We're 8 games into the season and I think it's been long enough to make the case that Shannon is legitimately a much better player this year than last year.
Comparison to last year:
Comparison to last year:
- About 2 more mpg playing time. This seems sustainable, as his rate of fouling is down from 2.9/40 to 2.1/40. So less two-foul auto-sit and he's able to play about 32 mpg.
- Same usage rate as last year and similar shot%. So we know this can continue.
- Slightly reduced rebounding numbers, which makes sense as he is slightly more in the PG/SG role than SG/SF. Other guys are making up for those rebounds.
- Similar block% (maybe a slight increase), stl%, and foul drawn rate as last year. I think we'll see the blocks come down a bit as we get into the Big Ten but otherwise this is the same guy.
- FT% is 75% which is slightly down from previous years. He had some misses in the early games but this number will creep back closer to 80%.
- 2PT% is up to 63% from 53%. This may decline slightly but I think the rule changes have helped him finish his drives. I remember this being brought up in the offseason. I think also that he has slightly improved his ability to go right which makes him even harder to stay in front of. So this is one improvement.
- 3PT% is up to 45% from a previous career high of 38% (and last year he was at 32%.) Last year everyone on the team was jacking bad 3's so it was like a 5% culture penalty on the 3PT shooting. So I think expecting him to shoot 38% would have been reasonable. However, he seems to have mastered a move where he flows off the dribble directly into his 3PT shot. His release has always been smooth from the perimeter but I think in the offseason he really worked on getting his feet set with his shot. It looks like what you see from NBA veteran guards. Given his work ethic (and the likely feedback from the NBA) I really believe that this is something he is mastering. His # of 3PM has gone 9, 30, 33, 50, 24* (through only 8 games.) That's a statistically significant number and it's not dominated by a single game like he had against UCLA last year. If you look at the highlights from yesterday he even drilled a long 3 as the shot clock expired, but he took a half a beat to get his feet set before he shot. The form is just beautiful.
- His career high ORtg was 111.9 last year but it has surged to 128.4 this year, largely on the strength of his high volume of accurate 3-point shooting. This is absolutely winning us games. Dude is killing it right now and he absolutely looks like an NBA SG. Couldn't be happening to a better guy and right now he might be the best shooting guard in the country. I think he might be able to sustain this and if he does he will carry us a long way.
