Little Nance, who has disappeared for a long time, once again returned to the fans' sight with a strong performance.
In the second game of the playoff (vs Clippers), Nance Jr., who came off the bench, became the hero who saved the Pelicans, in the 24 minutes of playing time, he shot 7 of 8, scored 14 points at the same time, and also stole the most 16 rebounds in the game, including 7 rebounds in the frontcourt, in addition, Nance also had 4 assists, 1 steal and 1 block into the account, it is worth mentioning that most of his contributions came from the key 4th quarter, is the team's number one contributor to the reversal of victory;
In the first game of the playoffs (vs Suns), Nance Jr. almost saved the Pelicans, in the case that the team was already behind by more than twenty points in the third quarter, Nance came off the bench, he constantly impacted the Suns' basket, and the defense was more actively scrambling, in less than 4 minutes, Nance scored 9 points alone, helping the Pelicans narrow the point difference to 8 points, the 4th quarter came up, Nance's state was still hot, within 3 minutes, the inside and outside shots scored 5 points, plus 3 assists;
Although the Pelicans failed, Nance Jr.'s excellent performance still won a lot of applause and praise, but in fact, for him, this performance can only be described in one word - conventional operation, because Nance has always had this ability, but always plagued by injuries, coupled with being in Cleveland, so that many fans still stay in the Lakers period, a big man who will only dunk...
The road to transformation
In the 2018-2021 season, after being abandoned by the Lakers, Nance has realized the need for transformation, he must expand his shooting range, develop other skills that can help the team, such as dribbling and passing, etc., and in the next 3 years, Nance and the Cavaliers, in a corner that is not noticed by fans, grows rapidly.
Through statistics, you can clearly find that Nance's offense is becoming more and more magic, and the three-point shot has gradually become one of the main scorers, taking the 19-20 season as an example, Nance's average shooting distance is 12.5 feet, the proportion of mid-range shots is 12.7%, the proportion of three-point shots is 36.3%, and the total output is 56 goals; and in the lakers' final year, his data are average shooting distance of 5.3 feet, mid-range shooting proportion of 35.1%, three-point shooting proportion of 1.5%, and total output of 1 goal The change in the offensive structure has greatly improved the offensive efficiency of Nance, and the true shooting rate can reach 60.8%.
In addition, Nance Jr. also developed passing skills, can serve near the midline, can also accurately find empty players, the most season, can average 3.2 assists per game, assist rate of 17.9%, ahead of the league 78% of the players, is one of the biggest people who can pass the ball, the level is similar to Mark Gasol, Horford, it is worth mentioning that behind this report card, he only used 15.2% of the use rate.
As for defense, although this has always been his weakness, but fortunately the rebounding ability is prominent enough, the offensive rebounding rate was once the level of the league's top 15, more than Valanciunas, Howard and other No. 5 celebrities, and the most important thing is that Nance's footsteps are not slow, but the defensive experience and awareness are lacking, in the 19-20 season, he got a high score of 71.7 in the data of defensive versatility, which means that Nance has the ability to defend from the first position to the fifth position.
Frequent injuries
In those years, although many teams called cavaliers general manager Aalsman to ask for Nance Jr.'s offer, they were rejected by the former, and Olsman said more than once that Nance Jr. was their non-sale product, but last summer, the Cavaliers still endured the pain of sending him to the Blazers, no way, people have had enough of Nance Jr.'s body, so far in his career, he has never played more than 70 games, and the major injuries have not been broken.
In seasons 15-16, he sprained his ankle and suffered persistent soreness in his surgical knee (in college, the cruciate ligament was torn);
In the 16-17 season, he sprained his wrist and contused his left knee.
In the 17-18 season, he injured his ankle, strained his hamstring, strained his right index finger, and fractured the second metacarpal bone of his left hand;
In the 18-19 season, he suffered a strain of the medial collateral ligament in his right knee;
In the 19-20 season, the left thumb was strained twice, and the left knee after the operation was painful again;
In the 20-21 season, the left hand finger was fractured, the unknown cause of the violent loss of 9.1 kg, the right hand thumb fractured;
In the 21-22 season, he underwent knee surgery and did not make a comeback until last month to complete the Pelicans' debut;
Nance's career is simply a history of injuries, which is why he is frequently traded, and his talent has never been able to cash in, and I hope that joining the Pelicans this time will be a new starting point for Nance's life.