The New Devonte Graham
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Some might be wondering what’s wrong with DG? I looked at his game log and see few points, pretty poor shooting, but the last two Fridays in particular low shot volume, but hi assist numbers. He’s averaging nearly 10 a game with 29 in 3 games. Is he putting the team on his shoulders by making sure that we win games by doing other things than hoisting up a bunch of shots? 3 games is a small sample size I understand, but it’s interesting to watch.
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Devonte is not a great scoring point guard like Frank, as we discussed the other day. He is at his best when he is looking to distribute and make the team better and not be so worried about making shots. We saw the difference between the two Friday games and the Kentucky game. Now he shot poorly against Kentucky and we know he is a much better shooter than that, so he will have some big scoring games, but the team will be better when he is doing the non scoring things.
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At this time, Devonte seems to be comfortable doing primarily one thing at the time, scoring or distributing the ball. Until he is comfortable doing both, I am happy with him just doing the ball distribution, the shooting will eventually catch up.
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@wissox He is thinking too much. He will relax, and will flat scorch the nets when he does. Whether he hits 25 or 12, the assists are the constant. That offensive display last night was spectacular, which is what happens when your point guard drops 12 dimes.
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I think his scoring will come along this season as our offense comes together. Once that happens, he will also probably lift his assist numbers, which are already pretty good.
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Mario Chalmers - 6 points/4 rbs/8 assts/4 steals last night. Successful night? ABSOLUTELY! He shot 1 for 7, and still had an excellent night. When you look at Devonte, the big question is does our offense run smoothly? As much of an optimist as I am about KU, I never thought we would bury SDST like we did. It reminded me of the UCLA game a couple years back, when we just buried them. The depth is very scary, as we held a 30 point lead, and could barely field a complete team. But, Devonte’s 11 assists made that offense flow- the points will come …we have to be patient.
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@KUSTEVE I cannot agree with you more. Graham going with double digit assists is the fuel for the offensive motor. DG could (and likely will) go for 25 some nights, but he doesn’t have to. As you mentioned, the way we destroyed a pretty decent SDS team was impressive. We were a smooth offensive machine. A point guard that looks to create opportunities and facilitate has sometimes immeasurable value. Assist don’t always tell the true story of a PG who is a facilitator. Good offense flows from that mindset even when assists may not get recorded. DG has that mindset, it appears. It’s a really big deal in my opinion for this team. What’s nice is that he can and will score. Defenses always have to respect him.
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So far Devonte has reminded me of Ryan Arc-what-cha-wanna-ma-call-it from Nova a few seasons ago.
You know the offense is there, he’s a proven scorer but his value in running the team is outweighing his scoring right now.
He has shot poorly, 13-46 isn’t going to cut against better teams over the course of the season. We need him to score in double figures as we go on. Good thing we have a couple easier games at home he can continue to work on leading this team and finding his shot.
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Mason had a couple of years to get ready to be the floor general and team leader. Devonte is just starting to get his feet wet so it will be some time before he is fully comfortable in his new role.
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Devonte seems to me to a nice combo guard in the mold Self loves. However once a combo guy is forced by the roster to be the main facilitator it doesn’t always work out. The only way it does is if they are almost unguardable one on one like Sherron or Frank.
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Sure, we are all OK with Devonte getting 11 assists and a handful of points each game as long as we’re winning, but this thread is really about how much we are NOT ok with Devonte not scoring. We all want him to be the alpha!
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Devonte is a great catch and shoot player. On the ball, he’s not going to get as many catch and shoot opportunities, but they will come with time as defenses begin to rotate and he’s left open. When that happens, the scoring will come. Until then, making sure that Svi, Vick, Newman, Azuibuke, etc. are all averaging double figures is perfectly fine with me. He will be there when we need him, provided he doesn’t wear down with all of the minutes.
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@BucknellJayhawk3 Honestly, I think KU will be at its best this year with Graham as the third leading scorer behind Newman and Azubuike. Graham is a natural pass first guy, he’s not someone whose first instinct is to drive into traffic and draw a foul like many of the previous PG’s we’ve had are. We haven’t had a PG of this style since RusRob.
Malik Newman is the guy who is the natural scorer and Azubuike is bigger than everyone else and will play big minutes this year. Either of them should lead the team in scoring and the other should be second with Graham being the guy distributing to them. Most of his points will come from him getting kick out passes for 3.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 Svi!
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How about DTGs line tonight 17 points, 11 assists, 6 rebounds and 4 steals to go with a single turnover. Still not shooting the ball as well as he is capable, went 6/16 but I have a feeling he drops 30 here soon once he gets the ball to go in. Averaging 11.5 points, 9.7 assists, 5.2 rebounds and 2.5 steals so far this year. Graham won’t average Franks points but I bet he get more in the other categories which can be just as big.
