billyshelby
Well-Known Member
Pffft. Now that is BS. He shoots less than 50% from within 10 feet of the basket. He has taken 9 shots from between 4 and 6 feet of the basket and missed them all*. He has been blocked 9 times, but only been fouled while shooting 13 times, and only three of those for an "and 1". He has dunked exactly once all season, and that was off a D-Will pass.
In defense of your position, he has committed two offensive charges all season, both against Miami. To be fair, he actually was going hard to the basket against Miami, and with some success apart from those two times, but that game was definitely the exception. In fact, being exceptional is what made me notice his play, but unfortunately he has since reverted to his old ways.
* Caveat: all these numbers are taken from the ESPN play-by-play. Six shots are listed without any distance, only one of which was a made shot - it is thus possible that he has made 1-10 from this range. OTOH, the 5 misses could easily all be from the same distance, too. Or they could all be layups. BTW, he's 13-21 on layups.
As far as the boxscore analysis goes, Miles is currently sitting at an eFG of 54% in close (with dunk numbers not added) according to 82games. And apparently he's been blocked on 8% of those attempts which is a very low number. The irony is he doesn't get blocked that often because he's trying so hard to get the shot up unblocked. His maturation will come when he realizes getting the contact and accepting the blocks will help. Like a lot of kids, he doesn't want to miss, he doesn't want to get blocked, and his mentality is making everything, not "accepting" misses that don't get called. It's a process.
Anyone wasting time watching games has seen Miles drive consistently to the hole in every game. Those same people wasting time watching games are also seeing the development of his passing game on those drives in addition to making shots. I've been very impressed by his decision making in driving and passing whether it leads to a boxscore assist or not. But that's only because I waste LOTS of time watching all the games.