Paul George
SF – 6’9″ – Fresno State
The next post in a quality series from our valued TWolves Blog Forum member “Pants.” His forum posts and further discussion can be found HERE. (Feel free to join us, we’re always looking for more quality members.) As a poor follower of the Wolves, Pants is always trying to talk himself into a light at the end of the tunnel. Usually that means talking himself into players we have, or could potentially have. How many guys will be stars from this draft, probabably a few? Will they be available to the Wolves? He’s going to do his best to convince himself that they will be.
Come measurement and YouTube season it is hard to miss Paul George. How could a 6’9” SF with athleticism and a jumper not make noise? He spent two solid years at Fresno State off the radar. Going from 14 ppg to 17 ppg is a nice boost (with nice numbers elsewhere across the board). I reeeaally like the 70% to 90% boost he saw in his free throw percentage as well. Who does that? I can’t think of anyone ever getting a 20 percent boost in FT percentage year over year.
I held off writing this after reading a espn insider article that came down heavily on George’s usage to turnover ratio, and shot selection. When I see a well spoken guy (helluva DX interview), who had the calm and composure to nail free throws; I think those are two things which are very high on the improvability index. It is very, very unlikely that George will become THE guy on an NBA team. THE guy is really the only person who should shoot a fairly high percentage of really tough shots. I know very little about the Fresno coaching staff, but I’m willing to guess Rambis and crew might be better.
There aren’t many guys who get above the rim with that level of ease. This jump shot also has a similar effortlessness about it. George’s jumper is to Tracy McGrady (may his game RIP), as Xavier Henry’s is to Ray Allen’s. George goes up with even long shots like there is nothing to it. Xavier, like Ray Allen and JJ Reddick, has the same picture perfect form which each jumper. I don’t know which is better necessarily. You don’t get the latter without a lot of hard work and listening to coaching, but a jump shot is also something you need to have in your blood.
Last year my official mid-late lottery prediction was that the team that drafted Johnny Flynn over Ty Lawson would regret it. This year I say the team that selects Al-Farouq Aminu over Paul George is going be crying into their Wheaties each morning before games. It’ll be especially bad when they have to play the Wolves. HHHHOOWWWWWLLLLLL!!!!!!
For more of the “Talking Myself Into…” series see here: