Last week I made a post regarding Jimmy and Bam’s shortcomings on the offensive end.
In the comments, someone cited Jimmy’s first season here as proof that the Bam/Jimmy duo can headline a top offense. I contended that one of primary reasons that offense was actually good is because we had better spacing due to Jimmy still being regarded as an adequate perimeter threat at that time.
I was downvoted a bunch, told my memory must be off, and also that it’s asinine I could think such a thing. To see whether or not I was misremembering, I wanted to look at some “film” to see if teams guarded Jimmy differently in year one versus others.
I decided to use Game 1 of both recent Milwaukee playoff series to analyze this. Using the same team helps control for things like scheme as much as possible.
Full game Youtube highlights are the film. Not perfect but it will have to do. I took screenshots of how teams were guarding Jimmy the first ten relevant possessions shown in each video to avoid cherry picking. In this case, relevant means that Jimmy was at the three point line or a tiny bit inside of it.
The only time I skipped screenshotting a possession was if there was something that took someone away from or toward Jimmy. For example, if Jimmy’s man had no choice but to fly at another three point shooter, I didn’t take that as an example of Jimmy being ignored on the perimeter.
See the screenshots with notes below.
**After looking at each game, I think it’s apparent that Milwaukee did indeed treat Jimmy as more of a perimeter threat in year one than they did in year two.**
**While it doesn’t prove definitively he was guarded as more of a perimeter threat in year one (thus meaning better spacing) versus subsequent years, it does provide some support to it.**
First the 2020 series…
[2020 Game 1, Screenshot 1 – Pretty tight coverage on Jimmy here](https://preview.redd.it/fdlasnilzena1.png?width=928&format=png&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=e3ae99acf3cb356932b63d7d869344fbe377a00a)
[2020 Game 1, Screenshot 2 – Tight coverage with Jimmy’s man even trying to fight over the screen](https://preview.redd.it/q2kpujqmzena1.png?width=927&format=png&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=43601bb0cfb9d192f6e18d1d0eebed70dfe9c9f9)
[2020 Game 1, Screenshot 3 – Pretty tight coverage again. Defender can touch him with a bent arm.](https://preview.redd.it/qz6awybn2fna1.png?width=928&format=png&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=9e3b5e226e9ee3ecbfb6ed46de4a79d6966aec0c)
[2020 Game 1, Screenshot 4 – Tight coverage again with his defender making effort to fight over the screen and stick with Jimmy on the three-point line](https://preview.redd.it/rklwrmir2fna1.png?width=927&format=png&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=0be0707de1076ae5a1a6ce0ffadbb1614f31e2f6)
[2020 Game 1, Screenshot 5 – Defender mostly ignoring Jimmy to protect paint](https://preview.redd.it/jor7dva13fna1.png?width=928&format=png&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=6a9ffed256e49f121e91371d326918fba15e8367)
[2020 Game 1, Screenshot 6 – Jimmy being guarded way above the three-point line. However, this may be because it’s end of quarter.](https://preview.redd.it/ha5dn4u63fna1.png?width=926&format=png&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=0a2b9f63f9b87c7234d22b1a19ac9106efe7447c)
[2020 Game 1, Screenshot 7 – Jimmy’s defender basically standing on the three point line](https://preview.redd.it/wulps9te3fna1.png?width=930&format=png&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=75ee3bbb7be72e216ede44574e45e70d08751c18)
[2020 Game 1, Screenshot 8 – Again being guarded as if he’s a three point threat with defender set to meet him at the three point line](https://preview.redd.it/upq3oe7k3fna1.png?width=929&format=png&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=ee37ebfcb7ce0024c40bb6b598dbea1975a61913)
[2020 Game 1, Screenshot 9 – Jimmy is directly to the right of Kelly. Again guarded pretty closely over the three point line](https://preview.redd.it/9cbch8ho3fna1.png?width=926&format=png&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=5812b5b9b35ec3be47650a0520fa033ce7c6803e)
[2020 Game 1, Screenshot 10 – Again being guarded tightly above the three point line](https://preview.redd.it/d99car4s3fna1.png?width=927&format=png&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=7b120c68d12e8da165229541af4d578ca6b29c07)
Now for the 2021 series…
[2021 Game 1, Screenshot 1 – Defender now a couple steps back rather than meeting him at the three point line](https://preview.redd.it/3pyetl0d5fna1.png?width=927&format=png&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=1778318a81e38c8c20f52c42e942c4f293a71c00)
[2021 Game 1, Screenshot 2 – Defender nearly with a foot in the paint](https://preview.redd.it/m9bdmn6e5fna1.png?width=930&format=png&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=d209e0c8e0d06b2b451a482ae2d13ef3a3fd7d53)
[2021 Game 1, Screenshot 3 – Rather than fighting over the screen, the defender now goes under and other defender drops far off](https://preview.redd.it/3oobgvef5fna1.png?width=928&format=png&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=a36ed053e58323b49bd2146c2df4cb20559c8d68)
[2021 Game 1, Screenshot 4 – Defender again almost in paint](https://preview.redd.it/sbnxg1ig5fna1.png?width=927&format=png&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=ca21dac89bf0bb24c3983b12c7505664413290ad)
[2021 Game 1, Screenshot 5 – Defender foot actually touching paint](https://preview.redd.it/8lua35lh5fna1.png?width=928&format=png&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=6025e5ea3db7321c1674cf6501909947578293e7)
[2021 Game 1, Screenshot 6 – Jimmy left alone on the perimeter](https://preview.redd.it/8b9dk6j76fna1.png?width=927&format=png&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=66df49c349901916906259a2f1a1d948befe728c)
[2021 Game 1, Screenshot 7 – Tighter coverage than other possessions, but not within bent arms distance like in 2020](https://preview.redd.it/ldraupn86fna1.png?width=928&format=png&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=dd74aa76045794c73b5c1e5188282eb4da7b6d24)
[2021 Game 1, Screenshot 8 – Defenders in the paint](https://preview.redd.it/vl6k2rs96fna1.png?width=929&format=png&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=ff083c6a408651d75247b3000a7e9c3776941106)
[2021 Game 1, Screenshot 9 – Jimmy being guarded above the line, but similar to one of the 2020 screenshots it may be because the quarter is winding down](https://preview.redd.it/pc1aipqa6fna1.png?width=905&format=png&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=cedb3b8d8667564dee0a35e89a9b5d36c91ab115)
by Laflare432
7 Comments
Damn this man came back with proof, ya’ll better apologize lmao
I really wonder why happened to Jimmy’s 3pt shot. He was never a sniper or anything but he was always a guy you could at least rely on to knock ‘em down when needed. Ever since he got to Miami that jumper has been ugly. It’s gotten a little better recently but man he used to be at least an average shooter.
Regardless of whether one agrees or disagrees, thanks for providing some real content with data for us to talk about.
Jimmy is one of my favorite players but him and Bam together will always be an uphill battle on offense. Our team just isn’t fun to watch anymore either.
Very good breakdown need more of that on this sub but good god those yellow jerseys are hideous
Honestly this all still boils down to not having any shooters. Had Duncan, Strus, Gabe not regressed this much and we were able to replace PJ’s reliable corner 3, this team would look entirely different
Jimmy shines all the time but it seems as if when Jimmy is out of the lineup, bam shines even more
Jimmy had a back injury in the 2021 Milwaukee series so that one can be written off for any real evidence on his playstyle and ability.