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Misconceptions about Law . . put to rest

TheNorthCydeRises

By TheNorthCydeRises
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TheNorthCydeRises Grand Master

TheNorthCydeRises

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1) He's a "shoot-first PG"

No . . he's a playmaking PG that can also shoot. As Javaris described himself in the interview posted yesterday, Law can either make plays for others, or do the scoring himself if need be.

Law did something this year that NO OTHER PG in D-I college basketball did all year. Have 2 games in which he dropped more than 14 assists in a game. Even the "great" Jared Jordan from Marist, who led the D-1 in assists with 8.7 apg, can't make that claim.

2) All Law does is shoot jumpers and rely on the 3-point shot.

Interesting fact. Law only attempted 83 3-pointers last year in 34 games. That averages out to less than 3 a game ( 2.4 a game ). He uses the 3-point shot as a weapon to either break a game open, or bring his team back into a game. Conley attempted 69 threes in 39 games ( 1.8 a game ). Critt took 101 threes in 32 games ( 3.2 a game ).

The most 3's Law attempted in a game was 8, in the 2nd battle vs Texas in Austin, in which they lost in 2OT 98 - 96. And one of those 3's he hit over Kevin Durant, to force the game into OT. He dropped 33 points in that game by the way.

Other than that, Law attempted 5 for more threes in a game, only 3 times last year ( 4 total . . and shot a little below his season average percentage-wise when he took a lot of 3's ). Conley only did it once ( went 1 - 5 that game ). Critt did it 5 times ( and knocked them down at almost a 50% rate when he felt he had to take a lot of 3's ).

Getting in place for the mid-range jumper and the knack for getting to the line, is what Law does best. That's why he shoots such a high percentage from the field.

FTA per game:

Law: 4.8

Critt: 4.3

Conley: 3.7

This is not just a PG that can hit the long ball. This is a PG who can hit the long ball, but doesn't settle for that shot.

Here's another stat to look at.

3FGA / total FGA = % of FGA are 3-pointers

Law: 83 / 432 = 19.2% of shots are threes

Conley: 69 / 309 = 22.3% of shots are threes

Critt: 101 / 351 = 28.8% of shots are threes

I bet a lot of you are surpised by that stat. If you watched Acie play, you shouldn't be. But of course, we all know the answer to that.

3) Acie isn't a pure PG and won't be able to run a team on the pro level.

One of the things about A&M last year, is that they were one of the most efficient offensive teams in college basketball last year. Of course, the National Champs led the nation in FG% at almost 53%FG. But guess who ranked #6? Texas A&M, at 50% from the field. Ohio St, with 2 top 10 players ( the best post player in the nation, and the "so-called" best PG in the nation, and another guy who is ranked 20 - 25 in this draft class ), ranked #45 overall ( 47.2% )

And remember, this is an A&M team that didn't have some beast on the low block scoring points for them. Joseph Jones ( 6-9 C/F . . 250 ) and Antanas Kavaliauskas ( 6-10 C/F . . 250 ) were solid players for A&M last year. But both guys aren't projected to be in the 1st round in thier respective drafts. AK is completely off the board for this year's draft, while Jones projects as a 2nd round talent in next year's draft.

Everything A&M did as an offense, was set up and paced by Acie Law. Yeah, the "combo-guard" that people think can't run a team. Even their sophomore Demarr Johnson like swingman, Josh Carter, has Acie to thank for a lot of the looks he got last year. When Acie had big assist games, it was usually due to him finding Carter wide open on the wings, and him knocking down shots. Conley did the same thing with Ron Lewis, OSU's sharpshooter.

4) Acie's defense is weak.

Tell that to Acie's opponents. The one guy that Acie did have trouble with, was DJ Augustin out of Texas, a guy who I think can be better than Law, and definitely better than Conley. His problem is turnovers. If DJ can cut those turnovers down, you're looking at him being a top 5 pick by next year, and definitely in 2009.

From what I saw last year, Law only had trouble with guys who could both shoot, penetrate, and were lightning quick. But when a guy got the best of him, he seemed to come right back at that guy, to see if he could guard him. And in most cases, he couldn't. That's defintely a Sam Cassell type trait. He's done that all throughout his pro career.

But it's hard to make the claim that Law is a poor defender, when A&M ranked #2 in FG% defense in D-1 last year. They held people to under 38% shooting last year.

http://web1.ncaa.org/stats/StatsSrv/ranksummary

Once again, we're not talking about a team that had some tremendous shot blocker in the middle, or some ball-hawking thief up top. Acie led the team in steals, but only averaged a little over 1 steal a game. And they didn't have a single shot blocker that averaged over 1 block a game.

A&M did it by playing great man to man defense, with some zone mixed in. And guess who made sure everybody got into the right defense and were doing what they supposed to do out on the court? You guessed it.

Fact is, Law isn't a great defender, but he isn't a liability either. He's an average to slightly above average defender who uses his smarts to get the job done. This isn't Ty Lue or even Sam Cassell on defense that we're talking about here. He's more on the level of an Eric Snow, when talking about defense. I'll say slightly below an Eric Snow.

*************

Bottom line is this people. If you haven't seen Law play, then stop mischaracterizing the guy. If he happens to be there at #11 when we pick, it will truly be a blessing for the Hawks. He'll be ready to contribute right away, and start if need be.

Unlike the other PGs that he's compared against, Acie doesn't have ANY glaring weaknesses to his game that may contribute to him not reaching his potential in the NBA. You can't say that about Conley ( shooting ) or Javaris ( decision-making ).

