. When we were all gathered around for his post-practice interview, he was all smiles and cracking jokes. When I asked him a question, he didn’t shoot me a snide “who is this kid” look, but he looked me in the eyes and answered my question.
- That being said, I still have to disagree with a few things he said during the conference. As of Thursday, Frank didn’t sit down and discuss roles with his players one-on-one. He did that on Sunday, “On Sunday guys got to know who’s going to be playing and who’s not.” That isn’t a smart move in my opinion. I would have hoped that this would have been done before the final preseason game, because it would help simulate more situations they will be facing during the season. With that being said though, it can be hard to do that with all of the injuries the Nets experienced this offseason.
- He also kind of dismissed the Knicks killing the Nets from the three point line. ”They have good shooters,” Frank said. I mean he did say the Nets could have defended the three better, “We also contributed to it…We struggled not getting into the ball…we got sucked in on penetration.” Those are all things I agree with, but it still irks me because the Knicks weren’t good from 3 at all against anyone else but the Nets (38% from 3 vs. the Nets – 29% vs. everyone else).