The Ringer used data to analyze the performance of Thompson's return to this period. Summing up 6 big data, let's take a look, what impact will this have on the future of the Warriors?
Let's start with the scoring. Thompson currently averages 16.5 points per game, and throughout NBA history, no one has performed better than him in his first season after at least two seasons of injury.
Ignoring the reasons for the absence, just in terms of scoring, he has not played in two seasons, and there are only 2 people who score higher than him - Jordan and Alizin. Jordan returned from retirement and averaged 22.9 points per game in 2001–02, while Alizin completed his military service and averaged 21.0 points per game in 1954–55.
And what is causing Thompson to have this change today?
First, three-point shots are made more frequently
The data shows that Thompson has made more than 10 three-point shots per 75 rounds, reaching a career peak, which is also the first time in Thompson's career that three-point shots account for more than 50% of total shots.
In the first three seasons of injury, Thompson's three-point shooting was considered small, and his three-point shooting rate was only ranked 65th in the league. But at the same time, his shooting rate can rank tenth in the same period, reaching 42%. So if he can increase the number of shots while stabilizing the output, it may not be a good thing for the Warriors, but it is not.
Second, the angle of the three-point shot dropped
Tang Shen's three-point rate came to a career-low, only 37.1%. In every previous season, Thompson had hit at least 40 percent of his three-point shooting. The reason for this is that his shot angle has dropped.
According to Second Spectrum, Thompson's three-point shot angle dropped to 44.1° this season. Against the Lakers, his average shot arc was only 41.8 °, and in the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons before the injury, Thompson's average three-point shot angle was around 46 °, and the overall angle was more than 4 °.
Pitchers are like precise machines, even a little adjustment, for them will have a great impact, such as Curry's previous shot suddenly inaccurate, that is, the toe force becomes the foot force, resulting in problems with the arc of the pitch and inaccuracy.
Third, the three-point rate of receiving the ball has declined
Thompson scored 60 points in 11 dribbles, which can mask his inability to dribble, but from another point of view, his no-ball walk is historical.
However, when the ball is out of position and cannot effectively deliver a fatal attack, then everything will be greatly reduced.
According to statistics, Thompson has only 35.8% of the three-point rate of receiving the ball this season, compared with 44% of the previous career three-point shooting rate. However, his dry three-point rate is still very high (41.3%), which is why his dry three-point shooting ratio has set a new career high.
Fourth, the proportion of ball possession has increased
Since it doesn't work without the ball, then play with the ball. This season, We can see that Thompson's operation control has improved significantly, which shows that in two years, he has improved his skills day and night.
With this amount of practice, he boldly took on the role of ball control organization, and the obvious change was that the assist rate hit a career high, with more touches, dribbles and breakthroughs than in a healthy season.
Fifth, the speed has decreased
He chose to play with the ball, but his speed dropped.
Previous seasons, Thompson's speed peaked at 28-29 feet per second (8.53 m-8.84 m/s), compared to 24.7 feet per second (7.53 m/s) so far this season.
Sixth, it is no longer the first choice for outside defense
The biggest impact of consecutive injuries to the knee and Achilles tendon is lateral speed, a decrease in this speed value, resulting in Thompson not being the Warriors' top defensive choice now.
The BBall Index has a score on the difficulty of alignment, which measures the difficulty of a player's defense.
Before the serious injury, Thompson's alignment difficulty has never been lower than 92.6, and the most common defense is the league's top scorers such as Hield, Lillard and Mitchell, but this season his alignment difficulty has dropped to 42.6, and the defense has become a non-main offensive threat, such as Gordon, Gidey, Bain and other second and third scorers.
Of course, this can also be considered one of the protective measures of the warriors.
Thompson wasn't that soup god yet. But we can still expect Thompson to be better, because the Warriors' dealer has not yet played with him.