On August 30, Beijing time, Shaquille O'Neal of TNT Tiantuan talked about the Cavaliers' trade with the Celtics in a TNT show, and the Sharks were blunt: "For the Cavaliers, the only thing I am optimistic about is that they have Crowder, which can reduce the burden of LeBron James on the defensive end." According to previous reports, Crowder has passed the Cavaliers' physical examination, and the Cavaliers have officially announced that Crowder has joined, and Claude has also worn the Cavaliers' new season players to take makeup photos. O'Neill's remarks are clearly a contempt for Thomas Jr.'s ability, but also a small look at the young talent of Nikki, of course, O'Neal also underestimated the value of the Nets' 18-year first-round draft pick, the biggest point is the disrespect for Thomas Jr., because Thomas Jr. is a two-time All-Star player, averaging 28.9 points and 5.9 assists per game last season.
Of course, O'Neill talked about Crowder, Claude's stunt is defense, as a second-round show, he is conscientious in the green Kai team, training hard, his ceiling is not high, but he can make up for it, he will exercise his strength and speed to the limit of his body, so that he has been quite good in the last two seasons. Averaging 14 points, 5 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game, and the defensive efficiency is around 104, the contribution value of defensive victory is about 3, his forward defensive ability is indeed the top of the league, if the Cavaliers encounter the Warriors, Spurs and other teams with super forwards, Crowder can share James's forward defensive pressure, allowing James to put more energy into the offense. So there is nothing wrong with O'Neill's second half of the sentence, the problem is that the first half of the sentence is too contemptuous of thomas jr.'s ability. Thomas Jr. currently has two abilities above Irving
Thomas Jr. is better at organizing offense than Irving
Irving only averaged 6 assists per game in 6 seasons, and Thomas Jr. had two, last season also had 5.9, just look at Irving's assists 5+ seems to be very good, but from Irving's assist rate he is not a good organizer at all, last season Irving only had a 29.7% assist rate, while Thomas Jr. was 32.5%, but also pay attention to one of the most important issues, Irving is not the most important organizational attacker in the team, but James, Thomas Jr. is already the only organizer in the Green Kai squad. Whether it is to instigate offense or direct pass assists, Thomas Jr. is the first choice, and Irving's assists come mostly from breaking through the score, rather than instigating the offense, Thomas Jr. greatly surpasses Irving in the organizational offensive ability, and can perfectly share James's burden in organizing the offense.
Thomas Jr.'s scoring ability is still above Irving's
Irving and Thomas Jr. are both 11 years of draft picks, one is the champion, one is the last place, but the current scoring ability of Thomas Jr. is already above Irving, Irving does have super scoring explosiveness, but his scoring stability is very poor, The highest scoring average in 6 seasons of his career is 25.2 points per game, while Thomas Jr. is 28.9 points, in terms of offensive efficiency, Irving was 116 last season, Thomas Jr. was 122, and Irving was 109 offensive efficiency in the 15-16 season and Thomas Jr. was 113, which shows that Thomas Jr.'s current scoring ability is not inferior to Irving's, of course, Irving has an advantage over Thomas Jr. His height and age, Irving is 25, Thomas Jr. is already 28.
But from these two points, it can be seen that O'Neill's contempt for Thomas Jr. is a wrong choice, Thomas Jr. and Owen are very poor on the defensive end, the defensive efficiency is 112, the two are half a pound, but at the offensive end, the current Thomas Jr. is better than Owen, and the organizational offense Irving can not be compared with Thomas Jr., so Thomas Jr. can angrily rebuke O'Neal with his ability and say blindly, O'Neill and Barkley are really a pair of trolls, who bites whom.
Text/Yan Xiaobai