Klay Thompson Changes Everything For The Mavericks

Klay Thompson Changes Everything For The Mavericks

Klay Thompson has made his decision signing with the runner-up Mavericks on a three-year deal and after the way things ended with golden state it’s easy to see why many are concerned with the move however even in his older age clay brings two major skills to the table that have been the foundation for his entire career off ball movement and extremely high level three-point shooting if you remember the NBA Finals the big chess move by Boston was to put tat on whoever the Mavs were running at five then switch all screening actions involving either Luca or Kyrie that way they could prevent any numbers Advantage turning the game into a one-on-one which really stagnated the Mavs and forced the Stars into playing herob ball in game three they tried to adjust by giving Tim Hardaway Jr more minutes hoping it would give them a more Dynamic approach and he responded with a goose egg across the board shooting oa5 with zero points and zero assists I really liked the line of thinking though if your standard pick and roll game isn’t creating advantages in the way it typically does having a fallback option like lateral action is a great way to keep the defense moving and Klay Thompson brings that to the offense more than about 99.9% of NBA history whether it’s a down screen a cross screen a handoff using him as the screener playing in a motion offense for more More Than A decade is bound to teach you some things about moving without the ball and when you pair that with some of the craziest difficult shot making we’ve ever seen from three that’s going to apply a lot of pressure so for clay in these spots it’s all about making the right decisions on the Fly this is where in his current day he starts to draw a lot of criticism because the injuries and age have taken away parts of his game if you watch him back in 2015 or 2016 it was nearly impossible for Defenders to overplay him because of how sharp he was putting the ball on the floor and getting inside the ark whether that meant getting to the rim on a drive or stopping short for a pull-up jumper and if they tried to deny him the ball altogether he’d counter with some of the best timed Cuts you’ve ever seen these days he isn’t nearly as agile with his lateral movement or explosive when looking to drive and with an already limited handle that’s turned him into one of the League’s least efficient two-point scores if we take a look at his volume of attempts at The Rim since entering the league you’ll see that he went from a guy who would take three to four shots at The Rim every 75 possessions to now barely getting over one and it’s the same story with his free throw rates he’s never been very good at getting to the line but over the last three seasons he hasn’t even been able to get over two free throws a game which for an 18 to 20 point per game scorer is historically low what that means is with no shots coming at The Rim him no free throws quite literally all of his scoring is tied to jump shooting he was already a streaky scorer before but now it’s on a different level that’s why you get performances like the 0 for 10 game when the shot isn’t falling he doesn’t have an alternative yet because he’s such a historically great shooter he’ll continue taking those opportunities every time they present themselves with that said no matter how poorly he’s shooting the defense isn’t going to change how the approach him and that’s the key to unlocking all of this if we go back to those lateral actions I talked about you won’t find a team that’s comfortable just letting him pull the trigger whether it’s a switch putting two on the ball the defense has to game plan and design a coverage to not let him get open on the three-point line which then opens up everything else that’s why I said the most important thing for him is making the right decisions on the Fly I think last year more than ever he had a tendency to force bad shots which is why his three-point percentage fell below 40 for only the second time in his career and I wonder if a change in situation could unlock more of his passing it’s worth noting that the roster around him is drastically different and I’d argue it’s significantly better suited for how he looks currently just think about the Warriors for a sec they started either cavon Looney or Draymond at the five for pretty much the entire season neither of which are really threats to score on the role I’d argue clay had his best results when playing next to trace Jackson Davis a legit athletic finisher and now he’s always going to be on the floor with one of lively or Gafford two of the best interior finishers this game has to offer another reason I think he could be maximized with his new team is the amount of easy stationary three-point looks he could end up getting in addition to lacking roll threats the warrior straight up didn’t have much Rim pressure at all Steph’s own loss in agility has taken away some of his is driving meaning that they relied on Wiggins and kaminga to be their primary slashers neither of which are very good kickout passers going from that to Luca and Kyrie is night and day you could argue Luca is one of the five best players at getting both feet in the paint and he’s the best kickout passer in the league which allows him to create threes at a higher volume than any other player I mentioned how Clay’s three-point percentage has dipped since the injury which I would attribute to a combination of limited inside the arc scoring allowing the defense to overplay and shot selection what hasn’t changed is his open three-point shooting since returning from injury he’s made 45% of his wide open threes which is enough to make him a GameChanger when just simply spotting up on the perimeter that’s really important because in addition to bringing a new Dynamic to the Mavs offense he’s a seamless fit into what they already like to do with perimeter isolation and High pick and roll if we go back to the NBA finals there was one adjustment Dallas made that led to Great results and it was all about their positioning on the floor what they did is they put their second star one pass away from the one who was isolating as a way to take away the help in the middle that way the ball handler had unlimited space to work with and could easily get wherever it was they wanted to go think about how clay fits into that equation with him one pass away the defense defitely can’t help and that’s really important because Kyrie and Luca relied on each other to be their best Shooters guys like PJ Washington and Derrick Jones came up big when needed but they aren’t legit threats from three and often get left open which clogs up the lane having not just a three-point threat but one of the best ever who’s constantly moving and knows how to fill out space completely changes everything so when it comes to the offensive side of the ball Klay Thompson is a total GameChanger he brings a new Dynamic to their system with his lateral movement and unique way of creating advantages while adding alltime shooting and floor spacing to their already difficult to guard scheme don’t overthink it yes he’s regressed and yes that level of shot making from the perimeter is always going to bring value where I’m personally a bit worried is how this works on defense because remember he’s going to be be replacing Derrik Jones in the lineup who was their go-to point of attack guy all season long this is where he’s been affected most by the injuries he went from an all-defensive guy to someone who may not even be considered a positive and next to an already weak defensive backcourt that could be caused for concern I like that they brought in Nai Marshall and Quenton Grimes two guys who can stick with guards but particularly in the starting and closing lineups there’s a lot of pressure on Washington and either Lively or gaffard to pretty much clean up everything that’s because the three wings are going to struggle to contain dribble penetration Clay is not quick enough laterally to stick with Shifty ball handlers anymore then Luca and Kyrie while improved still aren’t the type of guys you want matching up with lead creators with that in mind I think that’s a pretty matchup dependent concern like against Boston that driving is always going to be a problem but at least it’s coming from bigger wings and not quick guard because Clay’s biggest defensive attribute is probably his strength he can play up a position or two when needed because he’s both sturdy and lengthy now if you’re facing Memphis with jaah Minnesota with ant OKC with Shay those are the types of players I don’t think they’ll be able to contain and when the backline defense will be really stressed however it’s all about the tradeoff you’re losing some resistance at the point of attack to add a completely different layer to your offense and from where I stand I truly believe they got a decent bit better if I were to stack up last year’s roster to how they look right now I like the current team a lot more in a series against Boston and also a team like Denver for that matter because they have more offensive punch no it won’t be perfect and there will be some rough stretches like I said when you’re riant on the three ball like Clay is tour dates are bound to happen but in totality I’m a huge fan of this move and I can’t wait to see the Mavs in action if you enjoyed this breakdown make sure to drop a like subscribe and turn my post notifications on to be first on more content if you’re interested in my more in-depth research make sure to check out my website and social media profiles you can find those links in the description feel free to let me know down in the comments what you think of the Mavs as always I hope you all have a great day and I’ll catch you guys in the next one

Klay Thompson has made his decision to join the Mavericks, and the 2 major skills he brings are a perfect fit.

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