FanShot

Stats comparison of top SG's (including Waiters)

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I'm not sure if I'm interpreting these stats correctly, but it seems that: - Although Waiters was a backup, when he was in the game, he had the ball about as much as the other top guards (actually a bit more, by a few percent): 25.5% (lowest: Doron Lamb 18.2 - his team obviously had other options) - His points per 40 were the 2nd-highest of the 5 (Ross 21.1, Waiters 21.0, Lamb lowest again 18.2 for same reason as above) -So Waiters was a top option for his team, even though he didn't start. But comparatively, his true shooting percentage (56.5, 417th in the country) didn't justify his shot percent (27.5, #182). Doron Lamb, probably because he got much better looks, had a great (62.4, #67) true shooting percentage, while his shot percent (obviously) was very low (21), not even in the top 1000. Beal was similarly (although not nearly as pronounced) ranked higher in TS% than shot percent, as was Jeremy Lamb. Only Rivers and Ross were similar to Waiters. The same trends also hold with effective FG%. -Waiters was just ok at 3-pointers: 36.3% (slightly worse than Rivers), Beal and Jeremy Lamb are even worse (33.9, 33.6), Doron Lamb (again in part because he was wide open alot) is really good at 46.6% -So did Waiters get to the line alot (like Wade did, even in college, almost 50% his 2nd year)? Waiters' free throw rate was only 33% (compared to Beal's 44 and Rivers' 45), despite shooting 72.9% from the line (Beal - 76.9, Rivers - 65.8). Even D. Lamb (40.3%) had a high rate of getting to line. J. Lamb and Ross were terrible, with a rate in the 20's) -One area where Waiters is Wade-esque (in fact statistically even better then Dwayne and much better than his draft peers) was stealing the ball. His steal rate (4.6%) was nearly double that of Beal, the second-highest total of the draftees. Beal (not surprisingly, considering his rebound totals) was by far a more efficient defensive rebounder (18.1 vs 8.1 for Waiters (and by a small margin, higher than Ross (17.5), who's considered a 2/3) -Waiters did try to play a hybrid point-guard, and his assist to turnover ratio, 1.9, is better than the others (all around 1 except for D. Lamb at 1.4). However, D. Lamb's assist percentage is only 8.8, while Waiters' is 21.2 (Beal is even worse than Rivers, at 12.7 vs 12.9, J. Lamb and Ross both were around 10) -Turnover percent is another plus for Waiters. Despite handling the ball in a pseudo-PG role, Waiter's 12.9 is significantly lower than his peers (except for D. Lamb's 11.6, but this was probably due to his role on the team). Beal was even more of a turnover machine (17.0%) than Rivers (16.9%), while J. Lamb and Ross are in the 15's. The takeaway? It seems like Waiters, who has some PG skills and doesn't turn the ball over, could be a good compliment to Curry. But if doesn't (or can't) get to the line more, he can't be the second coming of Wade, and if he can't shoot well from 3 in the NBA either, it's hard seeing him at 7. Doron Lamb could be an interesting pick at 35 (he's at 36 in the final DraftExpress mock), but Waiters seems (to me) to be a perfect fit around where the Suns (who supposedly promised him) are picking, not at 7. I would much rather trade down and have Leonard and Harkless than Waiters if MKG or Drummond don't drop.