The only thing that people say about Acie, is that he's "not a true PG, or that he's a shoot-first PG". Even when you show them evidence that Acie isn't, they still stick to that claim.

Quick: how many "pass-first PGs" who had trouble shooting the basketball, have won anything in this league? Even supposed "pass-first" guys like Nash, Stockton, and Mark Price were all very good offensive players on the pro level. No questions whatsoever about their offensive games.

Look back through history. Almost ALL of your great PGs in the NBA, were good to great scorers as well as playmakers. If it's anybody that fits that mold in this draft, it's Acie Law.

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Packfill Proficient

Packfill

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Quote:

Quote:

If Law is the best then I am sure he will be the first point guard drafted. If not, then . . .

yeah, because the best pg each year is always the first drafted...

So Northclyde knows better then NBA GMs? If you are talking about BK then I can agree with that statement.

Basically, we need to find out which point guard BK likes best and avoid that guy like the plague.
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TheNorthCydeRises Grand Master

TheNorthCydeRises

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EDS . . I don't claim to know better than them. But I do think that GMs do get caught up in the hype. Just go back and look at Law's body of work.

People compare Conley with Tony Parker. You know what the problem with that is? The problem, is that Parker isn't known to look for setting up his teammates. He's looked upon as a guy that looks to score. He's an attacker on offense, not a tablesetter.

Conley is a tablesetter. Conley would be perfect with a veteran team that had good low post threats and shooters all around ( i.e. - Miami ).

But for our team, we may definitely need our PG to take over games sometimes. I don't know if Conley has the ability to do it. I mean, even Mookie had the ability to take over a game because he could get hot from 3. A lot of you who are trying to downplay the fact that the kid can't shoot, are bucking the historical trend that the NBA has displayed.

Iverson can't shoot, but he has the ability to get hot from the outside and take over a game. I don't see Conley ever developing into that type of player. I do see it in D.J. Augustin though.

If we get Yi and Conley, I'm going to be on pins and needles as a fan next year. It's guys like that that usually go either way in this league . . star or bust. It's usually no in-between with those types of guys. They're either good to great, or flat out flops because they can't overcome their deficiencies.

Sometimes, you have to lay up on the golf course, and settle for that good chance of birdie, instead of going for the green in 2, and trying to make eagle. If you go for eagle, and knock your ball into a hazard, then you might make bogey. If you lay up, you're pretty much assured of making birdie or par.

Take the birdie, and get Law.

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Packfill Proficient

Packfill

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I don't think Conley is like Parker other then having the potential to take it to the hoop. He is much more like TJ Ford, just bigger.

This whole ability to shoot thing is completely bogus because Law was a horrendous shooter as a freshman yet improved. Why can't Conley? Law isn't going to get faster.

I still think the Hawks would benefit more from a table setter in the TJ Ford mold - i.e., a gifted passer and penetrator. Marvin, Smoove and the rest of the gang will be much more effective scorers with someone who can actually pass them the ball while in a position to score. There is a reason why Philly was better with Miller then with AI and why Toronto made the playoffs depsite a relatively thin line-up outside of Bosh.

The fact that Conley is likely the most talented defender of the point guards available this year is a bonus.

The Hawks need to take Conley inorder to rectify their past drafting mistakes. Sucks, but that is reality. The roster is bloated with forwards.

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txsting Community Regular

txsting

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That's a good post.

I also want to see some offensive ability at our PG spot. I'm assuming of course that Gasol or Howard is not on the team. Given that, Law or Crit makes sense to me. I would be fine with either.

If we do trade for a legit post scorer, then I am equally fine with a tablesetter type PG like Conley.

I can see the bust factor in Conley, but you do have to admit that highly regarded PG's in the draft have a pretty good track record of success. The counter to that argument is that this is a very thin PG class.

Law is the safest pick and would be a good pick, IMO.

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jerrywest Newbie

jerrywest

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Quote:

Sometimes, you have to lay up on the golf course, and settle for that good chance of birdie, instead of going for the green in 2, and trying to make eagle. If you go for eagle, and knock your ball into a hazard, then you might make bogey. If you lay up, you're pretty much assured of making birdie or par.

Take the birdie, and get Law.

You seem to take the safe route like BK. Pick players like Chillz/Shell type. Who do you think BK wants? I think BK has to trade the #3 for his own future. The owners may have already told him to take Yi at #3. They want to be treated like royalty when they go to China for business. Too much money to lose by passing on Yi.

Thanks for the nice post. Law will be there at 11. We all know he has already shown he's much faster than we thought and almost as big as Critt.

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NJHAWK Newbie

NJHAWK

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You really might want to rethink this post. It makes no dam sense at all. I guess by this logic Kwame was the best pf taken and best overall player taken because he was pick #1. I guess their are at least 15 players better than Kobe the year he was drafted. I GUESS SAM BOWIE WAS BETTER THAN JORDAN AFTER ALL. uglyhammer.gif

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Frenzy Newbie

Frenzy

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You really might want to rethink this post. It makes no dam sense at all. I guess by this logic Kwame was the best pf taken and best overall player taken because he was pick #1. I guess their are at least 15 players better than Kobe the year he was drafted. I GUESS SAM BOWIE WAS BETTER THAN JORDAN AFTER ALL.
uglyhammer.gif

that would also make Chillz better than Luol Deng

pillepalle.gif

oh wait....... shhh.gif

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