Game Day: Thunder (21-12) @ Suns (9-26), Fri 12/28/18

[Mori Chu]

Ayton is also a significantly more efficient scorer

This is a great point. I had no idea Ayton would be so efficient with his shooting and scoring. I know some folks want him to be more aggressive and shoot more, and maybe he should. But it's amazing how often he will have shooting nights like 11-for-13 or 9-for-12. Really impressed with how intelligently he chooses his shots and gets the ball into the basket at such a high percentage.

[Cap]

I love seeing these Luka highlights, but I do think the hype has gotten a bit ahead of the numbers. Would still love to have him, but I don't think we blew it or anything like that. Ayton is great. Both teams did a great job with the draft. It doesn't have to be zero-sum.

Luka’s numbers are remarkable similar to Deandre’s:

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Player          Age  G GS   MP  FG  FGA  FG%  3P 3PA  3P%  2P  2PA  2P%  FT FTA  FT% ORB DRB  TRB AST STL BLK TOV  PF  PTS
Deandre Ayton    20 37 36 1156 8.6 14.1 .608 0.0 0.1 .000 8.6 14.1 .611 2.1 2.8 .756 3.6 8.9 12.6 2.6 0.9 1.1 2.1 3.2 19.3
Luka Doncic      19 34 34 1105 7.1 16.3 .437 2.6 6.9 .371 4.6  9.4 .486 4.9 6.5 .755 1.2 6.0  7.2 5.6 1.2 0.3 3.8 2.2 21.8

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 12/31/2018.

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Player          Age  G   MP  PER  TS% 3PAr  FTr ORB% DRB% TRB% AST% STL% BLK% TOV% USG% OWS DWS  WS WS/48 OBPM DBPM BPM VORP
Deandre Ayton    20 37 1156 22.2 .628 .004 .198 11.2 28.2 19.6 12.2  1.2  2.5 12.1 21.2 2.7 1.1 3.8  .159  1.3  0.9 2.2  1.2
Luka Doncic      19 34 1105 18.0 .567 .425 .399  3.7 17.7 10.9 25.5  1.6  0.8 16.5 27.2 1.3 1.2 2.4  .105  2.2  0.3 2.5  1.3

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 12/31/2018.

Deandre has advantages in rebounds and blocks, and Luka in assists and threes, that are to be expected given their relative roles and positions. Aside from that, the only area where one player has a really clear advantage over the other is FTr.

I think we’d all like to see DA get to the line a lot more. Dude has a total of 3 FTA in his last 4 games. Averaging just 2.4 on the season.

Ayton is also a significantly more efficient scorer

By 6.1%, which is about what you’d expect given their positions. Compare http://bkref.com/tiny/UWo7i to http://bkref.com/tiny/szyqK . Both are just above median for their positions (which is an impressive trick for a young rookie with high usage).

Of course, if DA can bring up his FTr, that will go a long way toward putting some distance between them in TS%.

[Cap]

Compare http://bkref.com/tiny/UWo7i to http://bkref.com/tiny/szyqK . Both are just above median for their positions (which is an impressive trick for a young rookie with high usage).

Putting that into context, let’s compare to rookies who have averaged at least 14 ppg in the three-point era.

Among 19 who played C or C-F, Ayton ranks 1st in TS%. http://bkref.com/tiny/cc7a1

Among 60 who played G-F or F or F-G, Luka ranks 6th in TS%. http://bkref.com/tiny/fL0R5

The five guys who beat Luka: Magic Johnson, Charles Barkley, Michael Jordan, Reggie Williams*, and Kelly Tripucka.

* Williams did it for only 24 games.