Olynyk the Class of His Class?

Halfway through the season, how's our #1 pick looking?  Well, we were ready to trade him for a bag of donuts the first month or so, but how's he doing when put in the perspective of his classmates?  It's hard to compare guards to centers, etc and it's hard to compare bangers to finesse players since they are expected to do different jobs.  That won't stop us from trying, though.  4s and 5s (i.e. players that play similar positions to Kelly) have been bolded.


Here's the first round, as picked:
1.  Anthony Bennett. - A clear bust-to-date.
2.  Victor Oladipo - Very good, going to be very good but averaging 13.9ppg in 32mpg, 4.0 assists and 3.2TOs and shooting 41%
3.  Otto Porter - averaging 1.6ppg and 1.5rpg in 9.3mpg.  Shooting 29%.  6'9" PF.
4.  Cody Zeller - 5.0ppg, 4.0rpg in 16.7mpg.  Shooting 38%.
5.  Alex Len - 2.2ppg, 2.7rpg in 9.1mpg.  Shooting 44%.  Has only played in 21 games due to ankle sprain.
6.  Nerlen Noels - Injured, out all season.
7.  Ben McLemore - 7.6ppg, 1.0apg, 1.0TOpg in 23.3mpg.  Shooting 37%.
8.  Kentavious Caldwell-Pope - 6.7ppg, .9apg in 23.7mpg.  Shooting 39%.
9.  Trey Burke - 12.5ppg, 5.5apg, 1.9TOpg in 30.8mpg.  Shooting 37%, 39% from 2.
10. CJ McCollum - 6.9ppg in 15.2mpg.  Shooting 42% from 3 with 43% of his 5.8fgas/game coming from 3.
11. Michael Carter-Williams - Odds-on favorite for ROY.  17.1ppg, 6.5apg, 3.5TOpg, 2.1spg in a big 34.6mpg.  Lots of minutes.
12. Steven Adams - 3.3ppg, 4.2rpg in 14.4mpg.  Shooting 47% from field, 61% from line.  Can't replace the much-maligned Perk in starting lineup.[/b]
13. Kelly Olynyk - 6.9ppg, 4.7rpg in 18.5mpg.  Shooting 43% from field, 81% from line.  Two double-doubles in a row. Shot 50% or better in 5 of last 10 games.
14. Shabazz Muhammed - 2.3ppg in 4.8mpg.  Shooting 37%.  Has only played in 17 games.  A lot of time in D-league.  Bust?  Close to it.
15. The Greek Freak - 6.9ppg, 4.5rpg, 1.7apg, 1.7TOpg in 24.1mpg.  Has started 21 games.  Shooting 43%.
16. Lucas Nogeira - has played in Europe exclusively.  No games in the NBA.
17. Dennis Schroeder - 3.9ppg, 2.0apg, 1.4TOpg in 13.3mpg.  Only played in 23 games due to D-league send-down.
18. Shane Larkin - 3.3ppg, 1.8apg, 1.0TOpg in 19.2mpg.  Shooting 37%.
19. Sergei Karasev - has been sent down to the D-league because he's not getting minutes on a shitty Cleveland team.
20. Tony Snell - 5.5ppg, 1.0apg, .7TOpg in 19.2mpg.  Has started 10 games.  Shooting 39%.
21. Gorgui Dieng - 1.4ppg, 2.2rpg, .5bpg in 6.2mpg.  Shooting 38%.  
22. Mason Plumlee - 6.2ppg, 3.3rpg in 15.6mpg.  In his last 10 games, post-Lopez, he's doing 8.8ppg, 4.4rpg in 16.9mpg.
23. Solomon Hill - only getting 8.8mpg on Indy.  Can't make much of that, that team is stacked top to bottom.
24. Tim Hardaway Jr. - 9.2ppg, .9apg, .6TOpg in 20.9mpg.  Shooting 45%, 38.5% from 3 with half his fgas from 3.
25. Reggie Bullock - On Clips.  Doc won't play him, not when he has Griffin.
26. Andre Roberson - PF on OKC.  He's not going to get a lot of minutes there either.
27. Rudy Gobert - 2.6ppg, 4.2rpg, 1.0bpg in 12.1mpg.  Has been sent down to D-league because no minutes on shitty Utah team.
28. Livio Jean-Charles - out with knee surgery
29. Archie Goodwin - 3.1ppg, .4apg, .9TOpg in 10.5mpg.
30. Nemanja Nedovic - out with hamstring since January.  Behind Curry, Thompson and Crawford on GSW.

