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Player Gary Trent Jr.

Just a mistake-free body for now. With all the dumb stuff happening around him, that’s good enough. K sees that, as Trent leads the team in minutes.

120 offensive rating on 17% usage is all we could’ve hoped for in the early season, though the efficiency isn’t coming from expected places. Terrible jumpshooting, bad shot selection, but great at everything else offensively, including low turnovers, near perfect FT shooting and great finishing at the rim. He’s easily fixable and therefore has a high ceiling this season. You can see why he was thought of as a definite OAD and, assuming his shooting gets better, it’s still very likely that he’s gone after this season.

Duke’s offense goes to another level with Trent as a high 30s 3pt shooter instead of 30% and as a smarter shooter instead of a Kennard wannabe from midrange. Hopefully, he cuts his 2pt jumper rate in half from the current baffling 37%. Allen, a smart shooter, has a 20% 2pt jumper rate this season, for comparison. Trent shoots even worse from midrange than on 3s, and given the lack of spacing provided by his teammates, taking midrange shots instead of 3s makes no sense at all.

Tatum got this concept after a few months and is flourishing in the NBA with the midrange shots cut from his repertoire. I’m hoping the Duke coaches don’t wait that long to teach Trent what kind of shot selection the NBA is looking for these days. Start now. Absolutely no point in allowing the midrange jumpers to continue much longer. Doesn’t help Trent’s pro prospects, doesn’t help Duke.

Trent is shooting 81% at the rim. That’s even higher than Bagley or Carter, who are obviously excellent at the rim. One major problem with Trent is that he only takes 14% of his shots at the rim. This isn’t due to him being bad at penetrating - only 55% of his shots at the rim are assisted, which is lower than everyone in the normal rotation except Duval. Like Duval, Trent can get to the rim himself pretty well. Unlike Duval, Trent often chooses to pull up from midrange instead. This is idiotic for a guy shooting 81% at the rim and 27% from midrange.

Trent is shooting 94% from the line. The problem, again, is that he chooses not to penetrate and draw more fouls. His FT rate of 21% is the lowest on the roster besides Goldwire. Go to the rim. Take more layups. Draw more fouls. None of this requires coaching genius. It requires minimal basketball IQ from the player. If Trent were getting playing time on the Rockets right now, he’d probably have an offensive rating in the 150s by the end of the season, because he wouldn’t be allowed to take midrange shots, he doesn’t turn it over, he makes FTs and he’s bound to get better from 3. It’s sad that we need to wonder whether Duke coaching will make these obvious adjustments to his game.

We can assume he’ll get better from 3 because it’s uncommon for a player to be great from the line while being bad on open catch and shoot 3s. Russell Westbrook is a glaring exception. Kennard was a strange case as a freshman as well, but he improved throughout that season, shooting 28% through 15 games and then 34% for the rest. Fix the 3pt shooting and fix the shot selection, and Trent solves a lot of Duke’s offensive issues. Duke is already basically fool-proof on offense. A fixed Trent gives them more buffer against good teams.
 
DurhamSon said:
I still think he's a decent-good shooter who is just missing, versus a bad shooter missing. I remember freshman year Kennard for a while was at 30% or less from 3.
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The problem is that Trent never has been an elite 3 point shooter. Kennard was an elite 3P shooter in HS
 
But I agree shot selection is a huge issue. He's taken a lot of contested 3s and midrange when he just doesn't have that kind of talent or shot. He needs to learn Ginobili style flops. Anything to get him to the FT line as much as possible.
 
SeanMayTriedToEatMe said:
Just a mistake-free body for now. With all the dumb stuff happening around him, that’s good enough. K sees that, as Trent leads the team in minutes.

120 offensive rating on 17% usage is all we could’ve hoped for in the early season, though the efficiency isn’t coming from expected places. Terrible jumpshooting, bad shot selection, but great at everything else offensively, including low turnovers, near perfect FT shooting and great finishing at the rim. He’s easily fixable and therefore has a high ceiling this season. You can see why he was thought of as a definite OAD and, assuming his shooting gets better, it’s still very likely that he’s gone after this season.

Duke’s offense goes to another level with Trent as a high 30s 3pt shooter instead of 30% and as a smarter shooter instead of a Kennard wannabe from midrange. Hopefully, he cuts his 2pt jumper rate in half from the current baffling 37%. Allen, a smart shooter, has a 20% 2pt jumper rate this season, for comparison. Trent shoots even worse from midrange than on 3s, and given the lack of spacing provided by his teammates, taking midrange shots instead of 3s makes no sense at all.

Tatum got this concept after a few months and is flourishing in the NBA with the midrange shots cut from his repertoire. I’m hoping the Duke coaches don’t wait that long to teach Trent what kind of shot selection the NBA is looking for these days. Start now. Absolutely no point in allowing the midrange jumpers to continue much longer. Doesn’t help Trent’s pro prospects, doesn’t help Duke.

Trent is shooting 81% at the rim. That’s even higher than Bagley or Carter, who are obviously excellent at the rim. One major problem with Trent is that he only takes 14% of his shots at the rim. This isn’t due to him being bad at penetrating - only 55% of his shots at the rim are assisted, which is lower than everyone in the normal rotation except Duval. Like Duval, Trent can get to the rim himself pretty well. Unlike Duval, Trent often chooses to pull up from midrange instead. This is idiotic for a guy shooting 81% at the rim and 27% from midrange.

Trent is shooting 94% from the line. The problem, again, is that he chooses not to penetrate and draw more fouls. His FT rate of 21% is the lowest on the roster besides Goldwire. Go to the rim. Take more layups. Draw more fouls. None of this requires coaching genius. It requires minimal basketball IQ from the player. If Trent were getting playing time on the Rockets right now, he’d probably have an offensive rating in the 150s by the end of the season, because he wouldn’t be allowed to take midrange shots, he doesn’t turn it over, he makes FTs and he’s bound to get better from 3. It’s sad that we need to wonder whether Duke coaching will make these obvious adjustments to his game.

We can assume he’ll get better from 3 because it’s uncommon for a player to be great from the line while being bad on open catch and shoot 3s. Russell Westbrook is a glaring exception. Kennard was a strange case as a freshman as well, but he improved throughout that season, shooting 28% through 15 games and then 34% for the rest. Fix the 3pt shooting and fix the shot selection, and Trent solves a lot of Duke’s offensive issues. Duke is already basically fool-proof on offense. A fixed Trent gives them more buffer against good teams.
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PY Jr.
 
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torontoduke said:
Took some confidence to take a swipe at the ball after getting called for a reach a couple plays before.
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There’s a pic of him wearing a wife beater for his in home visit with K so confidence has probably never been an issue for him. He probably walks around campus with his actual balls hanging out.
 
If your dad was the Shaq of the MAC, you'd do the same.
 
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