Interesting read on Withey
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I found this interesting and thought I would pass it on.
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Thnx for link! By the way, your avatar is a dangerous looking beast. Menacing. When I was a kid, any bee encounter would get a 40yd dash outta me, wasps=more yardage. Saw a purple & yellow hornet once, 3X the size of a wasp, & I was the Road Runner for about 2 blocks…!!
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Against OKC Sunday night
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Jeff is now seen as someone who will be in the league for a long time. Similar to Easy Ed Nealy who could do nothing but screen.
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@wrwlumpy recruits, big men, check that out!
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I was just looking at Withey’s numbers last night and noticed that Gobert was not playing; I hope Withey get the break he deserves. It seems that Withey always lands where teams are trying to develop another player and he get lost on the bench like Ajinka in New Orleans, he is capable of scoring but he has been asked to play defense and that has hurt him some. In the past, very few players that played defense only, such as Ben Wallace and the worm, were successful (starters); however, recently the NBA has discovered he concept of defense and successful team are valuing it more; hopefully it helps Jeff, one of my all-time favorite Jayhawks.
One good thing about Coach Self’s system of emphasizing defense is that it has kept many Jayhawks playing in the NBA just because of it.
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The issue for Withey is whether he can avoid being a zero on the offensive end.
He’s not going to be a big time scorer, but if he can hit open jumpers and dunk, he will be okay.
The key item I see on his stat line is 2 TO. He cannot turn the basketball over. He is not going to be good enough offensively to cost his team possessions. His 2 TO tied for most on the team along with the three primary ball handlers (Burke, Hood and Neto). That’s a disaster for a big guy. If he cleans that up, he can be an effective bench big. If not, he will not make the rotation.
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@justanotherfan Without knowing the circumstances of the TO’s you can’t overlook the rest of his stat line of 9 pts (3-5 fg and 3-4 ft), 5 rebs, 1 steal, 2 blocks in 20 minutes off the bench.
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I noticed a jump in Jeff’s numbers very recently. He had been DNP Coaches Decision most games of the season. I was thinking he might not play anywhere if he’s not finding minutes for the 10-13 Jazz.
I’ve also noticed Markieff is being touted as trade material. It’s benefited one of my old badger Favs, John Leuer, but Kieff has strung together some DNP’s also. Hornacek likes the way the Jazz are playing without him starting, so suddenly an up and coming pro looks pretty vulnerable to decline.
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@wissoxfan83
Gobert, the starting center for the Jazz, is injured so Jeff is picking up minutes.
Markiff has lost his starting spot and has not played in the last few games. No question he has fallen from grace with Hornacek and there is talk that he will be traded before the deadline; he should find a spot somewhere.
Any chance that Cyclone Hornacek does not like Jayhawk Morris? You can never trust a Cyclone…
Marcus, on the other hand, is starting for Detroit; however, it appear that the twins produced the most when playing for the same team.
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Not dismissing that at all. Just recognizing the reality of the NBA, that if you are not a star/starting caliber player, you cannot afford to make many mistakes.
Nick Collison has had a very nice, very long (and productive) career in the NBA in large part because he doesn’t make many mistakes. He’s sound on both ends of the floor, doesn’t turn the basketball over and doesn’t cause problems on or off the court.
That’s life for a pro role player. 9 points, 5 boards, 2 blocks is nice, but costing them 2 possessions a night with turnovers (after all, he’s probably only getting 10-12 touches on offense a night) is pretty bad.
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@wrwlumpy Those stats must be from a different game as I just looked at ESPN and for Sunday, Dec 13, Jeff only played 10 minutes with 2 pts and 4 rebs. No ast, stl, blk or to’s. But Hayward and Durant must be concerned as they each had 4 to’s.
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Withey’s TO average for the season is 0.7 so the 2 turnover was not the norm but an anomaly. In comparison, Dwight Howard is 2.7 TO per game. Kevin Durant 3.3, DeMarcus Cousin 3.2, Marc Gasol, 2,8, Jahlil Okafor 2.7, Brook Lopez, 2.5, Blake Griffin 2.4.
Yes, they all play more minutes but when you project to 48 minutes, Withey’s numbers are not bad.
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Jeff has “NBA journeyman” written all over him. He’s long and can defend the post. Those guys always find “work” somewhere. He may end up having one of the better NBA careers because he may be able to save his body and still make a boatload of cash… plus… he easily has the hottest “supporter” in his corner!
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Again, we are looking at touches, not just TO in isolation. Durant is the primary offensive option for his team. Ditto for Griffin and Cousins. Okafor, Gasol and Lopez are all the #2 scoring option for their teams (sometimes the #1). Howard is the one guy out of that group that turns the ball over a lot considering the amount of touches he gets.
Withey is never more than the third option offensively on the floor at any time. Usually, he’s the fourth or fifth option. If you are the fourth or fifth option, you cannot turn the ball over. His 0.7 isn’t horrible, but considering he only averages about 10 minutes a game, If he played 30 minutes, he would be up near the Griffin and Lopez numbers for turnovers, but not balancing that out with scoring.
Howard averages 12 (but with 11 rebounds). Durant averages 27. Cousins averages 25. Gasol averages 16. Okafor gets 18 a night. Lopez tosses in 19. Griffin gets 24. You can’t compare Withey’s turnovers to those guys when he likely won’t score more than 10 or so, while the rest of those guys (other than Howard) are scoring 16 or more, and Griffin, Cousins and Durant are three of the best scorers in the league.
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I was comparing his number against other Centers. I could have used Russel Westbrook that averages close to 5 TO per game, if I was looking at just TOs.
Have you read that Howard wants to be traded because he is not getting enough touches in offense?
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@JayHawkFanToo I always thought Howard just looked good with the Magic and was always overrated, though injuries haven’t helped his production. He’s also kind of old-school for the direction the game is going, especially without the athleticism of his peak years. Undersized Draymond Green is becoming the new gold standard for centers.
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I have seen that Howard wants a trade. Unfortunately, his age and injuries have robbed him of his bounce, as @Makeshift has pointed out. In addition, the Rockets offense is much better when based around Harden’s skillset than when it is revolving around Howard. Howard probably can’t carry a league average offense at this point in his career because he can’t dominate with athleticism on that end.
Howard is probably a 16 and 12 guy at this point in an ideal situation. Houston isn’t ideal for him, but he could do a lot worse before he does better. He could average 19-10 for a non-contender if he’s interested in that. Just depends on what he wants at this point in his career.