Separating them out:

1.  Anthony Bennett. - A clear bust-to-date.
3.  Otto Porter - averaging 1.6ppg and 1.5rpg in 9.3mpg.  Shooting 29%.  6'9" PF.
4.  Cody Zeller - 5.0ppg, 4.0rpg in 16.7mpg.  Shooting 38%.
5.  Alex Len - 2.2ppg, 2.7rpg in 9.1mpg.  Shooting 44%.  Has only played in 21 games due to ankle sprain.
6.  Nerlen Noels - Injured, out all season.
12. Steven Adams - 3.3ppg, 4.2rpg in 14.4mpg.  Shooting 47% from field, 61% from line.  Can't replace the much-maligned Perk in starting lineup.
13. Kelly Olynyk - 6.9ppg, 4.7rpg in 18.5mpg.  Shooting 43% from field, 81% from line.  Two double-doubles in a row. Shot 50% or better in 5 of last 10 games.
16. Lucas Nogeira - has played in Europe exclusively.  No games in the NBA.
21. Gorgui Dieng - 1.4ppg, 2.2rpg, .5bpg in 6.2mpg.  Shooting 38%.  
22. Mason Plumlee - 6.2ppg, 3.3rpg in 15.6mpg.  In his last 10 games, post-Lopez, he's doing 8.8ppg, 4.4rpg in 16.9mpg.
23. Solomon Hill - only getting 8.8mpg on Indy.  Can't make much of that, that team is stacked top to bottom.
25. Reggie Bullock - On Clips.  Doc won't play him, not when he has Griffin.
26. Andre Roberson - PF on OKC.  He's not going to get a lot of minutes there either.
27. Rudy Gobert - 2.6ppg, 4.2rpg, 1.0bpg in 12.1mpg.  Has been sent down to D-league because no minutes on shitty Utah team.


Compare Kelly to his peers as opposed to pre-set expectations, some of which were set in summer league, which is not a reliable barometer of NBA utility (see Joseph, Kris).  What do you think?



bob


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Offensively, Kelly looks really good, relatively speaking. It's my guess that he won't look as tentative defensively when he's not called upon to protect the rim because that job will be occupied by a tough center.

Sam

If we can get a tough center, with Sully at the 4, I'd like to put Kelly at the 3 and see what he can do, he played that position in the rookie-soph game and held his own.

cowens/oldschool wrote:If we can get a tough center, with Sully at the 4, I'd like to put Kelly at the 3 and see what he can do, he played that position in the rookie-soph game and held his own.

Cow,


Good Gawd! A 7' SF? Can you imagine?


bob


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Interesting proposition. I've actually had similar feelings about bass. As unsure as I am of Kelly's eventual defensive upside, I'd be even more unsure of how he'd defend much quicker small forwards.

Sam

KO at SF...

Not quick enough.

So far holding his own compared to a weak draft class. Could get better on D.

And more consistent on O...

Has definitely been playing much better .

Dboss

cowens/oldschool wrote:If we can get a tough center, with Sully at the 4, I'd like to put Kelly at the 3 and see what he can do, he played that position in the rookie-soph game and held his own.

I'd take Jeff over Kelly at the 3, all eight days of the week.

The problem with Kelly is that he doesn't particularly excel at any part of his game. I can't see him being good enough to be a starting SF, but he can be a very involved rotation guy.



KJ

I just read that Jackie MacMullan has made comparisons between Kelly Olynyk and

You won't believe this,

Jack Sikma.

Man, what is happening here?  Tommy compares Steamer to Russell and Jackie Mac, whom I always thought was a very reasonable, sensible and knowledgeable person, is comparing Olynyk to Jack Sikma?

I guess the comparisons to Dirk were becoming too ludicrous.

Well, I'd love it to be so.  Just have to remember he just completed the first half of his rookie year.


bob


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